The first Giant Revolt came out in 2013. It was funky looking, with kinked chainstays, room for 50mm tyres and a weird downtube-mounted fairing/mudguard. This was a time when the biggest gravel race in the world through the Flint Hills of Kansas went by a different name, and there was never a conversation about feed zone etiquette, and less than 500 people entered to race it — in 2024, about 5,000 people entered the same race.
Aesthetics aside, in many ways, its ethos was well ahead of its time and laid a foundation on which the current 2025 Revolt Advanced Pro 0 stands.
Currently placed in Giant’s range as the gravel racer, its prowess has already been proven, having won an Australian Gravel National Championship and also raced a few stops of the Life Time Grand Prix under Cole Patton and local legend Brendan Trekky Johnston.
More than a decade later, the Revolt has evolved as much as gravel as a category.
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An overview of the 2025 Giant Revolt
The previous Giant Revolt was launched in 2021, and it was a really good bike. It served very well with a number plate on the front but also had enough furnishings to strap on a whole bunch of luggage and take off on a multi-surfaced adventure. Giant also offers the moster truck Revolt X shod with a a Fox 32 TC fork. This isn’t just a difference in spec, as the entire frame has been built to accommodate the longer axle to crown of the current crop of gravel suspension forks.
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Giant manufactures the Revolt in three trims: Revolt Advanced Pro, Revolt Advance and Revolt. The first two see full carbon frames and forks used, with the latter being made from a slightly cheaper blend of Giant’s carbon. The Revolt (no Advanced) has an alloy frame and a carbon fork, although this version is still the third generation design, albeit with new paintwork.
For 2025, the significant changes are the cable routing and built-in internal frame storage.
The crop of bikes that run the cables and housing inside the upper headset bearing is ever-increasing, and we’re disappointed to report the Revolt has now joined the ranks. While the proliferation of electronic drivetrains has lessened the annoyance of this method for getting cables and housing to its final destination because only the brake hoses need to go through said bearing because there is no cable.
Even still, the longest part of replacing a headset bearing used to be figuring out what size bearing you need, and now that’s the quick part. And if your budget only allows for a cable-driven rear mech, at least once a year you’re going to have an awful day in the workshop.
The internal bit we are happy to see on the new Revolt, however, is the storage built into the downtube. Employing its trademark microwave dial hatch the cavity sees a layer of foam to protect the carbon downtube from your multi-tool and CO2 canisters clattering around inside. Giant also includes a little pouch so your repair kit isn’t free floating inside your bike.
There’s also mounts on the fork and tip for luggage provisions for fenders, and a rear rack.
Geometry, sizing and fit
The geometry chart of the fourth-generation bike is a mirror to that of the previous-generation bike, which I’m not upset about. The previous Revolt was a pleasure to ride, and so is this one.
Standing 175cm tall, I was well and truly a size medium frame. Giant has opted for a longer 56cm top tube and combined it with a short 70mm stem. The frame sees a 388mm reach and a relatively high 587 mm stack — that’s 30mm higher than the Cervelo Apsero we just reviewed.
This means you don’t need to be stage seven Yogi to reach the bars and also puts you in a good body posting when you need to plough through a crude river rock drainage or some spicy rain ruts on a swift descent.
The proportions of this bike fit me — someone who is average-sized in just about every sense of the word — exceptionally well, except for the bars. Measuring 44mm wide at the hoods, they were too wide for my frame. While they offer plenty of leverage to push the bike into the ground, scrambling for grip on a loose corner, if this were my bike, I would have swapped in a set of 42cm curly cues.
Giant Revolt Advanced Pro 0 price & specs
With only the carbon models receiving an update for 2025, Giant Australia is bringing in a total of five models. The Revolt Advanced Pro 0 we have in for test is the top end spec which retails for $8,499 AUD. For that price you get a SRAM Force AXS groupset, carbon wheels and carbon touch points.
The remaining four come from the brand’s Advanced range, which use a slightly cheaper grade of carbon for the frame and see mechanical drivetrains. Pricing for the Revolt Advances runs from $3,199 AUD to $5,199 AUD.
