For me, this Giant Revolt Advance 1 has been a game changer and sea change from my previous bike, a trusty Genesis Croix de Fer. To be fair the Croix is a 15 year old, steel frame cycle cross (pre-gravel) bike, so I should expect a difference. It's been a great bike and I've done 1000's of miles on it. It had it's group set replaced by a 2x Shimano GRX400 hydraulic brake setup 3 years ago, but it's big limitation was its tire clearance, maximum 35mm front, 38mm rear. So, seeing this bike was discounted by £900, has received lots of good reviews and was available on the Cycle2Work scheme it seemed too good an offer to ignore. I thought it would be better, but I did not think it would be as good as it is. The main differences for me are: It is much much better off-road. I feel I have more grip, more suspension and comfort off-road. Trails which were previously bone shaking and uncomfortable are now fun, I'm seeking them out rather than avoiding them. I think it's a combination of larger 45mm tubeless tires (I like that it can go up to 53mm), which I run at a lower pressure, but also I think the frame has more compliance, and the handlebars are supposed to have a bit of flex in them, even the dropper seat post seems to have about 7mm of suspension in it. Even the geometry of the bike seems better suited to gravel riding, I cannot identify how, just that it is. On the road, it seems faster too. While the 45mm Maxxis Ramblers are wider than my previous bike (35/38mm) they seem to offer less rolling resistance while still having a decent knobbles for off-road grip. The weight of my Revolt (size) ML is 10. 2kg with pedals, 4kg lighter than my Croix de Fer. The wheels are lighter too, 500g lighter at the rear and 250g on the front, even with bigger tires. it is noticeable when you need to give it a kick of acceleration, it responds much better. Overall it seems faster. Since changing bike, I've logged PR's on most of my regular climbs and on the off-road it seems noticeable faster for the same effort. My cycling buddy was asking me to slow down, when previously it was me keeping up with him. The 1x group set has, so far, had a low enough gear ratio for me. I was worried that it might not be as low as my previous bike, but it is (40/44T is the low gear) and has managed the steeper climbs ok and I am not so often using the lowest gear. Highest gear is sometimes spinning on a fast descent but I don't think that's an issue. The spacing of gears is also fine, I thought after a 2x I would miss the small graduations between gears but I have not noticed any loss and I have found it easy to find the right gear to maintain my cadence. The mechanical gear changes are precise up and down. Changing from Shimano to SRAM did not take much to get used to it. The hydraulic brakes are good, the feel is not quite as good as my previous Shimano GRX but maybe it will get better with more use and it's not an issue while riding. Handlebars are only very slightly flared, not like some gravel bikes which have bars closer to 45 degrees. Not a criticism just an observation. No issues with the tubeless tires, they have held pressure all week with no discernable drop in pressure. The paintwork is a sort of pearlescent sheen that is a sort of pale peach grey. It's very difficult to describe. It's not a colour I would chose, but there is no choice. It's not offensive, but nor is it "wow that looks good", perhaps it's a "stealth" colour scheme? Tredz allowed me to reserve the bike for up to 30 days, while I was waiting for my Cycle2Work voucher to be processed. This was a relief, because I could see the bikes going out of stock on Giant's home website. Once processed, bike build and delivery wass quick. I was also impressed with Tredz because quality inspection by them showed that some cosmetic damage had occurred to the front forks which had chipped some paint. Structurally the bike was fine, but a chip is a chip right? They offered my a choice of a voucher (for a decent amount) if I took the bike with a chip, or they could get a new bike with no damage. I opted for the later. The key thing is that I was impressed that they spotted it and gave me the choice. Apparently often customers take the voucher because they know it is not long before it gets a chip anyhow. There were two negatives on the bike build though: The spokes of the rear wheel became very loose on my second ride (first ride 40km). I should have checked but naïvely thought a new bike would be fine on the second ride. I was able to tighten them when I returned, but It was very disconcerting the amount of noise it was making. I had to tighten every spoke by a lot, maybe 1. 5 turns each. I think that should have been spotted, I don't think they would loosen by that much while bedding in? The front wheel is fine and all spokes are tight. I may just have been unlucky. The second smaller issue was the rear gear change mechanism. The stop screw on the lowest gear was way out, which I discovered when I shifted the chain off the lowest gear into the spokes of the rear wheel. Luckily I was going very slowly and didn't do any damage. Again I should have checked but would have thought that was a simple check on a build? So while the above is a small criticism of Tredz, I would say the Giant feels very well made and built in itself. Overall, a fantastic bike, even better given the big discount, and better still if you can get it on the Cycle2Work scheme.