Trek Fuel EXe reviewed (finally)

Great technical summary and introduction - but should I buy one. Or rather what rider / riding would I be to go for a great half day ride?

Soz, that was supposed to say half fat ride….thanks again 👍

I bought the 9.5 version (and upgraded a few bits) , and posted some thoughts here

https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/new-ebike-day-trek-fuel-exe-9-5/

Not quite sure what you mean by this bit

There isn’t a visual display confirmation of the assistance level you’re getting either (a la Shimano or Bosch displays).

There is a permanent part of the display showing what assistance mode you are in , plus you can switch to a screen that shows what power you are generating and what power the motor is generating.

Or rather what rider / riding would I be to go for a great half day ride?

I would say that if you find on a full fat ebike you're usually coming back from a ride with 25-50% battery remaining , or you think that you dont get enough of a workout on a full fat bike, then something like this bike could be for you.

or if you do quite a lot of lifting the bike over stiles & gates, or possibly a lot of hike a bike , or you prioritise downhill handling and playfullness over the ability to fly uphill - but not so much of a priority that you'll stick with a bike with no motor...

I get that some of the above is quite hard to determine, if you havent actually ridden a full fat bike for a while in the first place.

I think a full fat bike will please more people more of the time, but in an ideal world you'd have a full fat and a lightweight ebike (along with a normal bike or two;-) )

but it’s the weight that is the

Birrova typo?

Thanks for that - helpful 😊

I had a think about this in it's cheapest spec, but in the end went for the alloy Rise- it's 540Wh battery, coupled with the Trek price increase, simply made the Trek less attractive.

Further to that, I like my bikes to feel individual- my uplift bike doesn't have much overlap with my 29+ which is substantially different to the gravel bike. I'd like my e-bike to still feel like an e-bike.

Maybe one day I’ll read a review on a bike with a new motor where somebody provides info about out of warranty motor support, clarifies if the motor is rebuildable, if motor spares are available, if there is a uk motor repair centre, if they’re going to partner with an existing uk repairer etc etc, even how much a new motor costs, and how (*if required) any manufacturer/bike model specific settings get applied to the motor.

As an xc map explorer who prefers long term ownership I was really interested in this bike - lighter (so easier over fences/stiles etc), removable battery (charging at hotel/b&b), large brand so hopefully spares available but I’ve not managed to get any info on how out of warranty support will go so going to sit on the fence till that gets clarified or something else similar comes along.

Similar to Vinnyeh, I looked at these Treks but decided to go with a base model Hydro Rise (540wh battery and under £4k).
I was put off by reports of early motor failures on the Trek, but also by the smaller battery (That put me off the carbon Rises too). I don't want a lot of assistance, but I do want to ride a long way.

Lighter is always nicer imho, but the Trek is really only slightly lighter because of that new (and unproved) motor. And if you are going to save a bit of weight, the bottom bracket area is the last place to save it from: weight here doesn't make much difference, and it's where durability is needed most.
The Trek keeps the rest of the weight down through having a small battery and a £14k price tag!

Sounds like it pedals nicely, but so does the RS motor.
A £5k Trek EXe with a 500+Wh battery, option of range extender and solid warranty support would be more attractive 🙂

@towzer

Those are really good points and ones which I intend to address in a series of online articles in this fine publication when I do a long term test on the Pivot Shuttle SL. Range, repairability, support post warranty, cost to fix, suitability for big mountain adventures, how it handles, fun - all matter to me. I’ve held off on buying one as the technology is advancing so quickly. I suspect that the technology from bikes like the Trek will filter down to a much more affordable price level. For me, full fat e bikes are generally just too darn heavy for the riding I do.

There is also a feature in the next issue where Mark, Nick Craig and I rode High Street and Skiddaw as a day ride where Nick and I were on normal bikes and Mark on a Levo SL.

Cheers

Sanny

^^^ that will be an interesting read Sanny 👍. I love my Levo SL but reckon if I tried the Trek I’d be hankering after one !

£14k...ha, ha, ha. Perfectly suited to the new economic climate. How many 1%ers are keen mtb'ers I wonder. Plus that guy up thread with half my username, are you my brother from another mother?

