Trek have developed some excellent bikes over the years and I am slowly coming to terms with every one of their models and how they fit into mountain biking (and cyclocross). And aside from the Session which is their downhill bike which is honestly way above my pay grade and a bike that I can’t really use around Bendigo, there has been one bike that has alluded me within the range. With the release of the 2020 range and my local dealer not getting a Fuel EX within my size yet, I asked if I could test out the 2020 Slash 8, film some runs on it and see how the 29er enduro bike goes in Bendigo?

 

Full Metal Tank

I have said it numerous times but within any Trek mountain bike line, the “8” bikes may be the best value for money you get and perform incredibly well without needing a carbon frame. This is their Alpha Platinum Aluminium mind you, not the same heavy and brittle aluminium you get on department store bikes.

The 2020 Slash 8 has Rockshox front and back, with the Yari RC fork with 160mm of travel paired with the Deluxe RT3 giving the rear swing arm 150mm of travel. The SRAM treatment extends to the SRAM Guide R brakes with 200mm and 180mm rotors front and rear, and the SRAM GX Eagle drivetrain with a 32T chainring stock. The remaining parts balance is Bontrager, from the Bontrager Drop Line seat post, Line Comp 30 rims, XR4/5 Team Issue tyres, and the cockpit all being Bontrager. Costing $5000 AUS, while you don’t get Renthal carbon bars or a Rockshox Reverb Dropper, the components that are present here are great and deserve some respect. It’s now a matter of how well they tie together and how the enduro bike handles?

Leading the way is the Bontrager XR5 Team Issue 29×2.6 tyre with Line 30 Comp rim, SRAM Guide R brake to 200mm rotors, the Rockshox Yari RC with Debonair in the 160mm variety, and this Remedy comes with the Knockblock head set to protect your frame and fork crown during big wrecks. Control Freak cable routing is also present threading into the frame just behind the head tube.
Middle section of the bike has the EVO Link with Mino link (set to low for the review), Rockshox Deluxe RT3 with Debonair piggyback and RE-Aktiv tuning, the 32 tooth chainring and MRP chain guide, and Truvativ Descendant cranks (175mm long on the M/L size). Control Freak internal cable routing emerging from down tube and built-in armour to down tube and chain stay, really nice for enduro riding.
Rear end is the Active Braking Pivot swing arm, SRAM Eagle 1×12 drive train (10 to 50 tooth cassette standard), SRAM Guide RS brake with 180mm rotor, Bontrager XR4 29×2.4 inch tyre mounted to the Line 30 Comp rim, and the Control Freak internal routing for the derailleur and rear brake caliper.

 

The test trails for this review are straight forward: Spring Gully and Harcourt. Spring Gully will represent the typical cross country/trail riding I do and the Hot Lap will determine the outright speed, while Harcourt will test the gravity riding side of things and has more difficult tech features to push limits. While I would have liked to test the Slash 8 at You Yangs or Bright, there were some time constraints and being in the position to test at Harcourt and Spring Gully was good enough for me.

 

No Team Issues!

I think the run away star of this review is honestly the Bontrager Line 30 Comp wheels paired to the XR5 Team Issue 29×2.6 out front and the XR4 Team Issue 29×2.4 out back. Riding this bike for the first time, all I could thinking about is “how hard can I push this bike?” and it had amazing grip. But then throughout cornering, descending, climbing, and technical rock work, the bike never broke traction. And the tyre felt usable in all senses. Running 17 PSI front and 19 PSI rear, the casing felt soft and pliable but still felt like it held it shape well under lateral loading and vertical compression. The beefy knobs up the front worked well for the soft dirt that has resided in Bendigo for the past 2 months (Australian winter for you) and the rear tyre’s tread profile meant it had remarkable traction under acceleration, braking and cornering. Equally of credit is the Line 30 Comp rims which felt sold and transmitted the right amount of information when barrelling down rock gardens. No spaghetti 29er wheels here, these are solid wheels that support the XR tyres really well.

I could go on and on about how this tyre and rim set up is perfect for the Slash 8 and what it represents, but know that a lot of what will be said next is thanks to the in-house wheel build and should not be dismissed in the face of Maxxis Minions, Specialized Purgatory, or Schwallbe Magic Mary-s. I strongly believe this wheel set up can go toe-to-toe with the best alloy rim-enduro tyre set ups.

 

Suspension and Frame: The Complete Package

When purchasing a bike, it is impossible to upgrade the frame (since it means changing the entire bike) and it is debatable whether you should change your shock and fork any more than what was provided. So if you were to purchase an enduro bike, you would hope that the frame and suspension package that comes standard would work well together? And for the Slash 8 it certainly does.

The rear end has 150mm of travel thanks to the Rockshox Deluxe RT3 which has the DebonAir spring, 3 position dampener, and is already tuned by Trek Labs to work well with the Active Braking Pivot rear linkage. With dimensions of 230×57.5mm, do you need to upgrade it? Absolutely not! The shock and rear linkage were a dream team, soaking up bumps and making sure my back wheel was planted in the dirt ready to go. The Deluxe RT3 is so good, it comes on the Slash 9.9, so you are getting the best rear shock that is tuned for Trek on this alloy frame! Under heavy braking I never felt the wheel seize up or catapult causing a lose of grip, it reacted like any other Trek dual suspension platform only it could take heavier hits. There also wasn’t excessive amounts of pedal bob or pedal kick. Pedal bob is more or less reliant on shock tuning these days and pedal kick back and anti-squat is nipped at the linkage design stage. For descending the pedaling platform was great, and I didn’t receive negative feedback from my flats. In all regards, the rear end is lively, soaks up all types of impacts and doesn’t slouch when you pedal hard.

The front end with 160mm of travel due to the Rockshox Yari RC did equally as well. Sporting the DebonAir spring and Motion Control RC dampener, the Yari performed to its intended spec and showcased how Trek have made a balanced enduro bike. It’s everything you want in a modern enduro fork, with a supple beginning stroke but decent ramp up, it supports the rider during pedaling, and doesn’t suffer from excessive brake dive. Working with the XR5 Team Issue, I could steer with confidence knowing the front wheel wasn’t going to do anything wild, but it would turn in when I wanted it and held the line well.