2025 Giant Revolt Advanced Pro 0
- Frame | Revolt Advanced-grade composite
- Fork | Advanced SL-grade composite, tapered steerer
- Wheels | Giant CXR 1 Carbon Disc WheelSystem, 35mm deep
- Tyres | CADEX GX, 700x40c, tubeless
- Drivetrain | SRAM Force eTap AXS, 2×12 43/36T Crankset, Force 36-10T Cassette
- Brakes | SRAM Force, 160mm Rotor Front and Rear
- Bar | Giant Contact SLR XR D-Fuse
- Stem | Giant Contact AeroLight, -10 degree
- Seatpost | Giant D-Fuse SLR, composite, -5/+15mm offset
- RRP | $8,499 AUD
What we dig about the Giant Revolt Advanced Pro Zero
This is one of the most comfortable gravel bikes I’ve ever ridden. Even without something like a RockShox Rudy on the front or one of those kooky suspension seatposts the Revolt eats a surprising amount of square edges and bumps. I would even go as far as saying this bike feels plush — for a completely rigid bike, that is.
This is thanks in large part to the D-Fuse bar and seatpost. Starting at the seating arrangements, Giant says the post allows for up to 12mm of fore and aft flex, and I believe it. As your weight settles on the saddle, you can feel that first bit of flex, and there is almost a floating sensation, but it doesn’t buck when you hit a big square bump as some leaf-spring-based designs like this one do.
The D-Fuse seatpost is well….D-shaped, but Giant utilises a shim that also allows for round 30.9mm seat posts and droppers. Out of curiosity, I swapped in a round seatpost for a couple of rides; the difference is night and day. Not just in rounding out square hits, but the way your body feels after four or five hours of riding is impressive.
At the front, Giant has employed some similar clever shaping, which it claims the downward “pushing” flex to promote compliance while at the same time increasing the upward “pulling” stiffness, said to improve precision and control against its own round Contact handlebars.
For this review, I did not swap the bars over, so I don’t have a direct comparison; however, there is some damping going on there. More importantly, the bike feels balanced, and you’re not getting undo vibration through your hands or derriere.
But even with all of this flex tuned into the touch points, the frame is stiff where it matters. The rear triangle doesn’t twist one iota when you’re sawing away trying to lose your buddies on a climb. At the same time, there is no vagueness through the front as you’re trying to pilot the bike through a fire road drainage that’s nothing but blue pitching rock — or, as we call it, the Gold Coast Council wheel and tyre replacement program.
The bread and butter of the Revolt is versatility, whether you’re charging three wide into a washboard corner or are headed out for something slower paced to take in the sights.
With the flip chip in the short setting, the handling is more on the tarry end of the spectrum than something like the Addict Gravel or the Cervelo Aspero. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as even with the flip chip in the short setting, the handling is stable and predictable in rough or lost off-camber corners where it feels like you need to tip-toe through on a sharper bike.
With 80mm of BB drop relative to the axles, the bottom bracket is 6mm lower than the Cervelo Aspero and 5mm lower than the Canyon Grail. This puts your centre of gravity very much in the bike and contributes to the composure at speed.
Swapping the flip chip into the long position adds an err of extra stability — it’s definitely not a night and day difference — but the big change is that it makes room for a 53mm tyre.
What we didn’t like?
We’re not quick to chastise a brand for adding desirable features like in-frame storage. But, Giant’s execution of this downtube cache leaves a bit to be desired. I’ll admit the Lezyne multi-tool I usually carry is probably overkill, but it’s also wider than the opening of the Revolt’s hatch, and you’re going to struggle to fit a butyl tube inside the included bag along with the rest of your spare tyre kit.
Even with a compact TPU tube, DynaPlug Racer, the tyre levers, a smaller multi-tool, a pair of CO2 canisters and an inflator, it is exceptionally tight, and sometimes things need to be rearranged to reinstall the hatch.
I’ve already touched on the cables, though to Giant’s credit, inside the frame, they’re lined with foam tubing, so rattles are non-existent.
Then there is the chainstay flip chip. To be clear, I am not anti-flip chip, and I like the ability to customise a bike to the way you ride it. While changing the chip is no big deal, you also have to adjust your brake calliper, which isn’t a super fun trailside job. While the change in tyre clearance is real, the extra chainstay length doesn’t profoundly affect the handling of the Revolt.
