Join the Revolt!

So I have been riding around on a dirty little (not so) secret bike for a couple months now. With my growing interest in bike packing and my long term desire for a bike I could do a bit of social cyclocross racing on it seemed a no brainer that when I saw the Revolt 1 I would end up adding one to the stable. I have to thank Giant and of course Cyc'd for Bikes for looking after me for so many years now and without the support there is simply no way I could ride such awesome bikes.
So here are the specs. The Revolt is a little bit strange looking at first glance but the spec and practicality of it soon become obvious as a commuter, beginners cyclocross bike and with a few changes a very decent touring bike. I have taken the Revolt to work many times now and on the bike paths it just cruises along with comfort and ease. The larger 32mm tyres that come as standard have a semi slick tread that is easy to push but provides a more cushioned ride than narrower road tyres. They also provide better traction on our often slippery bike paths. The addition of the integrated down tube mud guard is also a welcome feature as it catches quite a lot f the road grime that comes up at you. The spec is solid. A Shimano drive train that is practical rather than flashy with Avid BB7 brakes makes for a reliable and efficient parts mix. The carbon fork takes a bit of the snap out of the road and a little weight as well. It's a lot of fun in the pony trails out around home especially if there is a bit of water around. It feels quite Euro! A set of slightly more aggresive tyres would be a good idea if you intend to use the bike for more cyclocross racing than commuting though. Full length cable outers all round. Winner.
 
Now for the changes. I was pretty keen to try this bike as a touring platform. I had an inkling that my 29er wheels would slot in the frame quite nicely giving me the option of a larger tyre and some real off road tread. Luckily Jarron at Cyc'd let me mess about with the bike on the shop floor and low and behold it worked, really well. The next part of the puzzle was the frame bags I already had made for my other tourer. While they were a little small overall for the Revolt they did fit and allow me to add a bottle cage behind them making the space pretty usefull in all. The seat bag was a cinch to fit and with a bit of re organisation the handle bar roll sat beautifully against the suicide levers. I thought they might provide problems but instead they stabilised the load really well.
All of this left me with one problem to solve. Carbon forks and no bosses to mount additional cages. In some cases a pipe clamp and some old tube will sort this out no worries. Not such a good idea with a carbon fork though. I had a Salsa touring fork from my other bike but the Revolt has an Overdrive head tube. That means standard for won't fit and there is no commercially available reducer set to make it happen. With a bit of help from my local bearing supplier though I got a bearing to fit and solve the problem. Awesome. So how did it turn out?

Fully kitted up with bags and water.

Stripped back and bare. Salsa touring fork, anything cages, monkii cage underneath and we're good to go.

Detail of the front.

Specialized Captain 1.9 does the job on the back. Just enough clearance. 

Being able to put my 29er mountain bike wheels on and add the Salsa fork makes this a very versatile bike. I've loved doing a bit of cyclocross riding and commuting with the Revolt in standard configuration so it really meets the requirements for me of three different bikes. There are a couple of things I will change before my next bikepacking adventure though. I will look towards putting an all mountain XT crankset on to bring the gearing down to something that my chicken legs can handle a bit better and probably remove the suicide levers completely as they are surplus to my requirements. Other than that though, a 15 minute change over makes the bike my tourer or my commuter and cyclocross bike. I love it.