As far as suspension and frame goes, this is a great choice by Trek’s part. The rear end doesn’t feel over powered compared to the fork, it doesn’t feel like a cross country bike out the front and a downhill bike out the back, the chassis feels balanced and well suited for fast descending and technical trail riding. The Slash 8 has an excellent base chassis and I would not change anything on it even if I had Bill Gates’ wallet.

Additional Thought: Looking at this bike in the stand at home and noticing the seat tube and rear shock mounts, I came to appreciate how over built this section is and some other benefits. The seat tube tapers out as it approaches the bottom bracket becoming wider and thicker as it goes down. This not only increases structural integrity around the point that sustains the majority of the rider’s weight, but it also increases rigidity with the tapering and it becomes its own fender by covering the shock from the rear wheel. Reflecting on the design of the seat tube and around the bottom bracket, I better appreciate how the bike feels stable, nimble, and functioned so well.

 

Stable? Nimble? Why Not Both?

Throughout the video review, I often gush about how the Slash 8 is both “stable and nimble” and depending on how you interpret that it can be an oxymoron or the major selling point for an enduro bike. Stability and agility are separate qualities within a bike and they can balance with each other, co-exist, or undermine one another. Let me explain…

Stability is how well a bike will respond to a sudden and unplanned change in direction without needing excessive amounts of rider input to regain control. High stability entails hitting a rock garden and the wheels track where you want them to, the rear suspension linkage actuates well and ensures optimal traction, and the bike overall negotiates the rock garden without feeling “out of control”. Agility is how well a bike will respond to sudden changes in rider input and the bike then executing the intended manoeuvre. If you were to weave in between trees in a tight chicane, a nimble bike would turn in well, the back wheel tracks in a predictable arch that doesn’t hinder the front end, and change direction/momentum without major effort or the feeling of “losing control”. Warpath possesses high stability but relatively low agility in low and high speed cornering (on loose-on-hard pack surfaces), and these days I’m noticing that while Titan is fairly nimble thanks to the 27.5 wheels and a short wheel base, the steering feels loose and the smaller tyres with decreased rotational inertia are easily knocked about.

The Slash 8 honestly feels stable and nimble at the same time, with the tyres and rims obviously doing really well, but the geometry and suspension contribute to a bike that descends well but can also corner and climb with other trail bikes I have ridden. Two instances come to mind, the descent on Track 3 at Harcourt and Mitchell’s Trail Reverse at Spring Gully when the trees start to close in. On Track 3, the berms come at you quite quickly and they tighten up significantly before leading to the next. I had complete confidence that if I wrenched my handlebars into the turn and dabbed the brake, then the front wheel would seat into the first berm, the back wheel would put down my braking input and track well, the suspension would sustain the change in momentum, and I could throw myself into the next berm without a second thought. I have never trusted a bike so much to do that and to turn in so tightly. Mitchell’s Trail Reverse is not a berm super highway like the machine cut trails at Harcourt, but rather hand cut and imperfect in the best way. To trust that a bike will bob and weave through the trees and turns without washing out on off-camber loose corners is something necessary for a trail bike. But to heft a 29er enduro beast through those same corners with grace and fluidity is something I didn’t expect. I thought that the Slash 8 was going to be more stable but less nimble than the Remedy 8 (https://throughanamateurseyes.wordpress.com/2018/11/08/rider-files-37-remedy-for-all-trails/) but I felt that the Slash 8 was as nimble and more stable than the Remedy 8. A proof of concept that Trek does develop their models separately but with similar goals in mind?

Enduro bikes in the general perception should be great on downhills and be able to climb reasonably well, but I would argue that the Slash chassis can do far more than that. It is stable on steep climbs and descents, and it retains its agility regardless of what the front wheel is hitting and where the back wheel will end up next. I am thoroughly impressed by how it handles overall.

 

A Home For The Slash?

In my Remedy review, I could not justify the every day use of such a bike on cross country trails in Bendigo and felt that it excelled in dancing down technical runs and flying off jumps. The Slash excels in gravity park environments, but it has utility within every day trail use. During a night ride with my Tuesday Night Beer Club group, amongst a field of hard tail cross country bikes, a long travel hard tail and another dual suspension enduro bike, the Slash didn’t suffer or lag behind on the relatively flat trails of Epsom. It was a bit different having the suspension soak up the small rock gardens that usually make these night rides a hair raising congregation, but I would happily use an enduro bike like this on a cross country ride provided I’m not racing.

The Slash with its stability and agility makes it competitive among cross country and trail bikes on technical features and flowing descents, and the only penalty you receive is the extra weight of the built up frame and enduro casings. If you’re not a weight weeny then an enduro bike like this does not spell the end to XC enjoyment.

I don’t think there are many places I wouldn’t take this bike. With the intended purpose of riding anywhere and taking some downhill punishment, my only reservation might be Five Mile in Moama because there are speed bumps with more altitude variance than the blue loop so an enduro bike will be under-utilised for sure. Otherwise, I would happily take this to Spring Gully, Bright, Derby, Mount Stromlo, and Helensburg any day of the week. Don’t think you need to be an enduro rider to want this, the Slash 8 is an obtainable all-mountain machine!

 

Conclusion

Phenomenal is my final rating. No separate numerical ratings for looks and components, just a simple one word that sums up one of the best bikes I have ridden. It has achieved this word by riding like a mountain bike that belongs in this category, excelling in all aspects of handling, having a healthy component composition for the price point and performs for the intended purpose, and being a bike that inspires amazing feelings every time you ride it. The Slash 8 stands amongst its “8” peers by being the best alloy framed Slash you can get, and it performs to the price point well. I understand that people might want the more affordable 2020 Remedy 7 for $1300 AUS less because they want a fun gravity bike for weekends, or they might jump up to the 2020 Slash 9.9 at double the price since it has carbon everything and the best Rockshox fork they could spec to it. Regardless of how you justify value and how you want your bike to perform, I strongly believe that the 2020 Slash 8 is a phenomenal alloy enduro bike that can take on the Giant Reign, Specialized Stumpjumper EVO, and Scott Ransom; but it also stands on its own reputation for being an animal on descents and composed in the corners. There are no compromises made for this bike, it excels at descending for sure but it can still climb well to earn your descents. This is seriously one of the best mountain bikes I have reviewed and ask you to adore one in person and see if you can test ride one if you are in the market for an enduro bike or just a solid trail bike?

