Fuel EXe Trek Fuel EXe Megathread!

[mitea]

I now know how to reproduce the grinding sound reliably and would be interested in trying another bike

Why not sharing your method here?So everyone that owns one can check on their own bike and share results.

 

[Mteam]

My size large 9.5 just arrived, stock without pedals it weighs a couple of grams over 20kg.

Interestingly, it came with the shimano deore 4 pot brakes, I was expecting tektro 4 pots, so thats a pleasant surprise. And it also came with a shimano xt derailuer, when the spec sheet says it should come with a deore derailluer.

Anyway, it will stay stock except for

-fox 38 fork
- raceface next r bars
-raceface turbine stem
- sram axs gears
- maxxis assegai exo + & maxxis dhri doubledown tyres

I'll wear the cassette out and replace with something a lot lighter, I may swap the wheels for my dt swiss hx 1501 set.

edit: heres a quick pic with the forks ,bars, and mech fitted, apologies for the scruffy garage

So just to follow up on this, with the above fitted, plus some one up alu pedals, the bike weighs in at 20.3kg.

The hub on the wheels that came with my 9.5 is a shimano HG freehub (not microspline or sram XD) and it comes with a sunrace cassette that weighs a ton (650g) - I'll swap this when its worn out. Then total bike weight should just sneak in under 20kg.

Not sure if its possible to swap the freehub for an XD or microspline hub, I would presume not.

Does anyone know how you get into the setup menu on the TQ display to swap between KM and miles etc? I've read the manual and it says to hold down the power button plus down on the remote for 5 seconds, but all this does is bring up some kind of error display - I must be doing it wrong - so can someone explain the technique?

edit : i Have worked out how to get into the setup mode, the TQ manual is wrong, the manual says to turn off the bike, then hold down the power button and the down button for 5 seconds, this is incorrect, you need to start with the bike turned on, then hold down power + down for 5 seconds.

 

[DBSwiss]

How does that work in general? Do you get the full money back? What will trek do with that bike then? Repair and sell as used bike. Just curios since I'm new to the mtb universe

Trek is quite unusual here. They do indeed have a 30 day return guarantee for any reason If you are not happy with the bike. This was the reason why I ordered the bike back in July after the launch without ever having seen it in person. I would have never done that without that guarantee. I have ridden every other bike before busing it. I don’t know what they do with the bikes. Maybe they use it as a demo since they don’t have any EXe demo bikes.

 

[prolix2]

Trek is quite unusual here. They do indeed have a 30 day return guarantee for any reason If you are not happy with the bike. This was the reason why I ordered the bike back in July after the launch without ever having seen it in person. I would have never done that without that guarantee. I have ridden every other bike before busing it. I don’t know what they do with the bikes. Maybe they use it as a demo since they don’t have any EXe demo bikes.

I have returned two bikes to trek and got full payment back. I asked a dealer one time what if the bike has scratches etc. will they take the return and he said yes that’s just part of their deal. Another dealer said that returns is so rare that it’s not a problem for Trek. I asked another dealer what if there are major scratches or some major problem and he cited a case where some guy had tried to return a bike that had been obviously abused and that they Did refuse that return. I asked a dealer If they sold the returned bikes as new and he indicated yes they do, but it is more difficult to do with E bikes because the mileage shows up on the Display. One of the rails I returned was still on the sales floor a month after I returned it, it had 160 miles on it I believe, and there was $1500 discount off of the $9000 bike. I did not ask if they were selling it as new or used .
Incidentally, I happen to see the computer screen of a bike dealer a few years ago, I believe it was for a bike that I was buying, and there was a $1700 markup on a $5500 bike.