Ianc and Sanny, we’ll anybody really

See also the haibike Lyke - lower weight e, with removable battery
- fazua 60, more power and battery
- *seems** to have better range
- seems to be cheaper
- probs?
Well motor as my post above
Cables thru headset, but this seems to be getting more common
Frame Plug hole appears to be in a ‘well’ at the bottom of the frame - ? Water ingress
Weird air hole above motor on frame tube up to seatpost - ? Mud/water ingress onto motor

Those haibike Lykes are a bit 2018 in their geo, long seat tube for any given size,relatively short reach,longish chainstay, but they look decent value if the geo suits what you want.

They're also using very lightweight tyres on them to hit those headline weight numbers.

The focus jam2 sl looks really good though, fazua 60 motor, decent geo, decent value etc. But they have takenthe bizarre decision to not put a charging port in the frame , meaning that you have to remove the battery from the frame in order to charge it.

Maybe one day I’ll read a review on a bike with a new motor where somebody provides info about out of warranty motor support

It's brand new so far too soon to know anything about out of warranty support. I also think it's unreasonable to be quizzing a magazine that gets or loses the chance to test new bikes on the whim of the manufacturers.

I know it's "not about the price" but honestly, how is that bike £14 grand, really?

There's more than a few bikes out there that don't have motors, or even suspension in some cases, that cost the same. It's absolutely ridiculous, regardless of the economic climate, but as long as the bikes sell the manufacturers will keep on making them.

It is crazy pricey though. I have a 2020 Levo SL carbon expert. It now has XT four pots, a Fox 36, AXS shifting and dropper and all in, allowing for selling the bits I upgraded, was around 10k…

Yeah, it is a daft price but you aren't supposed to buy it. It's like an S Works Levo. Twice the price of a normal one just to act as a halo and attract attention.

Tell that to what must be dozens of folk I’ve seen riding sworks and plenty other 5 figure ebikes in the wild. Not just ‘1%ers’ buying them either.

Can't wait for a year or two when all these pop up on the second hand market so I might have a chance of actually affording one 🙂

Crazy how many <1 year old e-bikes on pinkbike and other FB sites etc. With very few miles are popping up now (mind you might be out of the lockdown impulse purchase period so maybe not)

Trek have opened a store really near me and they offer transferable warranty to subsequent owners (as long as bike is registered) and I also have a spesh turbo store also local so for me I would only consider either of these two brands currently as for such an expensive purchase I would want to be able to take it back to a real shop.

@tomhoward

Oh well, in that case the price still isn't crazy then as they seem to fly off the shelf into normal punter's hands.

Interest free credit,init

I think an article on warranties and future support is vital.

I’ll be on an e-bike at some point. I don’t need something for nothing or a warranty that covers crashes. But I’ll need to know I can keep the thing running. A fixed cost motor exchange program. Send in you motor and get back a used rebuild for £500 available for say 8 years from purchase

Oh well, in that case the price still isn’t crazy then as they seem to fly off the shelf into normal punter’s hands.

Without wishing to be rude, just because you can’t afford it or, rather, you have other things you’d rather spend your money on, doesn’t make a price crazy. The average price of a new car in the UK is £42k. I would never spend that on a car (well, I would, but I can’t afford it now and am unlikely every to be able to. Plus I can’t drive.), but I’m not gonna call anyone that would crazy.

Without wishing to be rude, just because you can’t afford it or, rather, you have other things you’d rather spend your money on, doesn’t make a price crazy. The average price of a new car in the UK is £42k. I would never spend that on a car (well, I would, but I can’t afford it now and am unlikely every to be able to), but I’m not gonna call anyone that would crazy.

+1 and have you seen how much ordinary folk spend on phones/contracts, watches, holiday to Disney etc etc

Without wishing to be rude, just because you can’t afford it or, rather, you have other things you’d rather spend your money on, doesn’t make a price crazy. The average price of a new car in the UK is £42k. I would never spend that on a car (well, I would, but I can’t afford it now and am unlikely every to be able to. Plus I can’t drive.), but I’m not gonna call anyone that would crazy.

The prices are a bit crazy though,when you can buy the bottom of the range version of the bike, then buy all the other bits at full RRP, fit them to the bottom of the range version that you just bought and have the exact same bike for several grand less than buying the 'official' version

Without wishing to be rude, just because you can’t afford it or, rather, you have other things you’d rather spend your money on, doesn’t make a price crazy.

Agreed, however the price is crazy. Objectively speaking it is nuts.

The average price of a new car in the UK is £42k

Wow! That's proper bonkers

You sure?

You sure?

that was the figure quoted on top gear last week, so as sure as that.