 

Hot Lap Testing

Something that will be discussed in the next Rider Files is the Spring Gully Hot Lap testing. These numbers might not seem like much now, but here are the sector times and final lap time:

Sector 1: 4:55 (+3 sec off best)
Sector 2: 4:28 (+8 sec off best)
Sector 3: 3:12 (-4 sec off previous best time)
Lap Time: 12:33 (+7 sec off best, 2nd place)

 

Muc-Off and Finish Line bike cleaning products are almost synonymous with “bike care products” when someone asks what do you recommend to clean your bike? A few months ago I tested Crankalicious cleaning products and they performed brilliantly. After the review I tried to source more of their products from Chain Reaction Cycles but they always seemed to be out of stock, so hopefully people are supporting the boutique brand. But here in Australia, we have our own cleaning product and I thought it was about time to give it “a fair dinkum go”.

Krush is an Australian company based out of the “high country” in Victoria Australia. They support Australian mountain biking events such as the Cannonball Downhill competition at Thredbo, the EWS in Derby, the Ignition Festival at Bright, and the opening of Maydena Bike Park in Tasmania. So these guys have seen a dirty mountain bike or two, and know the value of high performance at low cost. In order to best compare them to Muc-Off, once again I got their core range of Foaming Rapid Wash, Ultra Drivetrain Degreaser Spray, and their brand new Platinum Chain Lube.

For Krush to compete against Muc-Off and Crankalicious, we once again need some dirty bikes and once they are cleaned they need to perform well. To test how well it cleans dual suspension and hard tails, Titan and Warpath will serve as the main test bikes since fat tyres deserve to be ridden in mud and loam. So how does Australia stack up to England? No time for cricket, it’s time to wash some bikes!

Before Krush cleaning. Clay like mud on the seat tube and down tube.
After Krush cleaning. Removes majority of the grime and doesn’t discolour the frame after washing. Tyres are still caked in some clay mud.
Before Krush cleaning. Bottom bracket and seat tube area are the main concern, with the cross bar on the chain stay being twice as thick thanks to the build up of mud.
After Krush cleaning. The products worked really well overall, with the drive train and seat post being the main highlights for myself.

 

Green, Lemon Lime Smell, Is This Limon Velo?

And this isn’t an insult, it’s a compliment having another great drive train cleaning solution that has a suitable spray nozzle. Directions are simple to hose off major mud and gunk, spray onto drive train and cassette, use it in your favourite cleaning whip, and after agitating the mixture simply rinse off with water and dry clean. And it does a pretty good job. The mixture foams up well which allows it to be dispersed easily on the cassette and on the derailleur, and it works well in the Muc-Off chain whip that I used for the Crankalicious review. It has the fresh lemon/lime smell and it leaves the drive train looking pretty darn good. During the cleaning, I did note a bit more of a “bubble and hiss” as if the solution has some acidic properties as well. While it isn’t the “as good as new” gleam like Crankalicious had, I found for a single drive train degreaser that costs significantly less, it does an exceptional job. Coming in the larger 1L bottle and only costing $25 AUS for it, this is the best value for money. There is a lot going for the green degreaser, and I am quite pleased with how it performed. I strongly recommend this drive train cleaning spray.

 

Blue Lightning

The rapid bike wash is good as well. It doesn’t break ground and somehow removes scuffs from a weathered frame, but like Muc-Offs Bike Wash Spray and Crankalicious Pineapple Express, it is a foaming bike spray that is easily sprayed on, agitated with a brush and after minimal time is rinsed off and leaves the frame gleaming and clean. It doesn’t leave the oily sheen that Pineapple Express did on Warpath, but it does most stubborn mud quite well and doesn’t leave smears. The foaming nozzle is a tight spread, so in order to cover a wide area you need to aim from a bit of a distance when compared to Muc-Off and Crankalicious. For $25 AUS for the 1L bottle and nozzle, this is another value for money cleaner. But to make things better, you can buy the Premium Concentrate which is sold for $20 and combining one part to four parts water (200mL bike spray concentrate to 800mL water), you can keep refilling the Krush Bike Spray. Anyway to reduce the environmental impact due to plastic wastage is always a plus in my books!

 

Wax On, Wax Off

As previously discussed in the last cleaning product review, the lubricant you use is entirely up to personal preference and how you want your drive train to best perform. What Krush offers is the Platinum Chain Lube which is a wax based chain lubricant to be used in conjunction with their cleaning products. While it isn’t as difficult to apply as regular chain wax, this thick liquid solution looks like any other lube you have come across. It needs a fair angle to be tipped at in order to flow out of the nozzle, and after coating the chain and rotating 4-5 times over you simply wipe off the excess and it’s good to go instantly. The bold claim for Platinum is that it improves your chain while riding and after every consecutive wash. This is intriguing…

For the first ride on both bikes nothing seemed to be different from using Smoove lube, and the creak of the chain occurred sooner on Titan than using Science Friction. But getting up to the fourth clean, my chain seemed to make less noise for longer and it seemed to be looking “good as new” with less effort. I’m not sure where I yet stand on wax lubricants as a whole compared to ceramic or traditional silicon based lubricants, but Platinum is a great lube and seems to be doing what it says on the bottle. Costing $20 AUS for a bottle that is larger than Science Friction and Smoove, the value for money is there and if you love a good wax lubricant without having to brew your own home batch chain wax, I recommend you give this a shot?

 

Bio-Degradable?

Another bike care product that claims to be bio-degradable yet there are no resources to state how to dispose of the used product, or information pertaining to how to treat chemical exposure. Sure there is the usual “if sprayed in eyes please rinse with cold running water and seek emergency medicine”, but considering that Crankalcious had full PDFs explaining the chemicals used in the products, how to safely dispose of them, and everything you could ask from a legal document; it’s hard to give this an easy pass. Trying to look up Australian guidelines for what makes a cleaning product biodegradable is again near impossible since nearly every Google search leads you to a blog or company website saying to wash your carpets with vinegar and lemon rind. I believe that Krush imply that their cleaning products will degrade if they are over-sprayed and have not interacted with oils and grime, but as always please dispose of waste water responsibly and avoid contact with cleaning products as you should?

 

Conclusion

I am incredibly pleased with the Krush cleaning and maintenance products I have tested. They clean well, the application nozzles do a fair job, there are no offensive smells, they are affordable in Australia, and my bikes perform well on the trail after cleaning with these products. I will praise the drive train cleaning solution for working exceptionally as a spray and a whip fluid, the bike spray for having the option to refill with a concentrate at a fraction of the cost, and the Platinum lube for slowly delivering on its promise. If you are an Australian resident, I highly recommend seeking this stuff out and trying it for yourself, and if you are from overseas have a try at different cleaning products when you can to see if something honestly does a better job for less? Great work Krush for making three awesome cleaning products! Just need to try the After Bike Spray and Rotor Cleaner I suppose? Until next time.