 

[danf72]

I have returned two bikes to trek and got full payment back. I asked a dealer one time what if the bike has scratches etc. will they take the return and he said yes that’s just part of their deal. Another dealer said that returns is so rare that it’s not a problem for Trek. I asked another dealer what if there are major scratches or some major problem and he cited a case where some guy had tried to return a bike that had been obviously abused and that they Did refuse that return. I asked a dealer If they sold the returned bikes as new and he indicated yes they do, but it is more difficult to do with E bikes because the mileage shows up on the Display. One of the rails I returned was still on the sales floor a month after I returned it, it had 160 miles on it I believe, and there was $1500 discount off of the $9000 bike. I did not ask if they were selling it as new or used .
Incidentally, I happen to see the computer screen of a bike dealer a few years ago, I believe it was for a bike that I was buying, and there was a $1700 markup on a $5500 bike.

That’s nothing. I happened to be in the trek store last month and the assistant was showing me the Geo numbers on his screen. I noticed the shop owed price on the Fuel exe 9.7 was just over £4k and they were asking £7.5k. There may be a parts/bike shortage contributing to high costs but dealers are really taking the p**s ATM.

 

[prolix2]

Why not sharing your method here?So everyone that owns one can check on their own bike and share results.

OK, I''ve just now figured the factors that produce the grind sound, for me. Any time, and for me every time, the pedal rate and force i apply on the crank fall below what's needed to activate the motor, the grind sound occurs. For example this will occur while riding on a level surface in a middle gear at a middle speed and starting to coast. When coming out of the coast and starting to pedal, and before applying any real force to the crank, just when you're peddling , kind of free peddling without resistance, the grinding sound will occur. Once you increase your pedal rate and force enough to actually apply some torque to the crank, and I think, turning on the motor, the grind will go away. If you are leisurely coming out of the coast the grind may last for two or three strokes. If you are rapidly coming out of the coast and apply torque rather immediately the grind will not occur at all. If you take your time coming out of the coast and keep no force on the pedals, or very little force on the pedals for an extended period of time the grind will last indefinitely. The grind happens every time I'm coasting into an uphill slope and starting to re-pedal, again lasting as long as it takes for my pedal rate to catch up with the speed of the bike. This may take a half stroke or two strokes. Today after establishing this "undermatching " idea I was able to reproduce the grind by simply pedaling along at grade and slightly backing off on the torque but continuing to pedal with almost no torque and the grind with occur essentially without coasting significantly.

My current thinking is that the Sprag gear mechanism in the motor housing is not engaging or disengaging completely at these times.

Earlier on I told someone this sounded like a plastic gear meshing sound to me.

As I look at the exploded views of the motor it looks to me like there are a couple of ring gears that have ramps on them. one looks like it is plastic, and I'm not talking about the harmonic ring gear that is definitely plastic. I will look at them again now but my memory is they had about 30 little ramps on each gear..... I just looked at it again and it looks like neither of those gears is plastic. The outer bigger gear is looks like it has about 22 points of engagement the inner one looks like it may have 16. My naïve impression is that it's one of these two gears that's making the sound

I listened to the grind carefully today while riding, especially since I can now reproduce it 100% of the time, and I think the frequency of the grind is the same as one of the barely audible frequencies of the motor itself when it's working normally.

When the motor is completely off , I'm not able to produce any of this stuff.

I will try to attach the exploded view of the motor and a video of my grind sound to this reply but I probably won't be successful with that.. A search on YouTube "Trek TQ motor noise " has several recordings.

 

[prolix2]

OK, I''ve just now figured the factors that produce the grind sound, for me. Any time, and for me every time, the pedal rate and force i apply on the crank fall below what's needed to activate the motor, the grind sound occurs. For example this will occur while riding on a level surface in a middle gear at a middle speed and starting to coast. When coming out of the coast and starting to pedal, and before applying any real force to the crank, just when you're peddling , kind of free peddling without resistance, the grinding sound will occur. Once you increase your pedal rate and force enough to actually apply some torque to the crank, and I think, turning on the motor, the grind will go away. If you are leisurely coming out of the coast the grind may last for two or three strokes. If you are rapidly coming out of the coast and apply torque rather immediately the grind will not occur at all. If you take your time coming out of the coast and keep no force on the pedals, or very little force on the pedals for an extended period of time the grind will last indefinitely. The grind happens every time I'm coasting into an uphill slope and starting to re-pedal, again lasting as long as it takes for my pedal rate to catch up with the speed of the bike. This may take a half stroke or two strokes. Today after establishing this "undermatching " idea I was able to reproduce the grind by simply pedaling along at grade and slightly backing off on the torque but continuing to pedal with almost no torque and the grind with occur essentially without coasting significantly.