The prices are a bit crazy though,when you can buy the bottom of the range version of the bike, then buy all the other bits at full RRP, fit them to the bottom of the range version that you just bought and have the exact same bike for several grand less than buying the ‘official’ version

Is that from the same shop, or does that take some savvy shopping around, finding stock, navigating possible compatibility pitfalls etc. not everyone has the time for that. Hell, my last couple of bike builds took between 6 & 12 months just assembling the parts, two year wait for brakes not included so if I were as minted as some of you think I am, an extra few quid just to have everything I ultimately want, right from the off would be a price worth paying. But I’m not, so it isn’t. It may be to others.

Pricing it so not enough folk would buy it is crazy.

I don't know... When you can get one of these for the same price... Seems crazy to me!

https://www.ducati.com/gb/en/bikes/monster/monster-sp

Or a Rolex with the Dominos pizza logo on it.

Different people have different priorities.

Very true Tom. That watch is hideous! Preowned too. Different strokes for different folks.

Is that from the same shop, or does that take some savvy shopping around

No need to seek bargains,just pay full retail pricing and you still save a truckload over buying the top end bike.

Each to their own though, they obviously do sell the top end versions or they wouldn't make them.

No need to seek bargains,just pay full retail pricing and you still save a truckload over buying the top end bike.

I did edit to say just finding stock, which has been a challenge of the past few years. So a whole top end bike with top end parts (not just what you can get hold of) is more of a commodity.

@tomhoward

Reading my post back again I can see that my wording comes across as being sarcastic when that wasn't what I intended.

If indeed every other bike out there is a range topper then I'm wrong and so is anyone who says it's crazy because people are buying them!

I appreciate that the whole battery capacity versus system weight is something of a vicious circle. Would adding one or two kilograms to the bike’s weight significantly impair the bike’s handling? Maybe it would. You do have to draw the line somewhere and it can’t have been an easy or quick decision made by the Trek team.

I think personal preferences come into play a great deal here too. I am a bit of a Boost* fan. I can’t help it. I don’t have the discipline to stay in Eco or Trail modes. With a different rider on board, one who switches to Eco for flat road linking sections, and keeps it in Trail for pretty much everything else

I think a lot of people reviewing bikes like this or the Rise, coming from full power e-bikes, kind of miss the point. I’m guessing it probably gets a very similar range to an Orbea Rise if you don’t thrash it in Boost. That equates to about 1400m climbing (+/- 200m) which is a good chunk more than most people would ride on an unpowered bike on a full day out. For really big days add the 252wh range extender and you’re well over 2000m at which point you’re going to be exhausted anyway. (This might be where Trek *have* missed a trick - their range extender looks expensive and undersized at 150wh). So you only carry the extra weight when you plan to use it.

What these bikes are *less* suited for is shuttling up a fire road to ride downhill runs or chasing people on full-fat e-bikes. That’s when the temptation comes to whack it in boost to keep up and you rinse the battery. But I think they’re a lot more ‘bike like’ and a lot more fun to ride the rest of the time.

This might be where Trek *have* missed a trick – their range extender looks expensive and undersized at 150wh

its actually 160wh, but your point still stands. I suspect there will be a larger range extender in the works. The Trek rationale for this says that the range extender has been sized at 160wh because that is the max size that is allowed in aeroplanes, so you can take your bike abroad, leaving the main battery at home of course, and still get some assisted riding in.

its actually 160wh, but your point still stands. I suspect there will be a larger range extender in the works. The Trek rationale for this says that the range extender has been sized at 160wh because that is the max size that is allowed in aeroplanes, so you can take your bike abroad, leaving the main battery at home of course, and still get some assisted riding in.

a modular battery would be a great idea- 2, even 3 160wh batteries that could be connected in parallel, clipped together like lego, and separated for air flight

and separated for air flight

you're only allowed a total of 160wh per person, so you'd need to get someone else in your party to carry any additional batteries

Excellent review that. I'm amazed how much of the workding could be transalted to the Kinesis Rise Pro I owned for a short period. I bought it wxactly for the reasons Sanny suggests, I didn't want to fly around on a new type of vehicle, I wanted a mountain bike that could assist me to ride more than my old body is capable of now.
This section particulary:

like riding with a massive tailwind. Or on ascents that have had a few degrees of gradient removed from them. Or you’ve suddenly become twenty years younger. It’s not that climbing becomes whistle-while-you-work easy (which it can do on full-power e-bikes), it’s still pretty strenuous activity on the Trek Fuel EXe.

