Fuel EXe Trek Fuel EXe Megathread!

[Nato]

Picked up my 9.5 today. Very happy with how this bike turned out. Can’t wait to get out on it tomorrow.

 

[Hitorogoshi]

Has anybody ridden the 9.7 and compared its Fox suspension with the RockShox of higher end models, which seems to be not as plush as it could be? Lots of rocks and roots and lower speed trails here, so supple is a big selling point.

it's really a nothing question.... you can set it to your own desires. Less air = plush ride. Add tokens if you worried about bottoming out but by the sounds of things you won't be. Forget about those golden rule sag numbers if you want a plush ride. Just put in less air and you'll be fine for slow bumpy trails

 

[Hitorogoshi]

Picked up my 9.5 today. Very happy with how this bike turned out. Can’t wait to get out on it tomorrow.

View attachment 98229 View attachment 98230

View attachment 98231

that is still the best colour frame.... Nice rig.

 

[izzymtb]

Picked up my 9.5 today. Very happy with how this bike turned out. Can’t wait to get out on it tomorrow.

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View attachment 98231

What other upgrades did you do besides the obvious?

 

[eddiemac47]

Picked up my 9.5 today. Very happy with how this bike turned out. Can’t wait to get out on it tomorrow.

View attachment 98229 View attachment 98230

View attachment 98231

Gotta admit.... that is one sexy bike. I love the stealth bomber black.

 

[DugT]

Beeper and connector cover.
Does your EXe beep when it is supposed to? Mine doesn't. It is set up to beep when the assist level is changed but mine has never beeped.
Is there a helpful tip on how to attach the rubber cap on the charging connector on the bike? Sometimes mine goes on easily but it is usually a struggle and sometimes it seems impossible and I give up. The cap seems to be made of really good rubber and it doesn't look deformed but sometimes it just won't fit.
ps: I love this bike but I would love it even more if I could solve this minor niggles.

 

[Nato]

What other upgrades did you do besides the obvious?

All i've used of the original 9.5 is the frame, motor, seat and seat post, tyres and electrics. All the rest is in a pile waiting to be sold.
The bike has following upgrades.
Fox Factory 36 with 160mm travel
Fox Factory Float X shock
Sram GX AXS derailleur
Sram XO1 Polar Grey Cassette
Sram XX1 Gold chain
Bontrager Line Elite wheels
Deity Skywire Stealth Carbon bars
Deity Supracrush grips
Wolf Tooth ispec dropper remote
Wolf Tooth top cap
Ethirteen 40mm stem
Carbon stem spacers
XT Brakes
RT86 brake rotors, courtesy of Trek
Look X-Track enrage pedals.

I took it out for its maiden voyage this morning. I did 44km with 640 meters of climbing. I used a mix of eco and mid, both modes have been turned down form the default setting. I finished with 8% battery left. This bike handles extremely well, but she's a slow old ride uphill compared to my Rail, but when it levels out and and you keep your speed up, it's very fast between the trees. My suspension settings need a bit of work to get it working how i want and i think it would benefit from skinnier tyres as the 2.6's are just too big for it i feel. Overall it's a very impressive bike and it's nice to ride a bike that doesn't sound like it's going to fall apart going downhill.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

All i've used of the original 9.5 is the frame, motor, seat and seat post, tyres and electrics. All the rest is in a pile waiting to be sold.
The bike has following upgrades.
Fox Factory 36 with 160mm travel
Fox Factory Float X shock
Sram GX AXS derailleur
Sram XO1 Polar Grey Cassette
Sram XX1 Gold chain
Bontrager Line Elite wheels
Deity Skywire Stealth Carbon bars
Deity Supracrush grips
Wolf Tooth ispec dropper remote
Wolf Tooth top cap
Ethirteen 40mm stem
Carbon stem spacers
XT Brakes
Look X-Track enrage pedals.

I took it out for its maiden voyage this morning. I did 44km with 640 meters of climbing. I used a mix of eco and mid, both modes have been turned down form the default setting. I finished with 8% battery left. This bike handles extremely well, but she's a slow old ride uphill compared to my Rail, but when it levels out and and you keep your speed up, it's very fast between the trees. My suspension settings need a bit of work to get it working how i want and i think it would benefit from skinnier tyres as the 2.6's are just too big for it i feel. Overall it's a very impressive bike and it's nice to ride a bike that doesn't sound like it's going to fall apart going downhill.

View attachment 98305

I was going to say get them tyres off! The bike is transformed with 2.4” - I’m running DHR2 front and rear and works well

 

[Nato]

I was going to say get them tyres off! The bike is transformed with 2.4” - I’m running DHR2 front and rear and works well

2.4‘s are what I want to put on, just got to find some in stock somewhere.