My current thinking is that the Sprag gear mechanism in the motor housing is not engaging or disengaging completely at these times.

Earlier on I told someone this sounded like a plastic gear meshing sound to me.

As I look at the exploded views of the motor it looks to me like there are a couple of ring gears that have ramps on them. one looks like it is plastic, and I'm not talking about the harmonic ring gear that is definitely plastic. I will look at them again now but my memory is they had about 30 little ramps on each gear..... I just looked at it again and it looks like neither of those gears is plastic. The outer bigger gear is looks like it has about 22 points of engagement the inner one looks like it may have 16. My naïve impression is that it's one of these two gears itha's making the sound

I listened to it , the grind ,carefully today while riding, especially since I can now reproduce it 100% of the time, and I think the frequency of the grind is the same as one the barely audible frequencies of the motor itself when it's working normally.

When the motor is completely off , I'm not able to produce any of this stuff.

I will try to attach the exploded view of the motor and a video of my grind sound to this reply but I probably won't be successful with that.. A search on YouTube Trek TiQ motor noise has several recordings

 

[DugT]

OK, I''ve just now figured the factors that produce the grind sound, for me. Any time, and for me every time, the pedal rate and force i apply on the crank fall below what's needed to activate the motor, the grind sound occurs. For example this will occur while riding on a level surface in a middle gear at a middle speed and starting to coast. When coming out of the coast and starting to pedal, and before applying any real force to the crank, just when you're peddling , kind of free peddling without resistance, the grinding sound will occur. Once you increase your pedal rate and force enough to actually apply some torque to the crank, and I think, turning on the motor, the grind will go away. If you are leisurely coming out of the coast the grind may last for two or three strokes. If you are rapidly coming out of the coast and apply torque rather immediately the grind will not occur at all. If you take your time coming out of the coast and keep no force on the pedals, or very little force on the pedals for an extended period of time the grind will last indefinitely. The grind happens every time I'm coasting into an uphill slope and starting to re-pedal, again lasting as long as it takes for my pedal rate to catch up with the speed of the bike. This may take a half stroke or two strokes. Today after establishing this "undermatching " idea I was able to reproduce the grind by simply pedaling along at grade and slightly backing off on the torque but continuing to pedal with almost no torque and the grind with occur essentially without coasting significantly.

My current thinking is that the Sprag gear mechanism in the motor housing is not engaging or disengaging completely at these times.

Earlier on I told someone this sounded like a plastic gear meshing sound to me.

As I look at the exploded views of the motor it looks to me like there are a couple of ring gears that have ramps on them. one looks like it is plastic, and I'm not talking about the harmonic ring gear that is definitely plastic. I will look at them again now but my memory is they had about 30 little ramps on each gear..... I just looked at it again and it looks like neither of those gears is plastic. The outer bigger gear is looks like it has about 22 points of engagement the inner one looks like it may have 16. My naïve impression is that it's one of these two gears that's making the sound

I listened to the grind carefully today while riding, especially since I can now reproduce it 100% of the time, and I think the frequency of the grind is the same as one of the barely audible frequencies of the motor itself when it's working normally.

When the motor is completely off , I'm not able to produce any of this stuff.

I will try to attach the exploded view of the motor and a video of my grind sound to this reply but I probably won't be successful with that.. A search on YouTube "Trek TQ motor noise " has several recordings.

I just tried that and could not get my bike to make the grinding sound. I've ridden my 9.8 about 150 miles and have heard that sound once for only a couple of seconds. When I heard it I was pedalling lightly. It just happened once and I haven't heard it in about three weeks so I'm not concerned.
I think I finally heard the the low pitch, low volume whir of the stealth motor for about a minute. It sounded a little like chain noise but it was very inconspicuous. When I heard it, it was really quiet outside and maybe it was chain noise but I think it was the motor. It was too quiet to really care what it was.

