Giant and Liv Buck Industry Trends With the New Revolt and Devote Advanced SL

Giant and Liv have unveiled their new gravel bike line, a month after a prototype version of the new Giant Revolt was ridden to a fourth place at Unbound Gravel. Both the Revolt and the Liv Devote were both teased at the biggest show in gravel, and the official release confirms many of our suspicions.

In total, the two bikes have made a large step forward in creating cutting-edge, modern gravel race bikes that cut weight, decrease drag, and adjust the geometry to promote better handling over rough terrain with large tires.

The flagship models of the release are the Giant Revolt Advanced SL and the Liv Devote Advanced SL, which are the highest specced frames that feature a refined carbon layup and high-end materials that create incredibly lightweight frames. Previously, the SL frames were only used in the brand’s aero road bikes and Anthem cross-country bike, making the new SL Revolt and Devote frames a first for the brand.

Seven quick hits for the Giant Revolt Advanced SL

• 839g frame weight, a 151g reduction in weight from the previous Revolt.
• 13.81 watts of linear drag reduction.
• 53mm of tire clearance, front and rear.
• UDH compatible, with complete builds exclusively using the SRAM AXS XPLR family of groupsets.
• Increased wheelbase and chainstay length to enhance stability on a bike with larger-volume tires.
• A 29mm shorter stack height, longer reach, and a steeper seat tube angle, allowing for more aggressive riding positions.
• New Cadex gravel wheels and tires to improve the complete bike system.
• Visit Giant’s website to learn more.

Additional details for the Liv Devote Advanced SL

• 830g frame weight, a 160g reduction in weight from the previous Devote.
• 14.44 watts of linear drag reduction.
• Adjusted frame sizes, geometry, and finishing components to provide a better framework for a rider size distribution that skews towards smaller riders.
• Visit Liv’s website to learn more.

Giant Revolt Advanced SL and Liv Devote Advanced SL frame details

The Liv Devote and the Giant Revolt are not the same bike however, the two are launching at the same time and chasing the same advancements in the same way. Both frames look to do the same thing: cut weight, provide aero gains, and improve the balance of compliance and stiffness to accommodate modern racing.

To achieve this, Giant leaned on its capacity as one of the world’s top carbon fiber bike manufacturers, utilizing that in-house expertise to refine the frames at the material level. The brand touts the resulting SL manufacturing process as a major leap forward in material engineering for both the Giant Revolt and Liv Devote. This process relies on a proprietary high-modulus carbon resin formula featuring Carbon Nanotube Technology (CNT) and cold-blade cutting. These techniques produce precise, low-tolerance fibers that can be molded to meticulously tune a frame’s compliance and stiffness. Ultimately, this material optimization translates to significant weight savings: the Revolt drops 150 grams from the frame and 288 grams overall, while the Devote trims 160 grams from the frame and 297 grams from the complete build.

While the weight reduction jumps off the page, the increased stiffness might be the more significant upgrade to the core frame design. Giant emphasized maximizing both lateral and pedaling stiffness to achieve peak pedaling efficiency. According to the brand, the Devote improves its pedaling stiffness by 16.9%, its lateral stiffness by 1.9%, and its steering efficiency by 25%. The Revolt follows a similar pattern, increasing its pedaling efficiency by 15.4%, lateral stiffness by 1.9%, and steering efficiency by 35.2%. Ultimately, this results in a stiffness-to-weight ratio gain of 25% and 31%, respectively.

Optimizing stiffness isn’t always the goal of all gravel race bikes—in fact, most use compliance (vertical flex) as a primary selling point. That is also true for both the Giant and Liv models; Giant simply engineers that compliance into the frames through design aspects like chainstay length, extra tire width, and seat tube shaping. In total, these adjustments to the overall system create a rolling resistance gain of 3.03 watts through the frame’s vibration damping and larger volume tires.

Aerodynamics also see a bump over previous models. Giant claims a 13.8-watt drag reduction across a +/- 20-degree yaw angle sweep for the complete bike. However, the brand did not specify the testing speed, and it appears the bulk of that efficiency stems from the new one-piece integrated cockpit. The frameset alone accounts for 3.72 watts of the savings, with the remainder coming from updated components like the handlebars and wheels.