 

[Balboa]

Hello, just bought my EXE9.5 yesterday. Opting for some upgrades and was wondering if a
RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate Coil RC2T 205 mm x 62,5 mm would fit. Or that 205*60 combined with a 160mm RS Zeb in fornt will be goog enough.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Hello, just bought my EXE9.5 yesterday. Opting for some upgrades and was wondering if a
RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate Coil RC2T 205 mm x 62,5 mm would fit. Or that 205*60 combined with a 160mm RS Zeb in fornt will be goog enough.

That coil should fit fine. At the bike launch noticed some of the Trek guys were running a RS coil

 

[Balboa]

That coil should fit fine. At the bike launch noticed some of the Trek guys were running a RS coil

Thanks, do you mean the 205x62.5 will fit fine or the 205x60? And is there a good sprincalculator? Found one for Fox springs. Never had a coil before so I'm wondering what will be the right springrate for me.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Thanks, do you mean the 205x62.5 will fit fine or the 205x60? And is there a good sprincalculator? Found one for Fox springs. Never had a coil before so I'm wondering what will be the right springrate for me.

Which size bike? I’m running 205x65 on an XL.

205mm is the eye to eye so any 205 shock should fit - the stroke just determine how much rear travel you’ll get. On my 65mm stroke there’s 152mm of travel at the rear and plenty of clearance at full compression (I tested without the spring on the shock).

 

[izzymtb]

All i've used of the original 9.5 is the frame, motor, seat and seat post, tyres and electrics. All the rest is in a pile waiting to be sold.
The bike has following upgrades.
Fox Factory 36 with 160mm travel
Fox Factory Float X shock
Sram GX AXS derailleur
Sram XO1 Polar Grey Cassette
Sram XX1 Gold chain
Bontrager Line Elite wheels
Deity Skywire Stealth Carbon bars
Deity Supracrush grips
Wolf Tooth ispec dropper remote
Wolf Tooth top cap
Ethirteen 40mm stem
Carbon stem spacers
XT Brakes
RT86 brake rotors, courtesy of Trek
Look X-Track enrage pedals.

I took it out for its maiden voyage this morning. I did 44km with 640 meters of climbing. I used a mix of eco and mid, both modes have been turned down form the default setting. I finished with 8% battery left. This bike handles extremely well, but she's a slow old ride uphill compared to my Rail, but when it levels out and and you keep your speed up, it's very fast between the trees. My suspension settings need a bit of work to get it working how i want and i think it would benefit from skinnier tyres as the 2.6's are just too big for it i feel. Overall it's a very impressive bike and it's nice to ride a bike that doesn't sound like it's going to fall apart going downhill.

View attachment 98305

That's an awesome set of upgrades (jealous). I test drove a 9.5 yesterday because the blue and black colors are more attractive to me than in 9.7 but the components with it just does not cut it for me plus it felt a lot more upfront heavy for some reason than the 9.7. I don't want to deal with selling all the extra parts and plus more money for sure if I go your route, so I'm sticking with 9.7 as I'm happy with those components. But definitely you have a nice ride, congrats.

 

[DugT]

I don’t know what 4414 is. I got that code a couple of weeks back and it didn’t store in memory when the dealer checked for it.

Yesterday I got it 3 times: once while coasting, once while pedaling, and once when plugging in to charge. I’m taking it to the dealer tomorrow to have it checked again.

Thanks for sharing your experience with that code. Tomorrow I'm going to call Trek USA and ask them about that error code.

 

[prolix2]

So...my LBS replaced the fuel exe for my wife but this time it came from a different branch because the previous branch had ran out of fuel exes. The different branch did not do a full 20km test ride before giving handing it to my wife. Prior to this, our normal LBS branch had done test rides on two other brand new fuel exes before it developed the same grinding noise problem.

Anyway, for the first ride the bike tested fine and was quiet with just a slight whirring noise. We then used a protective wrap on the bike as we were hopeful it was going to work fine! Today after my wife rode on rocky terrain for about 5 minutes, the grinding noise came back and was pretty much continuous. There is only rocky terrain where we live and there are no tracks that are smooth at all like what the other videos show.

This is just a really simple track where where the noise from the 3rd motor is apparent:
This is the new bike with the 6th motor on just the flat...the noise downhill was bad according to my wife. We did not have the GoPro with us on our ride today to record it so I rode it on the pavement outside our house this is the video below.


Is anyone else experiencing this grinding noise or is it just us? Is it supposed to sound like this?

We are just very confused by the situation. The first motor she had that developed the grinding noise is now at TQ as it showed lots of error codes before it started jerking. Anyway, we have rejected the bike and asked for a refund but gutted it did not work out!