If there is a mountain bike chassis that I have been following religiously (other than the Giant Stance), it has been the Trek Fuel. I absolutely adore the Trek Fuel EX for what it does, and how a single frame can spec out the beginner dual suspension market all the way up to an elite fun machine. Aside from Giant, Scott and Specialized; you will be hard pressed to find a versatile trail bike that is available in multiple specs and can perform to the desired price point. The only reason I have not bought a Fuel EX is because I have an emotional attachment to Titan since it got me into both mountain biking proper and was kind of the first mountain bike I reviewed. But if 2015 me had known how far I would go with mountain biking and that the $200 price difference between the 2015 Giant Stance 27.5 2 and the 2015 Trek Fuel EX 5 would be nothing after the upgrades and maintenance I had to put into the Stance, then Titan would have looked like this:

After the release of the Trek Top Fuel range for 2020 and the impending release of the new Fuel EX, I wanted to look back on how Trek made possibly their greatest all rounder and what steps were taken along the way to get where we are now. So how did we get the Fuel EX?

For this article, we are strictly focusing on the “Fuel” line and not the Superfly that sits in the “cross country” bracket, or the Remedy that sits in the “long travel trail” bracket. Sub-divisions such as Top Fuel and Fuel EX are on the table. The top of the range model will be the focus since it demonstrates the greatest innovations for the time and also shows the evolution of “top spec” parts for the time.

 

Where Do We Start?

According to the Trek official archives, models only begin at 2002 with the Gary Fisher models and 2003 was when we saw the first commercially available “Fuel” model. But there are some reports and evidence to suggest that the Fuel was born on the turn of the century for the 2000 Summer Olympics in none other than Sydney Australia!

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/2000-trek-fuel-vintage-bike.html

2000 Trek Fuel race bike for Travis Brown. Especially made to take on the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

While we may scoff at the rim pull brakes and 2x front chain rings, this was cutting edge for dual suspension bikes, let alone a cross country race bike for the Olympics! Hard tails were the go back then, so it was a bold move bringing a dual suspension rig for America’s Travis Brown to ride. 9 speed cassettes were only now being developed, and this XTR set was cutting edge. Some of my favourite pick ups are the Rockshox SID fork which was labelled “SIDney” for the Olympic Games, and how the geometry is “close” to the modern Top Fuel. We have a single pivot linkage driven suspension which would eventually evolve into the Active Braking Pivot and Float Suspension systems.

In 2003, according to the Trek archieves, the world received the Trek Fuel for commercial sale and it was pretty close to the Travis Brown Olympic Fuel.

2003 Trek 100

This is the top of the range 100 model, and for that title you get OCLV carbon fibre which has become a standard within Trek’s manufacturing of lightweight but strong carbon race bikes. The 100 had the XTR groupset from the 2000 race model, but the triple chain ring was here since Travis Brown “didn’t need a granny gear to race” and by having a triple chain ring back then afforded you the greatest range in gear ratios. There was a “Fuel 90 Disc” model which came with hydraulic disc brakes, but specifications were minimal and no pictures were found in the archives.

2004’s Trek Fuel 100 pushed on with carbon cockpit components and rims from Bontrager, and included Bontrager’s Race Lite Tyres.

2004 Trek Fuel 100

Geometry and suspension design is preserved from the previous years, but there was a focus on making this year’s model lighter and faster.

 

Fuel Divisions

In 2005, Trek brought us the next iteration of the Fuel line with the top model being the Fuel 80:

2005 Trek Fuel 80

The 80 now came with hydrualic disc brakes standard, but the frame was aluminium, and the group-set was reduced to Deore spec. This may seem like a backwards step in isolation, but that year Trek also presented the 2005 Trek Fuel EX and the 2005 Trek Top Fuel range!

2005 Trek Fuel EX 9. This is the longer travel, heavy hitter when compared to the Fuel 80.

With a beefier frame made of carbon fibre to take heavier hits and be more rigid while shredding trails, increased travel front and rear, the introduction of the Full Floater suspension linkage, and hydraulic disc brakes made the first Fuel EX chassis a revolution in dual suspension mountain bike design and would pave the way for the line to become a commercial success.

2005 Trek Top Fuel 110

On the other hand, Trek also introduced the Top Fuel and the top of the range was the Top Fuel 110. While it looks understated when compared to the Fuel EX 9, the Top Fuel 110 possessed the shorter travel suspension but had the XTR components, lightweight OCLV carbon frame, and low profile tyres to take on cross country racing. This is only the beginning for the Top Fuel…

 

2006 gave us another Fuel 80 which had very few things changed from its 2005 ancestor, the 2006 Fuel EX line had another success with the Fuel EX 9.5, and the Top Fuel gained hydraulic disc brakes:

2006 Trek Fuel EX 9.5

The top tube and down tube were slimmed but still retained the rigidity and strength of the previous year’s model, and Trek started speccing SRAM components across the range. While this wasn’t as major of a step as what the 2005 Fuel EX was from the 2004 Fuel, small innovations count. 2006 would also be the final year for the Trek Fuel line up, with 2007 being Fuel EX dominance.

2006 Trek Top Fuel 110

The Top Fuel 110 when compared to the EX 9.5 had advantages in the Shimano XTR groupset, hydraulic Shimano XTR brakes, and the lightweight Bontrager Super X 26×2.1 inch tyres.

 

2007 gave us another step closer to the modern Fuel EX with the travel boosted from 100mm to 120mm front and rear!

2007 Trek Fuel EX 9.5

The head tube and seat tube were slightly slacker, the chainstays were brought in, Fox suspension came on the top spec models, and we have the first attempt at the Active Braking Pivot design! On first glance you miss most of the details since the 9.5 here and before have identical paint schemes, but rest assured Trek did innovate more on this design and began pushing the Fuel EX to become more rugged and capable of descending and climbing.