HOWEVER, the fact that there is not a UDH option on the new Revolt means that this bike, in the year of 2024 is not compatible with the latest SRAM RED XPLR Transmission groupset. While RED is the HALO top-of-the-range gear, given the Eagle Transmission now goes all the way S-1000 — which sits below GX — we can safely assume Force, Rival, and maybe even Apex are headed in the hanger-less direction.
While it’s tricky to make a UDH work with a rear flip chip, Rocky Mountain allows for it — provided the axle is in the long position — and Paragon Machine Works have come up with a solution. Surely, the minds at Giant can engineer their way around this problem.
Component highs and lows
Speaking of SRAM, our Giant Revolt Advanced Pro 0 comes with a 2x SRAM Force AXS drivetrain. There are no wires to route or cables to fine-tune, and the system is well-proven. The lever ergonomics are simply lovely, and I love the big flat spot on top of the hoods. When you bend your elbows and get low, it’s the perfect resting place for your thumb.
I will say that having gone directly from this bike with Force AXS to Shimano’s new GRX; the shifting is not as fast or crisp. Stay tuned for that review.
Rolling stock comes from Giant’s Giant CXR 1 hoops. Using a hookless bead, Giant claims they have XC-level impact resistance and create a rounder tyre shape for more consistent grip and support. Measuring 25mm internal and 31mm on the outside, these wheels follow the trend of thick sidewalls, which are purported to reduce pinch flats. I haven’t had noble rim checks in my time on the Revolt so far, and the Cadex tyres are free from plugs.
At 25mm deep, the CXR1 are well-behaved in blustery winds, and the Giant branded hubs spin on DT Swiss ratchet internals, meaning they are easy to maintain and hard to kill.
Cadex is Giant’s in-house, higher end wheel and tyre outfit, though most of its product range is road focused, the Revolt sees a set of 40mm Cadex GX shoes. Using a dual compound tread, the centre strip sees a harder durometer rubber while the shoulders are a tackier rubber for cornering purchase They also see the brand’s dual-layer puncture protection and 170 TPI casing.
The tread pattern is reminiscent of a Maxxis Rambler or WTB Riddler, and they are a pretty good all-rounder. At 33psi in the front and 35psi in the rear, they are not the fastest rolling tyres, but more than make up for it in their predictability and grip when the surface is less than pristine. With a high thread count the casing is quite supple and there is ample bead-to-bead puncture protection. In short, these aren’t something I’d be swapping straight away.
While we’ve already devoted quite a bit of space on this page to the cockpit of the Revolt, Giant’s choice to use a two-piece bar and stem should be commended, even if the shape of the split spacers will limit your options to change the stem should you be looking for something longer or shorter.
Flow’s Verdict
Out pedalling the Giant Revolt, there isn’t a whole lot not to like about the way it rides. It’s comfortable, the position hits a happy medium where most folks can get comfy regardless of their level of flexibility. The natural handling characteristics make it stable enough to rumble through rock-strewn fire roads without fearing for your life but lively enough to hack it, navigating your way through a fast bunch — also without fearing for your life.
There’s ample tyre clearance and mounts for adventures where the focus is speed and scenery. The build also demonstrates pretty good value.
Put simply, it’s a bike that does everything pretty well. You can race it, you can ride it for fun, you can ride to cool places and when you get there, your touch points won’t be screaming at you.
While the cable routing and downtube storage could be improved, neither are deal breakers. In the case of the in-frame storage, I’d still prefer to have it than not.
However, it’s still a head-scratcher to me why this bike was launched without UDH compatibility only a few months before SRAM signalled that its gravel components were headed in that direction. Of course, the majority of groupsets don’t need the hanger-less interface, but it seems short-sighted to close the door on it for the sake of something most people will use once and then never touch again.
Even with that, the Revolt is a bloody good gravel bike, provided you’re not in the market for a $5,000+ AUD groupset to bolt onto it.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER - Colin Levitch
Gold Coast, QLD
175cm
Aggressively mediocre
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