 

[Zed]

Carbon EX-e 9.5 44 lb with onboard 360 WHr battery (not including a 160 WHr range extender weight TBD)
Alloy H15 Rise 44.5 lb with onboard 540 WHr battery (not including the 252 WHr range extender which is ~ 3 lb)
Carbon M10 Rise 42.7 lb with onboard 360 WHr battery (not including the 252 WHr range extender which is ~ 3 lb)

Probably want to factor in there tire choice, the Rise is underspec'd to get a lower weight, there's a pound in that. Many have poor fork choices too.

Where I am the Alloy H15 Rise is comparable pricing to Fuel EXe 9.8XT, much better spec and lighter, albeit with less WH.

 

[prolix2]

So...my LBS replaced the fuel exe for my wife but this time it came from a different branch because the previous branch had ran out of fuel exes. The different branch did not do a full 20km test ride before giving handing it to my wife. Prior to this, our normal LBS branch had done test rides on two other brand new fuel exes before it developed the same grinding noise problem.

Anyway, for the first ride the bike tested fine and was quiet with just a slight whirring noise. We then used a protective wrap on the bike as we were hopeful it was going to work fine! Today after my wife rode on rocky terrain for about 5 minutes, the grinding noise came back and was pretty much continuous. There is only rocky terrain where we live and there are no tracks that are smooth at all like what the other videos show.

This is just a really simple track where where the noise from the 3rd motor is apparent:
This is the new bike with the 6th motor on just the flat...the noise downhill was bad according to my wife. We did not have the GoPro with us on our ride today to record it so I rode it on the pavement outside our house this is the video below.


Is anyone else experiencing this grinding noise or is it just us? Is it supposed to sound like this?

We are just very confused by the situation. The first motor she had that developed the grinding noise is now at TQ as it showed lots of error codes before it started jerking. Anyway, we have rejected the bike and asked for a refund but gutted it did not work out!

 

[prolix2]

I'm having the same grinding noise beginning on my 9.7 at about 60 miles. Worsening gradually. Initially intermittent only when coasting presumably with the motor not making any torque and peddling slower than the speed so that no torque on the crank, which produced grinding sound which went away as soon as I applied any torque from the crank and the motor would start. Now it is more nearly continuous and occurs even when applying minor torque through the crank but goes away with more torque from the crank and the motor. It is exactly the same sound as in your recording. I just can't seem to attach my recording to this reply. To me it sounds like a plastic gear meshing wrongly.

 

[Jujujuice]

I'm having the same grinding noise beginning on my 9.7 at about 60 miles. Worsening gradually. Initially intermittent only when coasting presumably with the motor not making any torque and peddling slower than the speed so that no torque on the crank, which produced grinding sound which went away as soon as I applied any torque from the crank and the motor would start. Now it is more nearly continuous and occurs even when applying minor torque through the crank but goes away with more torque from the crank and the motor. It is exactly the same sound as in your recording. I just can't seem to attach my recording to this reply. To me it sounds like a plastic gear meshing wrongly.

Hey mate sorry to hear that... Yeah my wife had that on 4 different motors ( 2 different bikes) and the mechanics faced that same issue during their test ride on two different fuel exes... It is exactly what my wife experienced on her fuel exe as initially it was just a quiet grumbling noise and then with every ride it got progressively worse. She test rode it for around 25km on the first day and it made a slight grumbling noise which was tolerable but on the second test ride, it became very loud and then with the third test ride, it made a very distinctive grumbling noise. She was told to keep riding it until 200km to see if the noise went away but she rather ride her yeti analogue bike without the grumbling noise. We normally ride 100km a week rain or shine so the problem came up pretty fast for her.

It seems to be maybe a production issue given lots of people are not having this problem? Anyway she opted for the refund in the end and is very happy with her yeti analogue bike and trek rail if she wants to do multiple laps...

 

[thecellofellow]

It's a sad day, but I'm canceling my Fuel EXe order for 3 reasons:

1) Maybe forums attract the most disgruntled users (selection bias) but based on accounts in this thread and elsewhere it sure seems like Trek is having an issue keeping these bikes running. Trek, if you're reading this, I'm cancelling my order primarily out of concern this groundbreaking bike will spend more time in the shop than out on the trails.

2) Specialized just discounted their Turbo Kenevo SLs by 25%. Spec-for-spec, I estimate the average price difference across the lineup at about US$1-2k in the Kenevo's favor. It's not the bleeding edge, the motor is weaker and louder, but this is my first eMTB and it's gonna blow my mind regardless.

