Fuel EXe Trek Fuel EXe Megathread!

[Zed]

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.

Yeah I can't believe they gave it me over the less-than-full-refund I'd have been completely happy with. At the end, just selling the EXe with 1st owner warranty would have made me OK. Trek head office (not my LBS) just wanted me to be happy on a Trek. Kudos to them it'll be very easy to stick with the brand when you get an attitude and service like that.

I think you're right. I simply have to give it a whirl. It's just so much bike to not.

Also that EXO MaxxGrip Assegai you put me on to is brand new and sitting in the garage just staring at the front of that Rail

 

[Emailsucks98]

Great real-world feedback! Thanks!

BB is at 338mm (13.3”) with the 150mm lyrik, 27.5x2.4dhr (r) and 29x2.6dhf (f).

Check out my heat-shrinked cables!

 

[DBSwiss]

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.

Update: Picked my bike back up. Shop tried hard to find the cause of that grinding noise but were not able to reproduce it. They talked to Trek and checked a few things around the motor but told me everything looked ok. They did acknowledge the fact that the bike came with the wrong cranks And offered me some options. They had not recognized that when they got the bike. I was also told that the 30 day return policy is not a hard line, especially since I had the bike in the shop now. I will ride it again tomorrow and see if it improved. I will also use the detailed method Described a one in the thread. The bike is great otherwise! Just want to be able to trust the motor.

 

[DugT]

I love my new tires. The front is a Maxxis Assegai MaxxGrip and the rear is an Assegai MaxxTerra. The stock Fuel tires were adequate and very fast rolling but they were relatively skittish. They would skid going downhill and the rear tire would skid at times going uphill. The new tires are much more grippy and much better for control freaks like me. This how Maxxis rates them. They might be Maxxis slowest but grippiest tires.

They are definitely slower than the Trek tires so I turned up the assist a little to compensate land the bike feels as fast as I want it to be.
When I first started riding my new Fuel 9.8 I thought it must have magic wheel bearings be it coasted like it was still getting motor assist. Eventually I realized it was the fast rolling tires. They would be great if you wanted to log record miles on one battery charge and they would be good XC tires on a manual bike. Now mine are for sale.

 

[Hitorogoshi]

I love my new tires. The front is a Maxxis Assegai MaxxGrip and the rear is an Assegai MaxxTerra. The stock Fuel tires were adequate and very fast rolling but they were relatively skittish. They would skid going downhill and the rear tire would skid at times going uphill. The new tires are much more grippy and much better for control freaks like me. This how Maxxis rates them. They might be Maxxis slowest but grippiest tires.

They are definitely slower than the Trek tires so I turned up the assist a little to compensate land the bike feels as fast as I want it to be.
When I first started riding my new Fuel 9.8 I thought it must have magic wheel bearings be it coasted like it was still getting motor assist. Eventually I realized it was the fast rolling tires. They would be great if you wanted to log record miles on one battery charge and they would be good XC tires on a manual bike. Now mine are for sale.

Amazing what a good set of tyres does for a ride. I also stuck assegaai up front. But have she rear. Bike handles much better. Stock tyres are not good

 

[Flow81]

BB is at 338mm (13.3”) with the 150mm lyrik, 27.5x2.4dhr (r) and 29x2.6dhf (f).

Check out my heat-shrinked cables!

That looks great! 338mm with 27.5 in the rear is perfectly acceptable. Granted, the Lyrik Axle to crown is 4-5mm higher than the Fox, so you are basically running a 155mm Fox 36 (splitting hairs!).

I have tried a reversed offset bushing in the lower mount, and it lifts the BB by 5mm, so that is always an option, if you can keep it from rotating!

 

[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?

ok, so I just noticed something weird between the app and motor, which might be related to what you saw.

If I turn the bike on without the app running on my phone ,the range estimate on the bike display seems to be the range estimate that you would get with the default assist/power values for each mode. As soon as I connect the app to the bike the range estimate on the bike display changes to match the range estimates showing in the motor settings pages of the app , as soon as I disconnect the app, then range estimate on the bike display goes back to the default range estimate. I have no idea whether this means that the motor is reverting to the default motor settings if the app is not connected , or whether its just some wierd bug affecting the range calculation only.

But it does make me wonder whether the motor is actually running with my customised settings if I use it without the app connected to the bike. I guess it would be easy enough to confirm by setting the high mode to be a really low level of power & assist and seeing whether the amount of power the bikegives changes when the app is connected versus not connected.

 

[prolix2]

ok, so I just noticed something weird between the app and motor, which might be related to what you saw.

