Any thoughts on a good replacement for my Trek Fuel EX 9.8? Its light and rides great, but I am hankering to replace it for something slacker with more travel. My dream list currently includes:

Ibis Mojo SLr
Knolly Endorphin
Nicolai Helius AC
Intense Carbine

Any experience or advice ref the above would be greatly appreciated. I was keen on the Nicolai, but even the normally great 18Bikes are unable to source a demo bike.
Thanks

Having only ridden a Mojo out of that list, I’d recommend a er….. MOJO 😀

Sorry I can’t do better, not much help am I?

No worries, any help is appreciated:)

All nice bikes. I’m on my 2nd Nicolai, my latest being an AC 29er which I’ve only had since December. I spent ages trying to decide what to replace my 4 year old Helius FR with but in the end I decided to stick with Nicolai. I looked at loads of bikes and frames and managed to demo a Yeti SB66, a Mojo HD and a Helius AM which were all great. The AM was the best of the bunch but just too similar to my FR. My local Nicolai dealer (Gravity Sports) had a demo AC 29er in my size and that was that, decision made.
It’s a shame you can’t find an AC locally (I assume you’re looking at the 26er?).

Blur TRc 🙂

Knolly gets my vote

If you go on the Nicolai forum on Mtbr you may be able to find someone with an AC you could try. We are generally a very nice bunch.

If you were interested or open to a 29, then I’d be happy to meet up and you could try my custom AC/AM 29. you could find yourself very surprised.
I assume from your post you’re in the vicinity of the peaks?

I’d add the blur trc to the list, just because every Santa Cruz I’ve ever owned or borrowed has made me want to ride the socks off it.

Knolly has extra linkages, must be betterer

Any thoughts on a good replacement for my Trek Fuel EX 9.8? Its light and rides great, but I am hankering to replace it for something slacker with more travel.

Is that because you’ve ridden other longer travel slacker bikes and liked it? or because you think you want a longer travel slacker bike?

If it’s the former then what was it you rode as it will give us some idea what you liked?

If it’s the latter then I’d suggest hunting down some of your contenders for a proper (more than car park) test ride to see how you get on with them.

If you like your trek have you considered a Remedy?

Blur TRc, we can certainly arrange a demo there!

Herfie where are you located?

Mojo is lovely but not if you’re after slack. Balanced trailbike rather than big slack hooner. I think it’s actually steeper than the current fuel ex?

Mojo SLR is angleset/works components headset compatible if you need to slacken it out – also a Mojo owner 🙂

Sure, but even with one fitted it’s still less than a degree slacker than the Ex and the Carbine, and stepper than the Helius and Knolly.

Not that this is the be-all and end-all obviously, head angle’s just one part of how it rides. But OP asked for slack… And I think (but not 100%) that the Fuel Ex and Carbine are both also angle-headset compatible.

Herfie where are you located?

Hi Geetee
I am located near Macclesfield. Spoilt for local trails and the Dark Peak is also a fave destination that is perfect for a weekend ride.

Hi Northwind,

My Trek Fuel is actually a 2010 model, which I think has a steeper head angle than the current bike. I mainly ride in Derbyshire (Dark Peak) and want something that is more of an aggressive cross country style bike. This would make a make a great alternative to my 120mm travel hardtail.