Fuel EXe Trek Fuel EXe Megathread!

Xinto

Member
Jun 21, 2022
17
20
Finland
Looks like bikes in the Southern Hemisphere are more prone to issues?
Northern Hemisphere is still on the line getting the bikes, when those at south have had the bikes since release date.
Seems like most of the bikes to Finland got pushed to March 2023.
 

Rob Rides EMTB

Administrator
Staff member
Subscriber
Jan 14, 2018
6,260
13,700
Surrey, UK
They've just dropped in the UK in the last week. Be interesting to see how they get on, especially since we are approaching rain season!
 

izzymtb

New Member
Sep 1, 2022
18
12
SoCal
It is with great happiness that I eat my words. After talking to the "service advisor" guy who is apparently not a mechanic, I took the bike in, with not high hopes. He tried to run diags, came out and said the display is dead, dragged one of the new ones off the floor. Came back out with mine all working, latest firmware etc, all sorted. Maybe 20 mins after I arrived I was leaving with a working bike. I'm really happy with that, and I can ride tomorrow.

Maybe water got in the display, I did wash it, but then I've washed it loads of times the same way. Dunno.
When washing, My LBS said to avoid hosing down an e-bike and just use a super wet rag.
 

DugT

Active member
Sep 4, 2022
136
119
Truckee, CA
The parts most vulnerable to water damage are the dash display and the motor, even though the Fuel motor is more water resistant than most emtb motors. Hosing off 90% of the bike should be ok. I plan to hose off my bike but first I will tape over the display and I will not spray near the motor.

Wiping dirt on paint is bad for the paint. It is best to remove as much dirt as possible before wiping.
 

Free_Tibet

Member
Aug 30, 2022
37
21
Australia
The parts most vulnerable to water damage are the dash display and the motor, even though the Fuel motor is more water resistant than most emtb motors. Hosing off 90% of the bike should be ok. I plan to hose off my bike but first I will tape over the display and I will not spray near the motor.

Wiping dirt on paint is bad for the paint. It is best to remove as much dirt as possible before wiping.
Anyone else pondering that water might possibly get in via the cable routing holes at the top of the downtube... then run down to the battery area? 🤔
 

Zed

Active member
Feb 26, 2019
369
320
Brisbane, Australia
Anyone else pondering that water might possibly get in via the cable routing holes at the top of the downtube... then run down to the battery area? 🤔
Water does get in the downtube after washing. If I remove the battery afterwards there's a bit of water around the battery itself, not heaps but some. Shining a torch up the downtube (lol) the bits around the charge port etc look damp. So it does get in there. It gets in around the display I guess but also through the cable channels. I figured this was acceptable and stuff in there was designed in such a way to deal with it. Looking at the bits I can see it doesn't seem like it would be an issue to me. The battery connector is at the bottom, never gets wet there and even if it did run down the connector design would cope with it.

As far as (in other posts) the idea of not hosing I mean... what lol? I use a gentle hose and rinse off a LOT of red dust and some mud after most rides, like I've done with all my ebikes since 2017... If the bike can't cope with that it needs to be fixed so it does, because it would get the same treatment in a storm. Wet ragging all that off all the time... errr, no thanks. In my case here if the fault was indeed water ingress rather than an electrical fault (don't really know), the way I see it the display wasn't sealed as properly as it should be. Surely it should be able to cope with getting wet.

I know it goes against the instincts water and electricity but hey, never been electrocuted by a power washer :) ... yet.

Bike went fine for the ride this morning. Not sure I even heard that occasional grinding noise today.
 
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grock

Member
Jul 15, 2022
11
23
80020
Everything I hoped it would be. Brought the joy back to riding. Even the boring flat sections of the trail are fun again. Can't wait to ride.

IMG_1353.jpeg
 

stantaur

Member
Sep 2, 2022
6
3
Portland, OR
Has anyone had an EXe motor cut out & click a couple of times (for a half second each)? I test rode a 9.8 up our paved hill that climbs 350 ft in 0.6 mi. Display showed output between 240 - 260 Watts in Mode 2 (middle) averaging 6 MPH. Just after that, I did a short climb (maybe 50 ft rise) in Mode 3 (top power mode). This leg of the test took battery down from 90% to 80% - we did the same loop again later and it took another 10% out of the indicated charge.