 

[prolix2]

View attachment 100186

View attachment 100186

By the way, my grind is independent of gear, independent bike speed, independent of motor mode, except when the motor is off, It is definitely a mechanical sound and depends on the crank being turned, and only when the electrical system is on.

This may be true of only a few motors, or it may be true of a lot of motors but maybe For most ridersf the “under matching “ “occurs infrequently enough, or is of short enough duration, that it’s not noticed.
For me it occurs every time I stop peddling for a second or two, and then restart, but I can’t hear it when I’m on gravel or in leaves

I hope I haven’t caused a lot of people to start paying attention to this and opened a bag of worms.

 

[prolix2]

By the way, my grind is independent of gear, independent bike speed, independent of motor mode, except when the motor is off, It is definitely a mechanical sound and depends on the crank being turned, and only when the electrical system is on.

This may be true of only a few motors, or it may be true of a lot of motors but maybe For most ridersf the “under matching “ “occurs infrequently enough, or is of short enough duration, that it’s not noticed.
For me it occurs every time I stop peddling for a second or two, and then restart, but I can’t hear it when I’m on gravel or in leaves

I hope I haven’t caused a lot of people to start paying attention to this and opened a bag of worms.

And since, for me, this depends on the electrical system to be turned on, it may mean that tracks report that it takes 150 miles, for the sensors to calibrate, May have some validity. Maybe the crank torque sensor doesn’t interact well with the clutch torque sensor, assuming there is some kind sensing mechanism for the clutching engagement business

 

[DugT]

If it only makes the grinding noise when someone is “under matching “ pedalling speed, maybe it isn't much of a problem because that is a rare occurrence. At least it is for me because I am usually pedaling or coasting. Others have had the grinding noise problem constantly while climbing. That would be an annoying cause for alarm but it seems to be a rare problem.

 

[prolix2]

And since, for me, this depends on the electrical system to be turned on, it may mean that tracks report that it takes 150 miles, for the sensors to calibrate, May have some validity. Maybe the crank torque sensor doesn’t interact well with the clutch torque sensor, assuming there is some kind sensing mechanism for the clutching engagement business

The grind may be a little dependent on cadence, And seems to be a little louder at higher cadence

 

[DBSwiss]

By the way, my grind is independent of gear, independent bike speed, independent of motor mode, except when the motor is off, It is definitely a mechanical sound and depends on the crank being turned, and only when the electrical system is on.

This may be true of only a few motors, or it may be true of a lot of motors but maybe For most ridersf the “under matching “ “occurs infrequently enough, or is of short enough duration, that it’s not noticed.
For me it occurs every time I stop peddling for a second or two, and then restart, but I can’t hear it when I’m on gravel or in leaves

I hope I haven’t caused a lot of people to start paying attention to this and opened a bag of worms.

My bike is in the shop now. Let’s see what they can find out. I will let you know what I find out. I will also try to reproduce what you described above. Thanks for sharing the details.

 

[prolix2]

I just tried that and could not get my bike to make the grinding sound. I've ridden my 9.8 about 150 miles and have heard that sound once for only a couple of seconds. When I heard it I was pedalling lightly. It just happened once and I haven't heard it in about three weeks so I'm not concerned.
I think I finally heard the the low pitch, low volume whir of the stealth motor for about a minute. It sounded a little like chain noise but it was very inconspicuous. When I heard it, it was really quiet outside and maybe it was chain noise but I think it was the motor. It was too quiet to really care what it was.

You are so right about the quiet motor. At first I had a hard time deciding whether I was hearing the motor or chain noise, even then only if the trail were particularly quiet.

 

[Flow81]

Originally I had a test ride on a stock M and it felt too small (I’m 175cm) and too XC for my tastes, but my hunch that sizing up to a L with the smaller rear wheel and shorter stem might be perfect- and it is!