If I turn the bike on without the app running on my phone ,the range estimate on the bike display seems to be the range estimate that you would get with the default assist/power values for each mode. As soon as I connect the app to the bike the range estimate on the bike display changes to match the range estimates showing in the motor settings pages of the app , as soon as I disconnect the app, then range estimate on the bike display goes back to the default range estimate. I have no idea whether this means that the motor is reverting to the default motor settings if the app is not connected , or whether its just some wierd bug affecting the range calculation only.

But it does make me wonder whether the motor is actually running with my customised settings if I use it without the app connected to the bike. I guess it would be easy enough to confirm by setting the high mode to be a really low level of power & assist and seeing whether the amount of power the bikegives changes when the app is connected versus not connected.

Sometimes when I make new settings on the app I forget to scroll down or look down and to “”apply “”

 

[Mteam]

Sometimes when I make new settings on the app I forget to scroll down or look down and to “”apply “”

its definitely not that, after I noticed this behaviour , I went back into the app, connected it to the bike , changed some settings in the motor settings section , and explicitly pressed apply to bike, it said applying to bike , then as soon as I disconnect the app from the bike, the range display on the bike reverts to the range that you get with the default settings.

Give it a try yourself, switch your phone off (just to ensure the app isnt running in the back ground), switch the bike on, select the range display screen on the tq display, then switch your phone on, launch the trek central app and connect to the bike. On mine as soon as you connect the app to the bike, the range display on the bike changes to show the same range as the app calculates in the motor settings page, and then as soon as you disconnect the app from the bike, the range display reverts back to default. You can connect and disconnect the app as many times as you like and watch the range display on the bike changing everytime you connect/disconnect. Obviously you have to have non default settings set in the app/bike to notice this.

 

[Mteam]

ok, so have just tested by setting the high mode to the least possible assist and least possible power, and can confirm that regardless of whether the app is connected or not the motor remembers the settings and gives the assist and power you configured in the app. However the range display does change between some kind of default and what is shown in the app depending on whether the app is connected or not. eg in this super low power mode, with app connected range shown in tq display is 190 miles (same as range shown in app) , in the same mode, but with the app disconnected the range shown on the tq display is 24 miles - which is the default range shown when the high setting is at its default settings.

It looks like if the app is connected then the tq display takes its range number from the app, if the app isnt connected then the tq display works its range out in some other (default) way that doesn't seem to take account of the motor setting you applied in the app.

 

[DugT]

I just tested mine too and my bike remembers the new assist settings even if my phone is off and far away. I didn't check the range numbers.

 

[Mteam]

I just tested mine too and my bike remembers the new assist settings even if my phone is off and far away. I didn't check the range numbers.

Yep that's right, it's just the range numbers that change depending on whether the app is connected or not.

 

[TOLM]

Had chance to test this thing earlier today. Interesting bike but overall mixed feelings about the bike.. Still pretty heavy, does not feel like an acoustic bike. And motor lacking power.

But a nice solid frame. I also liked the paint job. Pretty awesome looking frame.

 

[DugT]

Had chance to test this thing earlier today. Interesting bike but overall mixed feelings about the bike.. Still pretty heavy, does not feel like an acoustic bike. And motor lacking power.

But a nice solid frame. I also liked the paint job. Pretty awesome looking frame.

Did you ride it with the seat at that painful angle? Did you try it at max power using the left button? I think the default max assist level is 156% but it can be increased to 200%. On the other hand, a lot of people prefer 4x full fat bikes which go to 400%.

 

[prolix2]

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.

Just heard from my local bike shop which has been in touch with both TQ and with Trek and they say that neither is being very helpful to them in terms of a warranty claim on my motor . ( This is related to the grind noise). Trek or TQ says the only thing that can be done is to make sure the crank is indexed to the proper cog on the output shaft And to wait for something like 200 miles for the system to “learn “ I think the first shop did that indexing, but I’m not sure and I’m going to try it again. The second shop, the one currently treating my bike, says their management will give me a full refund and return at any time in the future that I’m not satisfied. Because the bike is perfect in every way except the noise my current approach is to have the indexing and give it another hundred miles. ( interesting that I don’t really know how many miles is on the bike now. My grind started at about 30 miles and I think when I took it in it had 60 on it or so but it seems that when they redid the firmware or software or whatever it set it back to 40 miles on the tq display.

I had occasion to test another EXE in a parking lot, with maybe only 4 miles on it, and did get a hint of a mild grind, but the circumstances weren’t right for a good test.

I still think the grind noise is coming from the “clutches “, which is the term used in a video put out by TQ Which I will try to find again and maybe attach here. I think in the same portion of the video where he mentions clutches he also mentions freewheeling. I would not think the clutches would be controlled directly electronically, but maybe the system integrating crank speed, and crank torque, can make the motor activate sooner And thereby engage the clutches earlier?? And be the computer “learns “ Which pattern works best or is needed more often. I know that car transmissions do exactly this.