Giant Revolt Advanced SL geometry / Liv Devote Advanced SL geometry

The major geometry updates for the Revolt and Devote feature a significant shift toward a longer wheelbase. This moves away from the industry trend of prioritizing ultra-short chainstays. Typically, most gravel bikes sit in the 420 to 425mm chainstay range to maintain snappy handling regardless of tire size. The conventional design philosophy pairs a slack front end for stability with a tight rear triangle for quick steering, making Giant’s move toward a longer footprint a distinct departure.

Giant bucks this trend by stretching the chainstays to 433mm while keeping the front-end angles and reach balanced. The result is a long bike that retains its agility. Because high-volume tires raise the overall ride height, they naturally compensate for the longer wheelbase to keep the handling nimble. Those elongated chainstays, paired with dropped seatstays, also generate crucial vertical compliance to absorb the harsh hits and vibrations of gravel riding.

This longer rear center also solves the packaging nightmare of cramming a rear wheel tightly against the seat tube. Rather than forcing design compromises, the Revolt and Devote maintain standard road bottom bracket spacing, clear 53mm tires, and preserve 2x drivetrain compatibility.

Finally, to accommodate modern bike fits and preserve a neutral weight distribution across that longer footprint, Giant steepened the seat tube angle, lengthened the reach, and lowered the stack height.

Giant Revolt Advanced SL

Liv Devote Advanced SL

Giant Revolt Advanced SL and Liv Devote Advanced SL build details

Both the Revolt and the Devote use a full suite of Cadex components to round out the respective builds. The handlebar for each is a new one-piece bar stem combination, specific to the gravel bikes, that cuts weight and adds to the overall steering stiffness of the bike. The seatpost, on the other hand, is geared towards compliance. The post uses a proprietary D-shaped post that tapers and curves towards the top. This is fashioned to build in key aspects of compliance to the rear of the bike, where most of the fatiguing vibrations emanate from in gravel riding.

For build specs, the top-of-the-line Advanced SL models are built with SRAM RED XPLR groupsets. As we noted in our article that covered the prototype of the bike, the frames are now UDH compatible. This will be a welcome change for the brand after Giant was the last brand without a gravel bike with that technology.

The Devote frames have all the same Cadex technology as the Revolt, only adjusted to a different size distribution on many of the components. That being said, the components aren’t adjusted all that much, with no handlebar widths below 380mm and cranks below 165mm.

Cadex GXR Wheels

The last piece to the puzzle of the new gravel line is the Cadex GXR wheels that add more stiffness and aerodynamics to the gravel platforms. The new wheels offer a modern platform for the bikes with carbon-bladed spokes built into the hubs to offer an aerodynamic, stiff foundation for the 50mm deep, hookless rims.

Similar to many other gravel wheels that have come out over the last year, the GXR wheels have a broad carbon bead that flares out to offer better puncture protection and aerodynamics. Despite that, the wheels retain a conservative 25mm internal width, with the 5mm beads offering a 35mm external width. Altogether, Cadex claims that the new rims improve the aerodynamics of the wheelset by 3.74 watts across a broad yaw angle sweep.

With the GXR wheels—like the two frames—the priority is firmly in that stiffness-to-weight ratio area. Weighing in at 1,280g for the set, the wheelset is competitive as a lightweight, aero option. In terms of stiffness, Cadex claims that the new wheels added 20% transmission stiffness compared to its previous gravel wheelset.

The accepted tire size range runs from 40mm to 57mm (2.25 inches), and the wheelset has an MSRP of $4,000 USD, €3,799 EUR, £3,499 GBP, and $5,399 AUD.

Availability

The Giant Revolt and Liv Devote are only made with the Advanced SL construction. Since that type of frame construction comes from GTM factory in Taiwan, currently the bike is not available in the US market. Due to the current Withhold Release Order (WRO) on goods from the GTM factory, all Advanced SL bikes, including these new gravel bikes, remain blocked from entering the United States market.

Here is what Giant told Velo about the hold and the timeline around the Advanced SL bikes in the United States:

“Giant Group has been working diligently with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to resolve the Withhold Release Order (WRO) regarding products produced by Giant Manufacturing. We are committed to demonstrating continued full cooperation with the WRO process. However, as the WRO is currently under CBP review, we cannot provide a specific timeframe for product availability at this moment.”