So here’s mine, a 9.8 xt, L, with the following upgrades;
NOBL TR37 wheelset, mullet, king hubs, Maxxis DHF front/DHR DD rear
OneUp carbon Bars
RaceFace Atlas 32mm stem and pedals
After these pics I put on a wolftooth remote and shrink-wrapped the cables
160mm airshaft going in Friday

First ride was 33km/1200m vert, all singletrack climbing to black and dbl-black descents. I was happy to keep it in Eco for most all of the climbing and was so impressed on the descents. I’m used to a 170mm Fox 38 with a DHX coil rear (160) - the stock 2023 Rockshox spec didn’t give up anything. Trek and Rockshow nailed the suspension.
As we all know, the motor is amazing.

Getting a magnet on the Centerlock King hubs has been a challenge. Work in progress.

Hi guys, new around here. This awesome thread got me on a Fuel EXe, so thank you, its a great bike! This is the definitive internet source for real world experiences on the Fuel Exe!

BUT: I want to mullet my ride, especially coming off a long stint on 27.5 bikes. This bike has been described as being "lively", and I think a big contributor is the much lower than quoted BB. I do think there is a important error on the geometry chart as quoted by Trek in terms of the BB height. I measured 5 different bikes in Sizes small to large and I can't find a stock bike (29", 150mm fork) with a BB height higher than 342mm, in high setting. Which makes me think in 29er stock form, this bike runs 340-342mm(high), instead of quoted 349mm. Similarly, it runs ±335mm(low), instead of quoted 342mm. My size small with a 160mm fork is at 342mm(high), and with a 150mm fork, its 339mm(high). In Mullet form with a 150mm fork it is 330mm(high).

This should be fine if you run 29 FR/RR, but with a BB drop of 8-10mm in mullet 29FR/27.5RR, it really put this bike into lowest of low territory, and not really "mullatable" as marketed by Trek. If you run it in high, For reference my 27.5 160mm fork bike in size small was 345mm.

Its likely that I am overthinking this!! Maybe I should just ride it LOW...

Anyone wants to chime in on their bb heights? @Emailsucks98 what is your BB height with your mullet, 150mm?

 

[Zed]

All right well this is post I didn't expect to be making and I'll be eating some of my words here, please pass the condiments.

So I reached a point where I felt "meh" about going out on the bike. This is a bit over 5 weeks in with the EXe. Frankly, my finances aren't awesome and that's a big chunk of money to have sitting there feeling "meh" about. I read in here about the 30 day return policy a little while back. I realised I was outside that, but the store didn't actually tell me about it. So I called the store and asked for less-than-full refund, or a bike swap, or even just to be able to sell with first owner warranty - and essentially I got a "no" to each. I was actually pretty bummed at that point, so I escalated to Trek proper, told them I wasn't happy with it and it was going to suck selling it without warranty on the motor etc... They said leave it with them and then to my surprise, my LBS called me and they told me they would give me a Rail - and that it was a 9.9 XTR, no extra charge. I thought WTF... yes. I picked it up a few hours later and I now have it sitting in my garage, unridden.

Now I've been a serial bike changer to a shocking extent. And I reached a decision on deciding to get rid of the EXe that okay I think I'm just losing interest in riding because I've had all the bike types and I just get... mehhh.

So on one hand I could sell this 9.9 XTR and get all my outgoings back.

But that thing... omfg... It's got a Zeb and Deluxe with Shockwiz FFS... 750w Bosch smart, every f**king thing is carbon... it's just an insane bike and I can't believe they gave it me (maybe there wasn't any other Rails around). I reeeeeaallly want to go ride it. I pedalled it outside my house and when I lifted the front I nearly instantly looped it, it's got so much grunt. And now that Zeb and all that travel and just smashing everything seems like it'll be so much more fun than riding the EXe was. I'm so fickle.

I had a Bosch Gen 4 on my Orbea I swear this thing is angrier. But it's Levo carbon weight! 22.77kg. I don't think I can do it, sell it unused, it might just be the magical "one bike" I've been after. And if I sold it, I sure wouldn't be getting another one any time soon...