Thinking the hiccups might be thermal management / throttling, but figured I should ask the folks here who have more experience with the bike. This and the battery consumption are a little concerning as I'm trying to decide between two 43 lb bikes - EXe 9.7 vs. Orbea Rise M10 demo on sale at roughly the same price ($7600 USD).

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on the reliability of this new platform.
 

Cell4soul

E*POWAH Master
Jul 11, 2022
518
1,325
Mesa, AZ
I owned a Rise for about 1 year and now have the EXe. If you want more power and longer range, but don’t mind a noisy motor and typical EMTB looks, then get the Rise. If you want a little less power and range, but want the quiet motor and stealth EMTB look, get the EXe.

I also watch the battery percentage drop faster than I like, but somehow still manage about 25 miles and 3,000’ elevation. This is more than sufficient for me. The EXe takes more rider effort to reach those numbers than the Rise. With the EXe, you’ll almost forget you are on an EMTB because of the quiet motor and very smooth power delivery.

I will also say this about the Rise, the power delivery is very intuitive to the rider input and does seem to adjust based on your input. I think they call this the Ride Synergy system and it is as good as advertised.
 

Balboa

Member
Sep 25, 2022
46
23
NL
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 98231
Nice bike! This is more or less the same setup I'm going to do. Was in doubt about a coil, but wanna try this Float X first. Do you like the combination of the Fox 36 with the Float X on the EXE?

Did you have to use any bushings, or was it just plug&play with the damper?
 
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Nato

Member
Jan 10, 2020
50
98
Australia
Nice bike! This is more or less the same setup I'm going to do. Was in doubt about a coil, but wanna try this Float X first. Do you like the combination of the Fox 36 with the Float X on the EXE?

Did you have to use any bushings, or was it just plug&play with the damper?
Thanks mate. I’ve only had two rides on it so I’m still dialling in the suspension. The shock feels pretty firm even with the sag set at 25% I’ll keep working on it and hopefully get it up how I like it. If not I have an X2 with a 65mm stroke that I’ll try on it.
I bought a Fox 40mm x 8mm mounting kit for the shock but you would be able to use the original mounting hardware if you have the tools to press out the bushing.
 

kazowie

New Member
Sep 4, 2022
7
11
Australia
It is with great happiness that I eat my words. After talking to the "service advisor" guy who is apparently not a mechanic, I took the bike in, with not high hopes. He tried to run diags, came out and said the display is dead, dragged one of the new ones off the floor. Came back out with mine all working, latest firmware etc, all sorted. Maybe 20 mins after I arrived I was leaving with a working bike. I'm really happy with that, and I can ride tomorrow.

Maybe water got in the display, I did wash it, but then I've washed it loads of times the same way. Dunno.
These are all the same symptoms I had. My LBS had seen it before and in both cases was fixed by replacing the display unit. I thought water was a potential culprit, but the display unit is IP66 rated. More likely it’s a hardware issue. If others encounter this, I found the display unit could be turned on by plugging the charger in, which is a pretty sad hack but at least it’s something.
 

BBFII

Member
Nov 4, 2020
14
12
Madison Wisconsin
Does anybody know what pattern the E13 chainring is? Shimano, Bosch or Brose?

Has anybody gone up to a 34t?
The TQ to Chainring/Spider connector is TQ's own lobe design. Depending on your level, you got a 1pc e13 or 2pc-spider. 2pc spider shown in the pic is 104 BCD that will fit any standard ring. (you may be able to order this as a spare part)
34t: you CAN fit it, but after riding many iterations, the 32t has the best range for me. Larger ring can push the chain outside the main pivot center, creating more pedal bob. The only reason I could see doing this is if you are very fit and/or spinning out your cassette 10t often. What is the main driver for trying a 34t? maybe it is something else.

EXe-CHAINRING.jpg
 

DugT

Active member
Sep 4, 2022
136
119
Truckee, CA
Does anybody know what pattern the E13 chainring is? Shimano, Bosch or Brose?