Aside from having no rear suspension (which made it quite a difficult bike to get used to) the Kinesis could fit that description.
But yeah, as on page one the money side of things meant I had to sell it on, so much as I'd love a full-sus version of the bike I had...

The Trek rationale for this says that the range extender has been sized at 160wh because that is the max size that is allowed in aeroplanes, so you can take your bike abroad, leaving the main battery at home of course, and still get some assisted riding in.

Thats an interesting justification, but kind of ludicrous that you'd think about going to all the effort of flying with a bike to then have only a about 600m of climb in battery.

Tell that to what must be dozens of folk I’ve seen riding sworks and plenty other 5 figure ebikes in the wild. Not just ‘1%ers’ buying them either.

Surely that's approaching the point of the guy on Question Time famously trying to claim that on £80k he was poor.

Wow! That’s proper bonkers

You sure?

Figures, when you consider how much even a 6 year old car is worth now (at 70,000 miles it's barely run in) it means the first, 2nd and even 3rd owners are buying them on finance. Whereas previously you needed an unsecured loan (at a higher rate) to get a 2nd hand car.

And only a quarter on of the cars on the road are with their first owner (i.e. that £40k car is also a £20k, £10k and £5k car to someone else at 3/6/9/12 years old) so the figure isn't representative of the average price anyone paid for their car.

Disposable income is a funny thing. Once you've paid the bills to met your basic needs it builds up fairly quickly. A 5% pay rise for a lot of people is probably the difference between a Focus and a 3-series on finance outside of austerity/cost of living crisis / brexit . So it's easy to see why people with a couple of hundred quid spare each month end up 'buying' a 'premium' car.

I wonder how many of the optimistically prices 2nd hand e-bikes are because the owner owes that much on finance. The flipside of that disposable income increasing disproportionately with salary is it's just as quickly erroded.

Thats an interesting justification, but kind of ludicrous that you’d think about going to all the effort of flying with a bike to then have only a about 600m of climb in battery.

I dunno - whenever I go away its always on a mostly uplift holiday, where we'll be uplifted for most of the day with the odd bit of climbing, say 6000 feet of uplift and 2000 feet of self propelled climb, the battery would be perfect for that. Plus its actually not that bad to ride with no battery at all, not significant worse/heavier than the heavier end of the spectrum enduro bikes.

I dunno – whenever I go away its always on a mostly uplift holiday, where we’ll be uplifted for most of the day with the odd bit of climbing, say 6000 feet of uplift and 2000 feet of self propelled climb, the battery would be perfect for that.

I agree... I don't quite understand who anyone who buys an Ebike then has to force the issue to do every climb, every day, sometimes it seems to me at the expense of enjoying the day. It's like they're at times trying to justify the purchase rather than just enjoying it.

I don’t quite understand who anyone who buys an Ebike then has to force the issue to do every climb, every day, sometimes it seems to me at the expense of enjoying the day. It’s like they’re at times trying to justify the purchase rather than just enjoying it.

Do you not want to go til you're tired and spent when out on a regular bike?

you’re only allowed a total of 160wh per person, so you’d need to get someone else in your party to carry any additional batteries

Picking the last two airlines I used*, they both allow 2x160 wh batteries (as well as an unbelievable quantity of other batteries) to be carried, so there is carrier variation.

*AirNZ and Virgin

Thank you for an informative review. I am a recent owner of a 9.7 (a more modest SLX and Fox spec)

I have a chronic health condition which means my days of long fast rides are long gone, but fortunately still have something left to give. Have previously owned a "full fat" ebike I want back to "acoustic". I hated the weight, compromised handling and overpowered nature of the ebike. For me the lightweight, stealthy, quiet, well integrated battery and motor, incorporated in a frame the rides brilliant is amazing. Sure, it's not like some ebikes; a big SUV like hyper powered bike. I have to put effort in. But it's such a rewarding bike to ride and gives me a massive grin, and a pace a distance I've lost due to ill health. It's as close as I will get to owner, riding fast an acoustic bike. Not all of us want long range and lots of power, we just want a morning of fun riding single track. This bike massively delivers on that.

Wot wipeout said makes me happy 🙂

OK..... so what makes this bike so *IMPORTANT* compared to something like the Orbea Rise?

OK….. so what makes this bike so *IMPORTANT* compared to something like the Orbea Rise?

