Long travel, long range – the 2025 Trek Slash+ is here

The new electric Trek Slash+ has 170 mm suspension travel, a 29er wheel up front and a 27.5 at the back. It’s designed as a mullet bike strictly, there is no room for a 29” rear wheel. The exception is the size small frame, it has 27.5” wheels at both ends. The Slash+ looks very much like the non-assist Trek Slash. It’s difficult to tell the two bikes apart, and that’s mostly thanks to the TQ HPR50 motor system.

TQ HPR50 and a 580 Wh battery​

Trek already know how to make a stealth ebike, they did so with the Fuel EX-e. The new Trek Slash+ gets the same compact and silent TQ motor. See my review of the motor for all the details.


But the Slash+ doesn’t get the same 360 Wh battery, this bike ships with a new 580 Wh battery. Using an adapter, the Slash+ is backwards compatible with the smaller battery. And they’re both detachable. The 580 Wh battery was introduced just a few weeks ago, and it’s an interesting one.

What’s so special about it, you say? It weighs 2,65 kg according to TQ. Just three quarters of a kilo more than the old, smaller battery. That’s about the same as an external mount 500 Wh Shimano battery used to weigh back in the days. I’m excited to see new battery tech making its way to ebikes!



We haven’t tested the bike, nor the battery. But a bigger battery is also more powerful. The 580 Wh version won’t be pushed as hard as the smaller one when riding with high assistance. Consequently, less energy will be lost to heat. I won’t be surprised if, in some scenarios, the new battery has close to twice the range of the smaller one.

2025 Trek Slash+​

Trek starts off with the Slash+ 9.9 and the Slash+ 9.7, both with carbon frames. 9.7 usually means a half-way reasonable price tag. But the Slash+ seems to be about 10% more expensive than the Fuel EX-e, putting the Slash+ 9.7 at £7.500 (€7.999). The Trek Slash+ 9.9 easily beats that with its £11.000 (€11.999) price tag.

The Slash+ 9.7 is nicely specced, apart from the flimsy Bontrager XR5 tyres. The Shimano Deore M6120 brakes and Fox 38 Rhythm fork perform surprisingly well, although one might expect more for £7.500 RRP. Hopefully, Trek will find room for a decently specced and noticeably cheaper 9.5 version too. And I expect alloy versions will be out at some point.

High pivot!​

It’s impossible to miss the rear triangle on the new Trek Slash+! This “high pivot” design looks so interesting and it’s not a new idea. We’ve seen high-pivot bikes before. Attaching the chainstays higher on the frame allows the back wheel to travel slightly rearwards as the suspension is compressed. That way, the wheel won’t hook up as hard when going into obstacles. The disadvantage was decreased pedaling efficiency.

One might argue pedaling efficiency is of less importance on an emtb. But this is a mild and lightweight emtb that needs to pedal well. Trek says the size and placement of the upper idler has allowed them to create a high-pivot bike that pedals well. And the anti-squat graph they provide sure looks promising. The non-assist Slash has got a similar design, so chances are we’ll have a comparable result on the + model.

Frame geometry​

I think the geometry of the Rail and Fuel EX-e has been great. And unsurprisingly, the Slash+ has slightly burlier looking geometry data. Trek has ditched their “Mino-link” adjustable frame geometry and replaced it with an adjustable headset cup. The headset can be set to “slack”, “nominal” and “steep”.

In the normal, I mean nominal setting, we get a nice and slack 63.5* head angle. The effective seat tube angle is about 77*, depending on frame size. According to this geometry table, the chainstay length is all over the place. Thankfully, Trek tells us it’s 434 mm for size S, 440 mm for M & L and 445 mm for the XL.


The longest wheelbase is achieved with the headset cup in the slack position, that gives us a nice 1.276 mm for size L. It’s not super long considering the long suspension travel, that’s because of the quite short chainstays. The Slash+ has the looks of a burly and capable descender that leans more towards playfulness rather than stability.

My thoughts​

Who wants a burly, long travel, hard hitter with a mild motor? Quite a few people, probably. I get the impression some people will buy a ~150 mm travel superlight emtb and attempt to increase suspension travel and slacken the bike. For all of you, this might just be the bike you really wanted! And if you insist on increasing the fork travel, Trek says 190 mm will be fine.


I think the high pivot design looks very interesting. It seems there was an issue with chain drop when it was introduced on the non-assist Slash, but this is supposedly sorted. And the light 580 Wh battery is very welcome on a lightweight ebike. It should offer good range in combination with the mild TQ motor.

But is the Slash+ really a Superlight bike? I can’t see Trek claim it’s superlight, and I can’t see them stating the weight anywhere. Running 38 mm stanchion forks, it probably isn’t superlight. But I’m sure it’s light enough for me. Somewhere not too far above 20 kg perhaps?

Update: Bike weight is now out on the Trek website. 20.38 kg for the 9.7 and 20.88 kg for the 9.9.