2007 Trek Top Fuel 9.9

The 2007 Top Fuels finally ditched the 80-110 scale previously used and blended in with the other lines with the top model being called the 9.9 and the range starting at 7. Like the Fuel EX, the Top Fuel became closer to the modern incarnation by having 90mm of front and rear travel (rather than 80mm), a steeper head tube angle for gruelling climbs, and a lower slung cockpit thanks to stem and handlebar combinations. The Top Fuel was starting to become more specialised than its Fuel EX cousin.

 

In 2008 the world was still suffering from the finanical crisis but Trek produced more brilliant bikes that transformed the world of mountain biking in both the trail bike and cross country categories.

2008 Trek Fuel EX 9.5

While there doesn’t seem to be much going on, this model was the first to introduce the official ABP or Active Braking Pivot design that we know today, a magnesium EVO rocker link, and the official Full Floater system. Yet we still have 26×2.25 inch tyres on this Fuel EX? The 2008 Trek Fuel EX 9.5 was pretty darn good and honestly I would feel comfortable using this bike today in Bendigo since the increased rotor sizes and slackened geometry does make it worthy of trail bike status. But this is no where near the end!

2008 Trek Top Fuel 9.9 SSL

In the Top Fuel camp, the 9.9 SSL had a few tweaks applied. It had a pivotless chainstay and the Shimano XTR systems were updated, but it retained 90mm of travel front and rear and most other frame geometry. Most of the innovation went into frame stiffness and weight reduction. Again, this Top Fuel would do pretty well in Bendigo considering it is 11 years old.

 

2009 was a straight forward year for the Fuel EX.

2009 Trek Fuel EX 9.9

Nothing really changed. The 120mm of travel remained, Full Floater and ABP was setting the trail riding world on fire, and the only significant tweaks were to the rims making them lighter and stiffer. It’s what happened to the Top Fuel range that must of had Trek’s attention!

2009 Trek Top Fuel 9.9 SSL

Oh my word did the Top Fuel transform! 90mm travel became 100mm thanks to the revised seat tube/top tube junction, it received the Full Floater, magnesium EVO link, ABP rear swing arm, reduced brake rotor sizes, 2x front chainrings, titanium Shimano brakesets which were exclusive to Trek, and improvements in the propietary Bontrager components to improve cross country racing. This was ground breaking for Trek, let alone the Top Fuel range.

 

The 2010 Fuels received a significant update due to the rear derailleur hanger becoming replaceable. While we take it for granted in 2019, before replaceable derailleur hangers if you smashed your mech it usually meant a replacement since the force from an impact would damage the derailleur. But not a single piece of metal between the frame and derailleur would save it! Sometimes it’s the small things that push mountain biking forward?

2010 Trek Fuel EX 9.9

The 2010 Fuel EX 9.9 remained a solid bike. A few geometry tweaks to make it slightly slacker and the tube joining the seat and top tube was eliminated thanks to the frame becoming more rigid, but otherwise it remained a 3×9 drive train and the Fox suspension package was great on this top end model.

2010 Trek Top Fuel 9.9 SSL

The 2010 Top Fuel was again a step forward since it gained Shimano’s 2×10 XTR groupset, centrelock hubs for the brake rotors, and the lightest cross country components for the time. This cross country race bike wasn’t messing around!

 

2011 might have been an ordinary year for some of us, but Trek were making small adjustments to their secret sauce. Nothing ground breaking but small improvements to make mountain biking a more enjoyable experience for Fuel EX and Top Fuel consumers.

2011 Trek Fuel EX 9.9

In the red corner, the reigning trail slaying champion the Fuel EX 9.9 finally received the 2×10 SRAM XX system and the centrelock hubs the Top Fuel 9.9 had the year before. But Trek had rejigged the head tube with the new E2 tapered standard to improve head tube stability and improved turn in feel, and Bontrager gave us the XR3 tyre. The XR range is common place on most, if not all, Trek bikes to this day and 2011 was where it all started. Mind you the bike is still a 26 inch wheel bike. The Fuel EX range had a mostly SRAM presence to it in the higher grades.

2011 Trek Top Fuel 9.9 SSL

In the blue corner is the lightweight champion of the world, the 2011 Trek Top Fuel 9.9 SSL! The Top Fuel range benefited from internal cable routing on the carbon models, and some models received remote lockable suspension front and rear which would help on marathon cross country rides. XTR components adorn this cross country cow, and Bontrager’s own components made this a lightweight and nimble machine.

 

2012 really didn’t differ from 2011 to tell you the truth.

2012 Trek Fuel EX 9.9

With only internal cable routing for the front derailleur and the Bontrager XR4 becoming the tyre spec, there wasn’t any ground breaking revelations other than tidying geometry and producing another solid trail bike?

2012 Trek Top Fuel 9.9 SSL

And honestly aside from a minor geometry tweak or two, the Top Fuel just remained as awesome as the 2011 father before it. Still 26er though…

 

Running One Type of Fuel

2013 was a turning point for Trek for the Fuel line. This was the year we would see the discontinuation of the Top Fuel line so Trek could focus their attention on the Superfly 100. A brief history, the Superfly was their cross country hard tail race bike that soon diverged into a hard tail and dual suspension option. When you have two dual suspension cross country race bikes, you only have so many resources to keep each going and Trek consolidated everything into the Superfly 100 for dual suspension cross country racing. But this meant the Fuel EX took off!

2013 Trek Fuel EX 9.9

With 130mm of travel front and rear, this wonderful thing called a “dropper post”, internal cable routing all around, and improvements to geometry to further cement this line as a dominant trail conquering machine, the 2013 Trek Fuel EX was exceptional and was an indication of where they wanted to take the Fuel EX range in the future.

 

The 29er Uprising

2014 was another significant year for Trek redesigning the Fuel since a division occurred with the Fuel EX 26 and the Fuel EX 29 lines. This is a bit mental and I need to emphasis how many divisions there were.

2014 Trek Fuel EX 9.8 26

Keeping with the 130mm travel chassis from the year before, the Fuel EX 26 only came in the highest spec of 9.8. It came with Shimano Deore XT components rather than XTR but it otherwise maintained the improvements that were made for the 2013 Fuel EX. With the Fuel EX 6 26, the EX 8 26, and the above EX 9.8 26; if you were holding out for a 26 inch wheel mid travel trail bike there were some pretty good options. But the 29er Fuel EX range was insane at the time.