Better marketing department.

The motor makes this bike.

I've ridden the Rise and it's a great bike, but not as good. It's noise and power delivery from the motor that makes the EXE the better bike. The TQ motor is much quieter. It is more responsive, less surge and less overrun. It's a very natural riding experience. I reckon the Harmonic Pin-Ring gear will be much more reliable than the normal gearboxes. The motor is much smaller and so doesn't compromise the frame design. Ebike or not the Trek Fuel EXe is a great trail bike because of that smaller motor.

I don't know whether the Trek is genuinely all that important or not, but I suspect it's more impactful than the Rise for "death of a thousand cuts" type reasons.

So the Rise is an ebike that looks very normal and non-ebikey, which is nice. The EXe does the same thing, but more betterer. The Rise, as nice as it looks, does have a fairly obvious motor in the bb area. The EXe just doesn't really (or at least, you have to look hard to guess it's there).

And then there's the acoustics: you can hear the motor on the Rise, but the EXe is (reportedly) pretty much silent. So again, it's just that bit closer to a normal bike.

Minor things, but maybe they add up, IDK. Plus, as STW said in their first look at the Exe, the fact that it's from a big manufacturer is by itself a statement.

but the EXe is (reportedly) pretty much silent.

it really is near as damnit silent, its quite remarkable, and a very nice thing having ridden a bosch gen4 bike for the last 2 years. Its not just the lack of whining noise when pedalling, but there is no rattle from the motor when going downhill without pedaling like you get with the shimano ep8 (& ep8rs in the rise) & bosch gen 4.

I still think the rise (especially in aluminium form) is the best value e mtb (not just out of the lightweights, but e mountain bikes as a whole) out there at the moment though .

I haven't read all the replies but another topic seemingly ignored in reviews is the battery life. Not how long it lasts on the ride, but how long until it needs replacing because it has degraded. Do the manufacturers have a recycling/replacement program? I have spoken to Orbea and apparently they don't, whereas Trek seem to have thought about this and as far as I can tell, they have a system in place.

If you can't replace the battery, or have to go through the hassle of disposing of it (not that easy nowadays) then you are just storing up problems for yourself. Your LBS is not going to get involved so it is down to you.

Food for thought when choosing a bike perhaps?

replacement batteries are available (about £520 for the fuel exe) for most ebikes, I guess you'd keep the degraded battery as a kind of range extender for big days out - or thats what I would do. once its completely useless (to me) I'd take it to our local recycling place.

These look to be available with massive discounts at the moment.  Some £10brand models going at 50% off. I appreciate the better spec doesn’t make up for the range anxiety, but as a potential buyer, it starts to look a lot of e-bike for (still quite a lot) a better buy.

agree some cracking deals on these just now, higher spec ones available in every size at around half price, with a bit of googling.  I think it just highlights the savings on a new but 23 or 24 model expensive bike.  My initial reaction was around the huge 'depreciation' associated with ebikes, but looking at same model year regular bikes from Trek and others the savings to be found are comparable, so it's not just ebikes.

It does confirm that the second hand value, should you wish to move one of these on, having paid original full or near full price, is a losers game.  I think this is more the case with ebikes due to the likely problems with motors and batteries when out of warranty.

I did look at selling my hardly used and heavily upgraded 2020 Levo SL earlier in the year, and surmised I'd be better keeping it even if I do only rode it once a month or so, as I'd be lucky to get much over 2k for what was a 10k bike.

Back to the Trek, if I was looking for another ebike I'd be buying one for sure, infact my LBS, Sprockets have my size in stock and half price...

I love this sort of eeb. I had a Thomus for a while to test with the similar specced Maxxon motor and I loved how I could smash out big laps of places like GT at a pace I haven't had in 20 years and still not feel destroyed afterwards, but never really felt like I was riding an ebike.

I think the sprung weight argument is overplayed - the bigger factor that eBikes have over regular bikes (IMHO) is that the Eebs decouple the drive from the cranks, so you get a fully free suspension set up, no pedal kickback, no clutch dragging on your drive. Thats similar to the effect of an o-Chain but even more so.

Eebs decouple the drive from the cranks, so you get a fully free suspension set up, no pedal kickback, no clutch dragging on your drive. Thats similar to the effect of an o-Chain but even more so.

That's interesting, but I know very little about eebs - how does this happen? Is there effectively a clutch on the cranks when not pedaling?