For Adam Miller, leading Revel was like riding a bike.
The founder of the Carbondale-based mountain bike maker says the company regained profitability within three months of him reviving the brand this spring, after the private equity firm that controlled it announced it would shut down.
“We’ve got the O.G. crew together to get the brand back to what we were doing and adapt it to the times,” said Miller.
Miller founded Revel in 2016 and said sales were growing 300% to 600% annually before he sold the company in 2021 to Next Sparc, an Ohio-based private equity firm. The investment was meant to boost Revel’s supply chain.
“We were considered one of the fastest-growing mountain biking companies,” Miller said. “And we were growing so fast that I wanted to sell the business and stay on board.”
Next Sparc did go to work on the supply chain. In early 2023, the company opened a 12,000-square-foot satellite office in Taiwan, the bike manufacturing capital of the world, with six employees. Typically, smaller bike companies like Revel use third-party manufacturers instead of hiring in house.
But the expansion came with changes.
Instead of focusing on customizable bikes, as it previously had, Revel’s new owner sold pre-built frames it had already boxed up, much to the chagrin of Miller. Wholesaling also became more of a priority than direct-to-consumer sales.
Sales started to tick down as a COVID-induced bike industry boom subsided.
“It was extremely archaic and you had too much cash tied up in inventory,” Miller said of the system. “We’d have a sales plan for 18 months… and just take a guess” at what would sell.
Miller stayed on as CEO through fall 2023 before transitioning to an advisory role. In April 2024, he left.
“I retained a minority stake and still ended up departing the company due to differences of ideas, the growth at all costs strategy that Next Sparc brought, which just ultimately takes away from creating the best products,” Miller said.
“It’s a really unique business, and it’s hard to pour money on things and expect things to happen,” he added.
In April of this year, Revel announced it was shutting down and that unsecured creditors would likely receive nothing.
“Regrettably, though we have tried every avenue possible, we have exhausted all options and run out of funds to support the business,” the company said.
A month later, Miller found out that JPMorgan Chase was going to foreclose on the business, so he bought Revel’s assets from the bank. He declined to disclose what he paid.
Since assuming control, Miller has hired Mike Griese, Revel’s head of product from 2016 to 2018, along with three marketing and sales people from his original team. He has also had the company revert to focus on customizable bikes. That, he said, allowed him to reduce prices by 25% to 30% in June. The average Revel bike now costs $4,000 to $11,000.
The build-to-order model has also helped Revel better adjust to rollercoaster tariff policy from the federal government, Miller said. Even before President Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day,” tariffs on completed bikes from Taiwan to the U.S. were 11%. The number for parts was at 3.9%.
“That’s an example of a tariff policy with logic behind it and we could adjust practices to that tariff,” Miller said, explaining that its carbon frame is nearly impossible to make in the United States. The old numbers, he said, protected American assembly jobs.
“But now there’s no logic,” he added.
Today, Miller has to add 20% to those numbers. To avoid the duties on some international sales, Revel has set up a drop-shipping program in Taiwan. Instead of having every bike come to the U.S., only stateside orders come to Carbondale.
While international sales make up only 20% of Revel’s business, it’s a growing segment. Miller mentioned Japan as Revel’s most emergent market.
“If a customer in Canada wants a bike, it makes no sense to ship it here first,” he said. “It’s very country dependent… The main goal is to stay super nimble.”
Miller said 2025 revenue is projected to finish somewhere between flat and up a few percent from 2024. Revel’s roughly $10 million in sales last year represented a “significant drop” from the years before, he said.
On the product side, Miller said Revel has more experimental bikes in its stable than ever. Though he declined to share specifics on what trailriders can expect, he said they’ll be out there ripping through dirt next year.
“We’re not here to sell bikes at a discount and compete with Specialized and Trek,” Miller said. “We’re here to make the best bikes we can.”
Read more from our partner, BusinessDen.
Get more business news by signing up for our Economy Now newsletter.