 

[prolix2]

.
At 9:15 inches. “ freewheel clutches”.

 

[Zed]

And to wait for something like 200 miles for the system to “learn “

How much distance have you put on it? I did bit over 500km on mine while I had it, and the funny noises did seem to lessen a lot, though not completely disappear.

 

[DBSwiss]

Just heard from my local bike shop which has been in touch with both TQ and with Trek and they say that neither is being very helpful to them in terms of a warranty claim on my motor . ( This is related to the grind noise). Trek or TQ says the only thing that can be done is to make sure the crank is indexed to the proper cog on the output shaft And to wait for something like 200 miles for the system to “learn “ I think the first shop did that indexing, but I’m not sure and I’m going to try it again. The second shop, the one currently treating my bike, says their management will give me a full refund and return at any time in the future that I’m not satisfied. Because the bike is perfect in every way except the noise my current approach is to have the indexing and give it another hundred miles. ( interesting that I don’t really know how many miles is on the bike now. My grind started at about 30 miles and I think when I took it in it had 60 on it or so but it seems that when they redid the firmware or software or whatever it set it back to 40 miles on the tq display.

I had occasion to test another EXE in a parking lot, with maybe only 4 miles on it, and did get a hint of a mild grind, but the circumstances weren’t right for a good test.

I still think the grind noise is coming from the “clutches “, which is the term used in a video put out by TQ Which I will try to find again and maybe attach here. I think in the same portion of the video where he mentions clutches he also mentions freewheeling. I would not think the clutches would be controlled directly electronically, but maybe the system integrating crank speed, and crank torque, can make the motor activate sooner And thereby engage the clutches earlier?? And be the computer “learns “ Which pattern works best or is needed more often. I know that car transmissions do exactly this.

I was able to consistently reproduce the grind with your procedure: rolling free and then pedaling to catch up to the bike motor speed until the motor starts to engage. I would consistently hear the noise that way. I would also sometimes hear it with light torque on the cranks but not with high torque. I also thought it would be some sort of a clutch that is disengaged prior to the motor kicking in. It is still a miracle to me how Trek could not be aware of this. It is possible that this is not an issue but they should at least ack. the issue and speak to the cause. With Trek and TQ acting like this is a fluke, it makes me feel like there is an issue. I have my bike back and decided to give it another 2 weeks to see if the noise gets worse. I have 200 miles on it already, so I am not sure what that motor indexing or calibration is supposed to be but it should have happened if it is indeed a thing.

 

[Balboa]

Yep that's right, it's just the range numbers that change depending on whether the app is connected or not.

Probably it is a problem with the latest version of the app on Android. It is updated at 25 October and I have problems since that update. The way of connecting the app to the bike is different then before. Every time I have to connect it manually in the app.

After disconnecting the range number differs in the tq screen.

Hopefully they will find a solution soon. Could be a problem when you are riding and meanwhile the app disconnect for whatever reason and your range is not accurate anymore......

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Do you think the noise is a fault, or is it just part of the motor design that causes it (like the bosch / shimano backlash rattle)?

Does the grinding noise cause any issues, or is it just an unpleasant sound?

I havent noticed it on mine, but can sometimes hear more of a slight ticking noise...

 

[prolix2]

Do you think the noise is a fault, or is it just part of the motor design that causes it (like the bosch / shimano backlash rattle)?

Does the grinding noise cause any issues, or is it just an unpleasant sound?

I havent noticed it on mine, but can sometimes hear more of a slight ticking noise...

Excellent points. My grind noise is not associated with any performance issues at all. Perfect performance from the motor and the transmission. I also have heard a rare isolated ticking noise. May be only two or three ticks at a time, And could not decide whether it was from the motor or the transmission or a twig in a spoke Or a frame creak. And extremely rare. So short-lived are the ticks that I can’t experiment with changing torque or weight distribution etc. Just a curiosity.

Further guessing on the grind noise is that it is a design thing combined with perhaps very slight production variability, combined with software inability to oordinate clutching with motor…. To a variable degree in a indeterminate number of motors.. combined with the fact that most people are high screeners, And the trails are noisy and tires are noisy and the motor is SO quiet.

 

[Mteam]

Do you think the noise is a fault, or is it just part of the motor design that causes it (like the bosch / shimano backlash rattle)?

Does the grinding noise cause any issues, or is it just an unpleasant sound?

I havent noticed it on mine, but can sometimes hear more of a slight ticking noise...

I just went for a quick test ride on my brand new fuel exe 9.5, this is literally my first ride on it, all I did was a quick ride round the roads and parks near me.