Has anybody gone up to a 34t?
My 9.8XT has two chainrings according to the spec. On the one chainring on my bike, I couldn't see the tooth count and I didn't feel like counting them.

1665166591558.png
 

Cell4soul

E*POWAH Master
Jul 11, 2022
518
1,325
Mesa, AZ
Another ride today. Did about 20 miles with about 2,700’ elevation. There was 9% battery remaining when I finished the ride. Range is ok, but do think TQ could have done better with range. That said, the EXe is an in incredible bike. Other than the extra power you can’t tell the difference between this and a full pedal MTB. Highly recommend this bike. No regrets here.

5CCAD7B7-20EC-486D-AFF2-9E1E01467A28.jpeg 17F52549-9177-419F-A727-BCD8653A2DCE.png ADA2DDFF-88A6-4BBE-9723-EEA087B58D54.png
 

grock

Member
Jul 15, 2022
11
23
80020
Another ride today. Did about 20 miles with about 2,700’ elevation. There was 9% battery remaining when I finished the ride. Range is ok, but do think TQ could have done better with range. That said, the EXe is an in incredible bike. Other than the extra power you can’t tell the difference between this and a full pedal MTB. Highly recommend this bike. No regrets here.

View attachment 98848
Curious about where you have your app tune settings. I found that it makes a huge difference in range.
 

Balboa

Member
Sep 25, 2022
46
23
NL
Another ride today. Did about 20 miles with about 2,700’ elevation. There was 9% battery remaining when I finished the ride. Range is ok, but do think TQ could have done better with range. That said, the EXe is an in incredible bike. Other than the extra power you can’t tell the difference between this and a full pedal MTB. Highly recommend this bike. No regrets here.

View attachment 98848 View attachment 98849 View attachment 98850
Do you use some kind of protectiontape under the straps of the grey bag mounted in the front? I do have the same bag on another bike and with the standard protectiontape of EVOC I discovered many scratches.
 

GolfMaster52

Active member
Oct 19, 2020
64
68
Bentonville, Arkansas
The crank says for Bosch so I assume maybe the chainring is as well? E13 crank
There are 2 different chainrings. One that comes equipped with Sram and one for bikes with Shimano. You can look at the pictures on the Trek website and see the differences. My girlfriend got her 9.7 in July and wanted to put her Sram cassette on, but our Trek LBS said the Shimano cassette wasn't compatible with the Shimano chainring and the individual chainrings wouldn't be available until the 1 quarter of 2023. Not sure If any of that has changed, since then.
 

RoJo

Active member
Apr 24, 2019
250
203
Surrey
@Rob Rides EMTB
Great job with your Slash EXe video. Completely agree that it's nice to tinker and it's a shame that the ebike companies prefer to push out trail builds because that's what people think they want, when really there are few downsides to having more travel (my dad has a Kenevo and he's XC all the way, but has never once thought that it is "too much bike", instead he just finds it comfy).
By the way, instead of raising the flip chip to get front end back again, maybe you could have fitted lower rise bars or removed some stem spacers. Bringing the front down a little would probably have helped weight the front end but still run it super slack.
Still, love what you did getting the balance back to factory, but just with more squish.
 

socal_rider

Member
Jun 6, 2021
79
89
Temecula, CA
I just checked and my beep tone is worthless too. I’d assumed it was off. Nope. I checked and it’s on. I can’t even hear it.

I dropped my bike off tonight to have the 4414 investigated. I’m also having the LBS check why the lower shock connection to the frame is moving and making a knock noise. The lower shock bolt is tight but I didn’t check it for proper torque.

My LBS has a ticket open with TQ regarding the 4414 code. It doesn’t store in memory when it occurs. Luckily I had a video of the code flashing across the screen that my LBS sent to TQ.

I took the bike back from my LBS so I could continue riding it while they work with TQ. Hopefully the issue doesn’t lead to a dead motor or battery on the trail. So far turning it off-on or or unplugging-replugging in the battery has reset things back to normal.

My lower shock noise was solved by retorquing the lower shock bolt.
 

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