Anyway, I don't wanna kill anyone's EXe buzz. But I posted loads in this thread I figured I should wrap up my story with the EXe.

 

[George_KSL]

Anyone wants to chime in on their bb heights? @Emailsucks98 what is your BB height with your mullet, 150mm?

My guess would be that "control" conditions might involve pressuring the tyres to some stock 40 psi (as the bike will sit somewhere for weeks or months), making sure the suspension doesn't sag under its own weight (which for most riders under 75kg does) and it might more than adequately account for some difference, even up to 5-8mm.
I also wouldn't describe low-BB as lively, my words would be "planted" :- ).

But lately in reviews I just see every 140mm bike being described as lively as long as it has at least minimal progression. It's the new "climbs like a goat, descends like downhill bike!" enduro-cliche. If we only count recent spade of SLs, all of them were reviewed like that. Only not-lively bike I can even remember are early reviews of LevoSL, since it has 150mm of very linear rate, so that wouldn't be 'lively' but 'comfortable' :- ).

I think shock rebound can have bigger effect than any leverage curve or geometry setting.

 

[George_KSL]

Finished my build

View attachment 100100

This is beautiful. With the stealth glossy frame, the bling Fork&Enve decals stand out rather than just yell for attention.
Also, hello fellow T-Macs & Supracush user :- ). This is exactly how I would build up this bike. Enjoy

 

[Mteam]

Anyone wants to chime in on their bb heights? @Emailsucks98 what is your BB height with your mullet, 150mm?

340mm in the low setting with 29 inch wheels at both ends, maxxis assegai 2.5 on the front, dhr ii 2.3 on th eback, and 170mm fox 38 fork.

 

[Emailsucks98]

This should be fine if you run 29 FR/RR, but with a BB drop of 8-10mm in mullet 29FR/27.5RR, it really put this bike into lowest of low territory, and not really "mullatable" as marketed by Trek. If you run it in high, For reference my 27.5 160mm fork bike in size small was 345mm.

Its likely that I am overthinking this!! Maybe I should just ride it LOW...

Anyone wants to chime in on their bb heights? @Emailsucks98 what is your BB height with your mullet, 150mm?

I'll try and get you a measurement tonight.

I'm with you on 27.5" rear wheels. I definitely prefer the mullet, and slacker head angles. Personal preference, for sure!

So the first two rides/40 miles, with the Stock Lyrik 150mm and Mullet, I rode a mix of flow/jump trails and enduro DH trails. I was extremely happy with the geometry- compared to my Propain Tyee Mullet, it had less travel but was slack enough and ramped up enough to prevent any hard bottom-outs or pedal strikes. The longer reach with slightly shorter stem/steeper HA worked great. BB felt low, but not too low.

Last weekend I got out on some old-school dbl-blk freeride trails- lots of whistler-grade, slow, steep rock rolls and drops. And there I did find I was occasionally scraping pedals or catching toes, enough it did make me want a longer fork.

But that was with the 150mm Lyrik (and Maxxis minion 2.5s). I'm finding that changing the travel on the stock 2023 Lyrik will indeed require a full air spring replacement, with buttercups ($104usd) and those won't be available until Feb. '23. My sense is that, with a taller 160mm fork, the geometry will be perfect- so there's a zeb on the way (The zeb is also 5mm taller than the lyrik for the same travel). In a week or so I'll post some before/after measurements.

But lately in reviews I just see every 140mm bike being described as lively as long as it has at least minimal progression.

I think shock rebound can have bigger effect than any leverage curve or geometry setting.

EVIL!
Had a following, and indeed it was poppy, and could take big hits ridiculously well with a tiny shock.
I did just add one spacer to the stock super deluxe ultimate select+, maybe it will need 2 to get that same ramp up.

 

[Balboa]

I just noticed that the adjustments for the motor settings in the trek app, are gone when I turn off the bike. I do have to adjust the settings every time when I turn it on because then I see only the standard settings. Are there more with the same problems?