If I pedal in the way that the poster up there says to pedal (ie catch up pedalling) I can get it to make the noise, but in my opinion this is just a characteristic of the motor, its not a fault. when pedalling 'normally' the motor is virtually silent.

 

[DBSwiss]

Probably it is a problem with the latest version of the app on Android. It is updated at 25 October and I have problems since that update. The way of connecting the app to the bike is different then before. Every time I have to connect it manually in the app.

After disconnecting the range number differs in the tq screen.

Hopefully they will find a solution soon. Could be a problem when you are riding and meanwhile the app disconnect for whatever reason and your range is not accurate anymore......

It’s not just android. It happens with my iPhone 13 as well.

 

[levity]

. . . but can sometimes hear more of a slight ticking noise...

Rob - around 200-300 miles both of our EXe bikes began to develop a “slight ticking noise” under load. The lockring securing the chainring was coming loose, and tightening it to 50Nm cured it. No further issues at 500+ miles. Check (recheck?) yours if you haven’t.

 

[DBSwiss]

Do you think the noise is a fault, or is it just part of the motor design that causes it (like the bosch / shimano backlash rattle)?

Does the grinding noise cause any issues, or is it just an unpleasant sound?

I havent noticed it on mine, but can sometimes hear more of a slight ticking noise...

I have not heard a clicking noise, just the grinding noise. It may be normal for the motor but without an explanation it is worrying as it could also be an issue, especially as some have reported that it is getting worse over time. I guess there is always the warranty if it turns out to be a reliability issue. So far I don’t see it impacting the normal operation of the bike but if there was a drag from the motor coming from a defective part it would also be difficult to feel, given that the motor power may be covering up the drag. Hopefully Somebody from TQ will put together an explanation soon.

 

[Balboa]

Lost my lockring of the left pedal. Pedal was coming loose. Luckily one of us had the right size imbus and I could tighten the pedal, but afterwards I heard a light grinding noise. Not the whole time, but just now and then.

I am wondering if I can ride tomorrow. I'm with friends on a weekend trip.

Battery use is perfect. 50kms en 1199hms. Mostly in eco and sometimes without the help of the Motor.

 

[Kinger]

My 9.8 XT has a serious crack / tick when pedalling, especially standing up and really cranking in it.
Checked crank tightness - Nope
Checked lock ring / chainring torque - Nope
Checked all bearings on the bike (cleaned and greased and torqued) - Nope
Dropped the motor and checked mounting bolts - Ah Ha!

No grease on the mounting bolts. (Cleaned / Greased / Torqued)
Absolutely perfect now.

Jsyk.

 

[Emailsucks98]

in my opinion this is just a characteristic of the motor, its not a fault. when pedalling 'normally' the motor is virtually silent.

This is what I have been suspecting. I haven’t noticed any weird sounds on mine yet, but in my experience with other eBikes (shimano/Norco and Specialized) they all have some unfortunate quirks.

Unless it stops/interrupts the ride, or leads to a parts failure, it shouldn’t be labeled a defect, in my opinion.

I do appreciate the variety of reviews so far. TQ has a tough customer base with some people expecting the power of a full fat but with others expecting near silence.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

I made a video. Comparison video between TQ and Fazua



An update I received today from TQ on Noise:

We are currently working on this topic. It has no influence on the motor’s performance or durability and seams to be no more than a peculiarity of one of the sprag clutches of our motor.

If the motor’s assist is very low (less than ~ 10W) it seams that the electric motors torque is not enough to rotate the clutch, but not fully engage it. This can lead to the weird rattling/grinding noise. The forces in such a scenario are however extremely low and do not put any mentionable wear on the internals of the motor.

From everything we know and all the 1000s of field testing kilometers we have already done this issue is nothing to worry about.

Nevertheless the low noise is one of our strongest USPs and we are working on a solution. We believe that some tweaks in the motor controller algorithm could reduce or even completely remove this noise. Our goal is to roll out a software update before the end of this year.

 

[Mteam]

I made a video. Comparison video between TQ and Fazua



An update I received today from TQ on Noise:

We are currently working on this topic. It has no influence on the motor’s performance or durability and seams to be no more than a peculiarity of one of the sprag clutches of our motor.

If the motor’s assist is very low (less than ~ 10W) it seams that the electric motors torque is not enough to rotate the clutch, but not fully engage it. This can lead to the weird rattling/grinding noise. The forces in such a scenario are however extremely low and do not put any mentionable wear on the internals of the motor.

From everything we know and all the 1000s of field testing kilometers we have already done this issue is nothing to worry about.

Nevertheless the low noise is one of our strongest USPs and we are working on a solution. We believe that some tweaks in the motor controller algorithm could reduce or even completely remove this noise. Our goal is to roll out a software update before the end of this year.

Nice one, good work getting a response from trek/tq