2014 Trek Fuel EX 9.9 XTR

2014 Trek Fuel EX 9.9 XX1

The two bikes above use the same 120mm travel carbon chassis which had increased chainstays to accommodate the 29 inch tyre, both had the Rockshox Reverb Stealth, both had the Fox Factory Float shock with ReActiv tuning for the ABP and Full Floater, and the in-house Bontrager components were the same. What was different among the two were the fork and running groupset. The XTR used Fox’s Kashima coated Factory 34 with 120mm of travel, XTR brakes, and the 2×10 XTR drivetrain. The XX1 however embraced SRAM tech by having the Rockshox Revalation RCT3 120mm out front, Avid X0 trail brakes and this new thing called SRAM XX1 1×11. These were both great choices depending on how you wanted your trail bike to perform. A 2×10 system for those wanting an excess of gear ratios and something to pedal up steep hills easily, or embrace the revolution that was 1x. The Fuel EX 29 line up included the 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, two varieties of 9, 9.7, two varieties of 9.8, and the two varieties of 9.9. That was 12 different options on offer and specs had the two options so you could choose SRAM or Shimano components. You rarely get that these days, and maybe Trek was testing the waters to see if people would stick with 2×10 or move onto 1×11, but time would tell.

 

There Was a 27.5 Fuel EX?

Yep, and it landed in 2015 among the excitement for what 27.5 inch wheels could do. Promises of “faster turn in than big bulky 29ers” but “faster rolling than 26 inch wheels” meant companies like Trek embraced the new wheel size. But this came at the cost of ditching 26 inch wheels from the line up, so if you wanted a 26 inch travel trail bike go back to 2014 now!

2015 Trek Fuel EX 9.9 27.5

This is essentially the best version of what my dual suspension should be. Unfortunately the chassis is 120mm of suspension travel since they hadn’t revised the design to allow larger wheel sizes into a 130mm travel geometry, but the top of the line Fox suspension and Shimano components on board this was a great bike. But there was also an option for Shimano’s Di2 system to be installed to make the 27.5 Fuel EX incredibly desirable. The 29er Fuel EX was also making moves.

2015 Trek Fuel EX 9.9 XTR

Following from SRAM’s market changing XX1 11 speed system, Shimano joined the 1x drive-train market with the XTR 11 speed system. The Fox Factory is a fantastic fork and is well deserving of being on the top model of the Fuel EX 29 series. But what about the SRAM top model?

2015 Trek Fuel EX 9.9 XX1

For the 2015 model, Trek adopted SRAM’s RS-1 which was meant to be their premiere cross country fork being inverted and having their leading edge fork technology. The reviews for the RS-1 were not great in retrospect, but this was one of a few bikes at the time that came specced with an RS-1 and seeing as buying an RS-1 to fit to an existing bike was expensive at the time, this wasn’t the worst move. Good on Trek for trying to embrace a new innovation at least.

 

Bringing the Family Together

Welcome to 2016 where the Top Fuel returned after a three year vacation, the Fuel EX was improved and the range was consolidated, and the Fuel family welcomed a new baby! The Fuel EX is the best place to start.

2016 Trek Fuel EX 9.9 29

The Fuel EX 29 chassis was where Trek made some minor tweaks that were welcome improvements for hard core trail riders. The Control Freak internal cable routing system meant guiding internal cables was easier and they remained more silent on the trail. The Mino Link was introduced to the EVO Link, allowing for the bottom bracket to be raised or lowered, thus the head tube angle would be slackened or steepened so riders could choose to improve climbing or descending stability. Having an option to tweak the performance of your bike for free is a pretty sweet deal. Trek also embraced the new Boost standard for hubs which meant the hubs front and rear got wider, but it also meant wheels were stiffer and cornered with greater precision. Thank you Trek for incorporating Boost hubs! Geometry tweaks as usual to shorten the chainstays and shorten the top tube to keep with “modern” trail geometry trends.

2016 Trek Fuel EX 9.8 27.5

In the 27.5 camp, nothing had really changed. The 9.8 model didn’t receive the Mino Link or Control Freak systems and it kept the 2×10 Shimano Deore system. This was a set up aimed at the casual weekend trail shredder who just wants a granny gear to pedal up a long fire road and then go fast down hill on a whip-able bike. I respect that specification philosophy of this bike.

2016 Trek Top Fuel 9.9

The return of the cross country king saw a revised Rockshox RS-1 in the 100mm travel flavour, Control Freak and Mino Link from this year’s Fuel EX (or did the Fuel EX get it from this?), the Shimano XTR 1×11 drive train, and all the upgrades Trek had made to their carbon OCLV process in the 3 year absence. This was a brilliant return to form for the Top Fuel!

2016 Trek Fuel EX Jr

And the baby of the family was the Fuel EX Jr, a 26 inch minature of the Fuel EX chassis. It had 90mm of suspension travel, adapted versions of the Full Floater and ABP, an EVO link, 2×10 Shimano Deore drive train with bash guard, and an aluminium frame. For kids getting into mountain biking and their parents can afford a dedicated bike for them, this was pretty good.

 

Precision, Speed, and Grip

2017 is where we see the final developments in the Trek Fuel lines as it stands today.

2017 Trek Fuel EX 9.9 29

The 2017 model was all about making a more stiff frame out front for better handling and turn in response, so two key updates were the Knockblock Steerer Stop and the straightened down tube. Between the 2016 model with its swooping down tube and the 2017 having a down tube the directly extends from the steerer tube to the bottom bracket, this made the frame more rigid in the lateral direction and greatly helped in making the front end more planted and controlled. Excellent for tight turns or higher speed downhill turns, as a consequence Trek didn’t want riders crashing and the crown of the fork destroying the straight down tube. The solution was their proprietary head tube spacers called Knockblock which had special rings which would hit each other at certain degrees of rotation to stop the fork and handlebars from over rotating. And this became standard for not only the 9.9 model, but also in more affordable models. Armour was applied to the bottom bracket area of the down tube and up near the steerer tube. This was the first year Trek made it so the frame and chain stays were 1x specific, so no aftermarket fitting a 2x groupset to it. Along with this, Trek embraced SRAM’s new drive train system called Eagle and specced the 9.9 with the top of the line XX1 Eagle. Guide Ultimate brakes for the premium trail brake experience, and Trek included the Bontrager Drop Line Pro which I still maintain is an excellent dropper post on the current market. Shame it only comes in 31.6mm diameter which is what Trek frames run specifically. The 2017 Fuel EX line no longer dabbled in 27.5 wheels, but rather due to increased chain stay clearances, you could opt for 27.5+ tyres. I love this option design choice since in theory, you could have 29 inch wheels for racing and enduro riding while a plus tyre wheel combo could be on stand by for loam riding and more carefree trail riding. And of all things, the Fuel EX was now 130mm of travel! Took 3 years to catch up to where the 26 inch left off.