 

[JP-NZ]

Anyone wants to chime in on their bb heights? @Emailsucks98 what is your BB height with your mullet, 150mm?

Hi Flow, different bikes I know but my Rail 9.8 BB height is 341mm in LOW. I'll have to measure it in high but plenty of people on this forum have mulleted their rails and from what I can see on geo numbers the Rail BB is lower than the EXE?

I plan to mullet my rail at some stage just to try it out but even in the 340+/- BB range I don't think you'll have any issues and your probably overthinking it. Just ride the bike and see...

 

[Mteam]

I just noticed that the adjustments for the motor settings in the trek app, are gone when I turn off the bike. I do have to adjust the settings every time when I turn it on because then I see only the standard settings. Are there more with the same problems?

No, my settings are remembered .

 

[levity]

I just noticed that the adjustments for the motor settings in the trek app, are gone when I turn off the bike. I do have to adjust the settings every time when I turn it on because then I see only the standard settings. Are there more with the same problems?

Did you hit the “Apply To Bike” button at the bottom of the Motor Tuning page before returning to the main Dashboard?

My Trek app even asks if I’m sure I want to exit without doing so.

 

[Flow81]

I'll try and get you a measurement tonight.

I'm with you on 27.5" rear wheels. I definitely prefer the mullet, and slacker head angles. Personal preference, for sure!

So the first two rides/40 miles, with the Stock Lyrik 150mm and Mullet, I rode a mix of flow/jump trails and enduro DH trails. I was extremely happy with the geometry- compared to my Propain Tyee Mullet, it had less travel but was slack enough and ramped up enough to prevent any hard bottom-outs or pedal strikes. The longer reach with slightly shorter stem/steeper HA worked great. BB felt low, but not too low.

Last weekend I got out on some old-school dbl-blk freeride trails- lots of whistler-grade, slow, steep rock rolls and drops. And there I did find I was occasionally scraping pedals or catching toes, enough it did make me want a longer fork.

But that was with the 150mm Lyrik (and Maxxis minion 2.5s). I'm finding that changing the travel on the stock 2023 Lyrik will indeed require a full air spring replacement, with buttercups ($104usd) and those won't be available until Feb. '23. My sense is that, with a taller 160mm fork, the geometry will be perfect- so there's a zeb on the way (The zeb is also 5mm taller than the lyrik for the same travel). In a week or so I'll post some before/after measurements.


EVIL!
Had a following, and indeed it was poppy, and could take big hits ridiculously well with a tiny shock.
I did just add one spacer to the stock super deluxe ultimate select+, maybe it will need 2 to get that same ramp up.

Great real-world feedback! Thanks!

 

[Balboa]

Did you hit the “Apply To Bike” button at the bottom of the Motor Tuning page before returning to the main Dashboard?

My Trek app even asks if I’m sure I want to exit without doing so.

Yes, settings are applied to the bike.

 

[JP-NZ]

@Zed I read your deleted post with interest... I thought you were getting on well with the Fuel and now you have a Rail 9.9???!!

 

[Zed]

Hello everyone. I had my Trek Fuel EXe 9.8XT now for 25 days and so far I put about 190 miles on it. I really like the ride feel as it responds pretty much like a normal MTB. I also ride a 2022 Stumpjumper. Of course the weight difference is 12 lbs. but on the trail it seems to disappear. The bike is very well balanced hops very easily due to the short chain stays and is stable due to the weight but also the 2.5” tires. The bike also feels rock solid. I had a chance to ride a Levo SL a few times and to me the EXe feels a lot better. I am 5’7”, 160 and I got a medium. I dropped the fork pressure about 10 psi from the recommended setting which improved the ride. The integrated carbon handle bar is very wide at 820mm and very stiff. I may need to cut or replace that. The motor assist is extremely natural in low and medium settings. The high setting is strange. It seems to come on very strong at first and then cut out. Not sure if that is a software issue Or normal But I could not find a good setting for the high mode. Ride mostly in low and med.

