Titanium Meets Carbon
Revel Bikes today released the Ranger Ti, the company’s first production full-suspension frame built around a titanium front triangle. The frame pairs this new front end with the carbon rear triangle and links from the Ranger V3 while maintaining the same geometry and kinematics.
Titanium has been a part of Revel since before its inception. The founding team launched Why Cycles in 2016 to build modern titanium bikes. Why merged with Revel in 2023, and the titanium program has run continuously since, producing hardtails, gravel bikes, and most recently the El Jefe Grande. Revel showed Project RaTical under its Concept Labs umbrella last summer, in the first public showing of its experimentation with 3D printing and titanium full suspension. The Ranger Ti is the culmination of those efforts and their first production titanium full-suspension platform.
Geometry and kinematics carry straight over from the carbon Ranger V3. Higher anti-squat and higher progression keep the Ranger’s downcountry intent intact: efficient pedaling, active suspension, and a supportive, bottomless feel through the travel. A steep seat tube angle, slightly longer reach, slack head angle, and lower bottom bracket round out a geometry built for long days and confident descents.
Key Features
- Shared geometry and kinematics with Ranger V3 Carbon
- Shared carbon rear triangle and links
- Four bottle/utility mounts on sizes M through XL, three on S
- Long dropper post insertion
- Custom rubber chainstay protection
- Debris fender
- UDH compatible
- Full internal cable routing
- Frame weight: 8.02 lbs, size Large (3.64kg)
- Complete bike as shown: 29.5 lb, size Large (13.38kg)
“Our mantra has always been that we only build the bikes we want to ride and this is no exception. Lately, the Ranger has become the bike I reach for the most, but I also love titanium. We’ve been experimenting with full suspension titanium quite a bit too, and decided that the combination of a stiff carbon rear triangle with the insanely supple ride feel of titanium in the front was the right direction. It’s not cheaper, lighter, or easier to make, but that’s not why we made it. It sort of represents a lot of what we’ve learned over the years. It combines the best parts of materials and kinematics into a bike that might not make the most sense on paper but is bizarrely awesome, and to me that’s what a lot of this is all about.” – Adam Miller, Founder and CEO of Revel Bikes
Why 3D printed Titanium?
Revel used the most advanced 3D printing technology for the headtube, upper shock mount, bottom bracket, and pivot interfaces on the front triangle. This has allowed Revel to leverage the shape not only for aesthetics, but also to accomplish things traditional machining and forging cannot. Welding titanium and putting multiple pivot points in precise locations can be super tough, and create either a bike that is too heavy, not strong enough, or sacrifces on the kinematics because pivot points had construction limitations. 3D printing removes that, and allows Revel to use its “carbon engineering oversight” to make a titanium bike with all the modern features of a carbon frame. Stiff 3D printed junctions are sleeved and then welded to titanium tubing to optimize the supple ride feel of titanium and strength of 3D printing. The frames are third party ISO tested in California and represent true limits of materials engineering, 3D printing, and titanium fabrication. All combining with Revel’s carbon expertise and pivot hardware/bearing interface to make a bike that rides incredibly well.
“As a fan of titanium bicycles for most of my life, I always felt that a high-performance titanium full suspension bike was an elusive dream. With this technology and the talent on this team, we finally built it.” – Chris Reichel, Global Brand Strategist at Revel Bikes
Pricing and Availability
The first batch of Ranger Ti frames is limited to 10 pieces, individually numbered, and available for reservation now, with an expected ship date before the end of the year.
Framesets are priced at $5,969 at revelbikes.com and £4999 at revelbikes.uk
Complete builds are also available.