2017 Trek Top Fuel 9.9 Race Shop Limited

Sharing a similar sinister paint job to its trail shredding cousin, the Top Fuel 9.9 Race Shop Limited came with Kashima coated Fox suspension, the SRAM XX1 Eagle, and updated cross country geometry to take on the world. There was no mistaking this for anything other than a cross country race bike.

2017 Farley EX 9.8

There are people in this world that appreciate the finer things, like Dakar rally trucks or Trophy trucks rather than drooling over Monster Jam monster trucks. Real suspension, big tyres, a lightweight but strong frame, and parts that were made to be pounded by a boulder. Welcome to the Farley EX! I know I said I wasn’t going to cover anything outside of the Fuel range, but in essence this is the unholy marriage of the Farley (such as Warpath) and the Fuel EX. This is a dual suspension trail fat bike and everything is spot on. Compromises between the Farley’s hard tail geometry have been brought over to the Fuel EX rear suspension linkage to provide 120mm of rear travel. And it has ABP, Full Floater, EVO link, and Control Freak. This is true love for me and it is a shame I have never ridden one…

 

The Current State of Play and the Future

For all the searching I did, I could not force the Trek website to give me the images or specs for the 2018 range. Reading bike reviews and looking at the specs, not much had honestly changed from 2017 models aside from SRAM Eagle technology trickling down. Here is the 2019 year lines and how they stack up.

2019 Trek Fuel EX 9.9

With 130mm of travel, over 11 years of dual suspension technology (remember ABP and Full Floater emerged in 2008 and it took years to get to that), Knockblock Steerer Stop, and Trek’s OCLV carbon frame which has been a core part of the Fuel line since it’s introduction in 2003; the Fuel EX line represents one of the best trail riding 29ers you can get. With the range adopting 1x systems across the range from both SRAM and Shimano, this is a robust chassis for technical climbing, technical descending, and can be thrown into the air for casual visits away from earth. There isn’t much that can be revealed for 2020, but I expect great things from the new Fuel EX.

2019 Trek Top Fuel 9.9 SL

The 2019 Top Fuel may be the last time you see 100mm of suspension travel front and rear on a cross country race bike of this name. 10 years before it had been 100mm of travel with a carbon frame, and the 2019 model was one of the best cross country race bikes you could get.

2020 Trek Top Fuel 9.9

The new Top Fuel addresses how cross country courses are becoming steeper and more technical, so it comes with 120mm of suspension travel and dropper posts standard across the range. With an inverted rear shock, it helps to repel dirt from the seals more easily, and the stanchion and internals are submerged in oil for longer which assists with performance over longer cross country marathons. There is also an option for the SRAM AXS equipped super bike for those wanting to embrace wireless technology fully and don’t believe Skynet won’t take over their race bike. I still anticipate a new shorter travel cross country bike, but I believe it won’t be a “Fuel” line up bike.

2019 Trek Full Stache 8

The Farley EX came and went, but the new love child was between a Stache (29+ hard tail) and the Fuel EX line. And it is a great bike (https://throughanamateurseyes.wordpress.com/2018/10/08/rider-files-36-full-on-stache/) and looking back on my review of it, I smile thinking of how much fun it was and how it did possess the familiar Fuel EX DNA. The thing that is still perplexing me is why is it the Full Stache 8? There were no other Full Staches at the time, so did this spell out that Trek were/are going to release a carbon frame version in 2020? For those looking for a dual suspension plus bike, I dare you to try this and not smile.

 

Then and Now, Trek or the World? What Makes You Innovate?

Look at the 2000 Trek Fuel versus the 2020 Trek Top Fuel 9.9. Aside from the image size difference, there is fundamentally nothing different between the models. While geometry changes, components are improved and the wheels are 3 inches in diameter different; they are both Trek’s dual suspension cross country race bike.

In the world of engineering, nothing is designed by accident and alterations don’t happen over night. You have a design brief and the team must stick to it while also abiding by the manufacturer’s core values and beliefs, and also never transgressing ethical and moral guidelines. And this is what makes the Trek Fuel line so impressive is that in essence, a Trek Fuel was ridden for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and the new Top Fuel can be ridden at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Just focusing on the frame and the geometry, how do we innovate the Fuel chassis while sticking within the design brief? The Trek Fuel EX is essentially their “do it all trail bike” implying that the bike must climb well and descend with confidence. If we became engineers at Trek, does that mean we could realistically make the head angle slacker and lower the bottom bracket? Yes and no. We could propose that we slacken the head tube angle by 0.5 degrees, but that doesn’t mean the final production bike will be built this way. For that, a prototype would be built that tests our theory and it would be tested on a particular course by test riders. And our prototype would also be tested against another theory that “longer chain-stays give the front end more grip” and “stepper seat tube for more even weight distribution”. And this is what Trek and many other companies do, is that they will tweak geometry for test bikes and then actually ride them. When they have test ridden a bike with amended geometry and compare it to the other changes for the bike, the designers/engineers then have to consider whether it links back to the design brief and philosophy of the mountain bike line; and how it fits into the holistic view of the company’s products. So we could make a longer and slacker Fuel EX, but does it “handle like an all round trail bike should”, does it “realistically improve on the previous design and therefore is worth changing manufacturing”, and of course “is the redesign more in line with what the Remedy and Slash currently do”? If it stays within the design brief, the cost of altering manufacturing needs to change is outweighed by having a significantly improved bike, and doesn’t clash with another design, then we implement our new design and sell it!