3) I picked my spec/color mostly on build date, hoping for fall riding (gonna swap out the parts anyway) and my build date keeps getting pushed out (first September, then December, now next year?). This week I spoke to a rider who just got his (similar spec as mine) and said he "knew the right guy" at the shop to get one on relatively short notice - he only just learned about the bike a couple weeks ago, whereas I placed my order back in August. I don't know for sure if line-jumping is happening, but it would explain a lot.

I hope I'm wrong on all the above (well, except the Kenevo discount) and that you all have awesome experiences on your EXes, but I gotta go with my gut on this one. Happy trails!

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Sorry to hear of issues. I’ll notify TQ of these comments. Seems some are having issues (where are you based in terms of Geography?)

My demo is running superb in this setup

 

[Zed]

Hey mate sorry to hear that... Yeah my wife had that on 4 different motors ( 2 different bikes) and the mechanics faced that same issue during their test ride on two different fuel exes... It is exactly what my wife experienced on her fuel exe as initially it was just a quiet grumbling noise and then with every ride it got progressively worse. She test rode it for around 25km on the first day and it made a slight grumbling noise which was tolerable but on the second test ride, it became very loud and then with the third test ride, it made a very distinctive grumbling noise. She was told to keep riding it until 200km to see if the noise went away but she rather ride her yeti analogue bike without the grumbling noise. We normally ride 100km a week rain or shine so the problem came up pretty fast for her.

It seems to be maybe a production issue given lots of people are not having this problem? Anyway she opted for the refund in the end and is very happy with her yeti analogue bike and trek rail if she wants to do multiple laps...

I actually have a noise that sounds very similar to Juju's recording, but it only occurs every now and then. I can't seem to find a set of circumstances that produces it. I can be riding along a flat concrete bike path in ECO with what is from my side constant effort, and it will grind for a stroke or two or three, and then disappear. Doesn't seem to affect power or feel weird through the pedals. It's kind of a fluttering noise, hard to describe. It might happen a handful of times in a 90 minute ride. I'm not at the point of raising with the shop yet but will at first service, when I go back to mainly try and get the correct carbon cranks.

Other than that, loving the bike. It's funny though now I've used a low powered bike I have to admit, the Specialized SLs probably would be enough. It never seemed like they would be on paper. The Kenevo would be too much for my trails and make it boring, but I'd entertain the Levo SL. Not sure they ever had comparable spec to the 9.8XT for those dollars though, not here in AUS.

EDIT: I'm at 280km/43 hours.

 

[Hitorogoshi]

Sorry to hear of issues. I’ll notify TQ of these comments. Seems some are having issues (where are you based in terms of Geography?)

My demo is running superb in this setup

Hey Rob - would we void our warranty if we copied the setup? ie - increasing the travel over the recommended specs

 

[Jujujuice]

L

Sorry to hear of issues. I’ll notify TQ of these comments. Seems some are having issues (where are you based in terms of Geography?)

My demo is running superb in this setup

View attachment 98420

looks like an amazing setup!!!

 

[Zed]

I was going to say get them tyres off! The bike is transformed with 2.4” - I’m running DHR2 front and rear and works well

Yeah some decent tires would do more than all those $$$ upgrades

2.5 3C Assegai fixed mine right up...

 

[Zed]

The Levo SL is quite different to the Fuel from a geometry and motor power curve. The SL required a reasonably high cadence and there were hills it struggled on if you did not get the right gear, the Fuel is better than the SL in both these areas.

And is substantially better spec for the price.

Yeah I know. But I've been so happy with the EX-e in ECO, I think I could have lived with less than the TQ motor. Not saying I wish I did go Specialized, or that anyone else should, but just that it's more of a viable option than I realised.

Of course if I start getting these motor problems......

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

I wonder if these will work in the Fuel EXe...

Trek Angle-Adjust Headset Cup - Trek Bikes (GB)

www.trekbikes.com

 

[DugT]

I wonder if these will work in the Fuel EXe...

Trek Angle-Adjust Headset Cup - Trek Bikes (GB)

www.trekbikes.com

Today I spoke with Trek Support and they said the Fuel EX angle adjustment gizmo does not work with the EXe. 9point8 makes them for integrated headsets like the EXe has.

 

[DugT]

The Trek Support person that I spoke with today wasn't familiar with the 4414 HW error code but he said he would investigate and get back to me.

He didn't know why my bike doesn't beep when I press the assist button but he will look into that too. I would like that beep feedback because then I would know if I pressed the button hard enough. It takes a couple of seconds for the assist level to change to immediate feedback would help, especially when going up a scary steep hill.

He said he wasn't aware of anyone having a problem getting the cap onto the charging connector. I told him that I smeared a tiny bit of silicone grease on the interface parts of the cap and now it slides on and off almost too easy. Grease will collect dust so if you use some, use very little.