The app is very good but it always takes long time to start up or it doesn’t start at all on my iPhone 13. I stopped using it to record the rides and just use it to set the motor variables. Maybe some early kinks that will improve with the next update.

i would recommend you protect tha paint somehow, before the first ride. I have the Mulsanne Blue which looks awesome but the paint seems to be too hard and chips easily. I rode it a couple times before putting on some helicopter tape on the chain and seat stays and already had a couple chips.

What worries me however is the grinding noise I am hearing now coming from the motor. The same noise that has been described here earlier in this thread (I read through all of it). It is only intermittent now and very difficult to reproduce but it has me worried given some of the stories on here. I also saw that my cranks are the AL cranks and not the carbon ones as spec’d on the 9.8XT version. I even asked the shop when I picked up te bike if the bike had any substitutions due to supply chain issues, and they said no. Not great from Trek. I bought it from a factory store. I checked the major components but not the cranks. Just read about it on the thread here last night and checked them. I really like the bike but am considering returning it within the 30 day period Due to the motor risk and waiting a bit until TQ works out the kinks or check out the Fazua60 system. Dropping the bike off tomorrow To get the motor checked. let’s see.

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FWIW, the grinding noise I had was occasional, and actually did seem to progressively lessen as time went on.

 

[Zed]

@Zed I read your deleted post with interest... I thought you were getting on well with the Fuel and now you have a Rail 9.9???!!

Yeah that's where I hoped the discussion might go, why... It actually happened kinda suddenly.

Honestly I can't really fault the EXe. I don't think mine was quite as silent as others say theirs are to be honest. It was very "trail" though. Kinda seems to me like the ebike equivalent of a down country bike, you get it because you want to feel the trail and have to work it. This kind of idea historically is romantic to me even on analogs but in the harsh light of day I just want to plough over shit. I think also maybe I just gravitate to more adrenalized activities It does seem to be a pattern with me. I also have a new 890 Duke, maybe that overshadowed the sedate classic style enjoyment of the EXe a bit lol...

All that said though, I'm actually having trouble deciding if maybe I'm just a bit over riding my local trails, and I just keep bike swapping looking for a solution when I'm really a bit over it. It would be different if I had access to more trails. That said, with something like the Rail it encourages me to go further afield as I can be out there long enough to make the drive worth it. There are other trails within a couple of hours I could go spend time on that I've either not ridden or barely ridden.

So I think back to ditching the Orbea Wild I had, I had some level of that "meh" feeling, for sure. At the time I needed the cash more though which was much more of a factor than now. Now it would just help and shorten some time frames. I wish I'd written it all down, exactly why I was ditching it!

So yeah I jumped at the offered Rail because I figured it'd be easier to get more for a brand new Rail, with the warranty reduction I just feel it's more attractive to a 2nd buyer too. But that bike in my garage just looks like insane fun. The spec is totally on point with what I'd choose to put on it myself.

Now I'm trying to decide is it that I'm really over it? Do I legit want to keep this thing for reasons other than "new toy"? I honestly just don't know lol.

One things for sure, I wouldn't be replacing that much bling. I'm drooling over it lol...

I suppose if I use it, use it lightly, worst case is I on sell it and lose a few grand off what I'd get for it right now new.

 

[JP-NZ]

Yeah that's where I hoped the discussion might go, why... It actually happened kinda suddenly.

I suppose if I use it, use it lightly, worst case is I on sell it and lose a few grand off what I'd get for it right now new.

Well, your definitely better off from a financial standpoint on the 9.9 over the fuel 9.8. That's like $3k extra in the swap I'd be incredibly happy. We haven't even got the 9.9's in stock in NZ yet.

I know what you mean about local trails, since I got my rail Ive ridden 75% of the trails close to home. But having the rail does make me want to drive to the alps and take it on back country adventures and all day rides. The range and power of the Rail is great for that!

IMHO even if you use the rail for 6 months and see if you like it, you could still sell it and get most of the original Fuel 9.8XT price back.