When Trek/Bontrager develop proprietary technology that goes into their products, it is another area to consider how developing, testing, and manufacturing give us the final bike product lines we see each year. The Mino Link is an excellent example, because it wouldn’t have happened overnight and it might have taken years of prototypes to get right. The Mino Link has a simple, yet radical function of lowering the bottom bracket and slackening the head angle, or inversely raising the bottom bracket and making the head angle steeper. While this obviously effects climbing and descending capabilities, we need to consider the stresses it places on the bike and how the Mino Link itself was designed. The Mino Link is a small piece of metal recessed within the EVO Link and how it interfaces with the seat stay of the rear suspension linkage. That means there is a new sheer point for heavy impacts to break, it could induce another fulcrum which in turn can make the rear end too bendy, and if the Mino Link is not within a certain tolerance of manufacturing when it is fit to the frame then it could rattle about within the recess and make the rear end unstable. Trek would have done hundreds to thousands of tests on the trail, and their quality assurance division would ensure the last point never happens. But this is what goes into making a small but ground breaking development, not just an idea that is built but the details that go into design, testing, and manufacturing. The Mino Link is a certain length and this influences how the geometry raises and lowers when flipped. In testing there would have been shorter versions but the difference between flipping would have been negligible. Longer Mino Links would have exaggerated the bottom bracket height and head angle, but it might have made the bike too unstable in some ways or put the rider in harm thanks to the bottom bracket striking the ground. Trek and Bontrager innovate, but once you realise how the design process happens, you can appreciate that nothing happens with a snap of the fingers but rather a dedicated team working tirelessly to make the best bike in the world.

 

The question then remains, what about innovations with components and wheel sizes? We have seen Fuels with 26 inch wheels and 3×9 drivetrains, and the most recent Fuels with 1×12 and 29 inch wheels. Shimano, SRAM and Fox have all taken to the centre stage with the Fuel 9.9 models, so what goes into manufacturers influencing Trek and the final models?

The first radical standard change that comes to mind and how it altered Trek’s production was Boost Hubs. Context on what “old school hubs” were was that bikes were either 26 inch rims or 700C and the hubs were built so that the wheel was stable under lateral cornering forces. The hub, spokes and the rims make a triangle and the shorter and fatter a triangle is, the more it can resist deforming when pushed sideways. So old school hubs worked well because 26 inch wheels were fairly standard until 2014 when Trek rolled out the 29er Fuel EX range. And at the time, other brands like Giant and Scott were also still using old school hubs and building 29 inch wheel bikes for cross country and trail riding because 29ers have fantastic properties of rolling over small imperfections and roots more easily. 2016 was when Trek adopted the new “Boost” standard to their frames which saw bottom bracket get wider for the front and rear. This Boost Hub would also be adopted by the other brands but Trek went for it in both their 27.5 and 29 models, and it allowed the wheels to flex less under heavy cornering and improved the trail riding characteristic of the bike. Seeing as this was an innovation that improved the bike and fit within the design brief for both Fuel EX and Top Fuel, it was adopted across the board for both affordable aluminium models and higher end carbon models.

The argument of whether 26 is dead and if 27.5 should pack up and go home also applies to the Fuel lines. 26 inch wheels served all Fuel lines for a significant amount of time, over half its current history is thanks to the humble 26 inch wheel. But when 29 inch wheels had more favourable characteristics for cross country and endurance rides, Trek shifted their designs and manufacturing to incorporate a wheel size that benefited the philosophy of what a modern cross country and trail bike should be. 26 inch wheels still have a place in modern mountain biking, thanks to their smaller rotating mass and decreased side profile they are excellent on slope style bikes and dirt jumpers in comparison to 27.5 and 29 inch wheels. So the argument that 26 is dead only occurs when the public look at the majority of mountain bikes sold, which is going to be cross country, trail, and enduro rather than downhill and slope style. Trek phased out 26 inch wheels not because they hate them, but because the new wheel sizes on offer improved the characteristics of the bike they wanted to sell to you as the consumer. 27.5 is in an odd place at the moment, its either a core wheel size or a plus tyre option among model line ups. Innovations in hub, rim, and suspension design have allowed for 29 inch bikes to have longer travel and handle better but it won’t out rule 27.5. Trek still have the Fuel EX in a 27.5 plus version, but the Fuel EX chassis works well with a 29 inch wheel. Trek will continue to evolve the Fuel EX, Top Fuel and whatever Fuel mountain bikes beyond 2020 but what wheel size they realistically choose is up to how they believe the bike should handle and if the wheel size imbues that handling.

And then of course there is whether component manufacturers influence the design of the bike manufacturing industry and the answer is yes and no. If a new component has the ability to improve a bike and fits within the design brief and model budget, then it will be embraced. For a trail bike it must be durable, reliable, and easy to use. A cross country bike also relies on these things, but also being as light as possible and as many gear ratios to take on varying altitude and challenge under race conditions. That’s why the early Trek Fuels expanded from having 3×9 to 3×10 systems and remained that way until 2×10 drive trains had a wider spread on the rear cassette, rather than jumping straight to 2x systems because “they are lighter and less complex”. That is true, but if a 2×10 system has one less gear at the front but the same spread of gears on the cassette and is just as heavy, 3×10 in theory and practice will reign supreme. The 2014 Fuel 9.9 29 models showed this difference in drive train preference since cross country riders may want a lighter drive train at the expense of less gear ratios with the XX1, but the XTR system had proven itself in previous years and had a wider range of gears. Another consideration is, not might but definitely is, that some consumers like having a multi-ring drive train since they can use the lower gear to trundle up hill with less effort but higher cadence and Trek acknowledge that. Trek have however converted all Fuel EX and Top Fuel models to be 1x these days, and they no longer offer a bracket to mount a front derailleur. But Trek decide on their terms when to embrace new innovations in components for the benefit of the consumer. They did embrace the RS-1 for a generation of Fuel EX and a Top Fuel, but they switched back to “regular” forks. Dropper posts have been around for a while and manufacturers had been making them lighter and more streamlined, but the Top Fuel models have only come standard with them as of 2020 and I’m pretty sure if you bought a 2020 Top Fuel and you didn’t want the dropper the store would be more than happy to swap it out. So will cassettes get larger, dropper posts get longer, and wireless technology slowly integrates into our mountain bikes? Who knows but Trek will keep to their design briefs for every bike line and price model, and will bring something to market if it means making a better bike for people to enjoy.

 

Conclusion

This has been one of the longest, and most researched pieces I have done in a long time, so thank you for making it to the end. It was enlightening seeing how far the Fuel line has progressed over the 20 year history, and when innovations like the ABP, Full Floater, and Knockblock came about. I’ve also enjoyed talking about engineering design, prototype theory, and manufacturing issues since this was something I kind of left behind when I chose to do radiography and not pursue mechanical engineering. What Trek has in store next remains to be seen, but I am confident that this year’s Fuel EX and every bike here and after will be great. Thank you again for reading!