New (e)bike day – Trek fuel exe 9.5

This turned up yesterday, went for the basic bottom of the range model, and then replaced a few bits with what I had lying around.

So standard fuel exe 9.5 spec, except for

– Fox 38 forks
– raceface next r carbon bars
– raceface turbine stem
– maxxis DHR II Double down + assegai in exo+
– SRAM AXS gears
– one up pedals

Weighs in at 20.3Kg in that state.

The cassette is a massively heavy sunrace thing, so when that wears out it will be replaced with something lighter, plus I may upgrade the brakes (shimano deore 4 pots ) , but will try them out first and see what they are like, so the bike will probably get a bit lighter at that point.

edit : hmm, dont seem to be able to embed an image from google drive – oh well, you’ll have to imagine it – its black/grey, like this https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/bikes/mountain-bikes/electric-mountain-bikes/fuel-exe/fuel-exe-9-5/p/36361/?colorCode=black

Once you’re used to it could you
– post some figures about range/battery usage
– if you’ve ridden full fat ebikes a sort of power comparison

Ie I’m quite liking the sound of them, but wary about a new motor and want to be sure the range/power will be ok for me, cheers and hope you enjoy it.

yep, will feedback. I also have an orbea wild fs full fat ebike with the bosch cx gen4 motor, so am interested to see how it compares, and whether I want to keep the orbea or get rid.

Noice
Doesn’t look too eeby.

hmm, dont seem to be able to embed an image from google drive – oh well, you’ll have to imagine it

I saw it, and the Caterham 7 behind it.

go to https://postimages.org/ and upload it, then click the hotlink for forums button,

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then paste directly into reply/text box on here. Et Voila.

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I’d be interested to hear your thoughts after you’ve ridden it for a while.
I don’t really get the light weight EEB thing but this one and the motor in particular has got me curious.

Oh and PICTURES MAN sort it out.😁

I don’t really get the light weight EEB thing but this one and the motor in particular has got me curious.

I didn’t either when I tried the specialized sl range ,found them too low power, but then I had a go on an orbea rise , and they’re pretty good.

If I ever get a lightweight ebike, based on current models it’d be either one of these or a Kenevo SL. Depends how much the G1 geometry ruins me for other bikes! Have you gone to 160mm on the forks?

Very stealth! Nice caterham too 😎

Have you gone to 160mm on the forks?

170mm – I may yet swap to a set of fox 36 160mm forks that I have. Not sure whether the 38’s are overkill/too heavy on a bike like this, but it feels decent so far. Head angle is 64deg currently – in the low setting.

I will probably also try it out with a 27.5 rear wheel at some point.

Nice, a few people have put on a longer coil shock as well as overforking the bike, turns it from trail bike into a much more capable machine.

Nice, a few people have put on a longer coil shock as well as overforking the bike, turns it from trail bike into a much more capable machine.

I also have a fox float x2 in the longer stroke size, which I may fit if I dont like the rockshox select. Going to give it a try first though.

Think the 170mm forks will invalidate your warranty

Think the 170mm forks will invalidate your warranty

yes, if there were to be a frame failure.

The forks are only 4mm longer axle to crown than the max allowable length, but still max length is max length

Very nice 🤌

Krep the updates coming.

went out for a quick test ride earlier, no off road ,just a quick spin round the parks and roads to check everything was working, so cant comment much on range etc.

A few observations

– the motor is as quiet as the reviews say , the noise from it is barely perceptible
– compared to a full fat ebike (orbea wild fs with bosch gen 4 motor) , its barely noticeable when the motor stops assisting over the speed limit
– you dont get the same surge of acceleration you get with a full fat ebike.
– its much nicer to pedal with the motor off than the full fat ebike.

I’ve demo’d a Rise, a full-fat Cube and a Kenevo SL and I’m waiting for my local Trek dealer to get an exe in for a run on that.

I liked the Rise, and was tempted recently by the 20%-off alloy ones, especially as they’ve the bigger battery, but really want a more capable bike.

The full-fat bike was just too heavy for me, not particularly while riding, just everywhere else.

The Kenevo SL impressed me greatly, 7,500ft with the extender and went down everything at the Golfie – but £7k for a ‘base’ model feels a lot, even if it’s carbon.

The Kenevo SL impressed me greatly, 7,500ft with the extender and went down everything at the Golfie – but £7k for a ‘base’ model feels a lot, even if it’s carbon.

The kenevo sl comp is being discounted by a few shops at the moment,to just under 6k ( still a lot!).

I suspect there is a new spesh sl range coming soon, but no doubt it will be hellishly expensive.

I’m watching this post… as I’m tempted. Never really fancied a big full-fat ebike but a lighter one could work.

the motor is as quiet as the reviews say , the noise from it is barely perceptible
– compared to a full fat ebike (orbea wild fs with bosch gen 4 motor)

Interesting. I find my Wild fs is quieter than most other eebs I ride with.
There’s definitely noisier ones out there.
Maybe it’s a sign I don’t use it enough 🤔

Interesting. I find my Wild fs is quieter than most other eebs I ride with.
There’s definitely noisier ones out there.
Maybe it’s a sign I don’t use it enough

The orbea is seriously noisy compared to the trek

The orbea is seriously noisy compared to the trek

The Orbea is really quite compared to my KSL

So, is this the same range as that yellow thing that STW writers were so gushing about a few weeks ago?

So, is this the same range as that yellow thing that STW writers were so gushing about a few weeks ago?

Yep, I wouldn’t call it the most important bike of the decade ,but it’s a good bike.

This is mine

I really like it, very quiet, handles well, doesn’t feel like an ebike.

Another 9.5 that has been upgraded, Lyriks, E13 bars/stem/carbon wheels/tyres/cassette, ergon grips and saddle, just waiting for the Float X2 to get fitted.

compared to a full fat ebike (orbea wild fs with bosch gen 4 motor) , its barely noticeable when the motor stops assisting over the speed limit

Dubious. I’m pretty sure none of these motors really have any drag when they’re not assisting. What you notice is the weight of the bike and that you’re not getting assistance! If I get on my Rise and ride it without switching it on it feels great. Ride it with assist for half hour and turn it off and it feels like the brakes are on.

Dubious.I’m pretty sure none of these motors really have any drag when they’re not assisting.

Agree entirely with the fact that the motors have minimal drag, the difference is in the weight, the suspension platform, the heavy sticky tyres I have on my full fat etc, plus the fact that the trek has less assistance in the first place.,so it’s less of a loss when it disappears. But regardless of the reasons it is definitely way less noticeable that the motor has stopped assisting on the trek compared to the orbea wild FS I have.

Anyway,did the first proper ride on it today, more thoughts;

– the rear suspension feels like a lot more than just 140mm,it’s quite firm to push against,but seems very supple over bumps,very good.

– I don’t like how when you get to 10% of battery left,the motor limits you to a max of 110w of power regardless of what assist mode you select, imo this is wrong ,I should be the one to choose I use that last 10% of battery , if I want full power I should get it, I hope they will change this in a firmware update.

– Shimano mt420 brakes are rubbish, despite being 4 pot brakes they have very little power, I have a set if magura mt7 on order.

– too soon to comment on battery range just yet,still playing with different combinations of power settings for each mode.

Shimano mt420 brakes are rubbish

I get on OK with them on my Wild fs. Can’t say I notice much difference between them and my XTs or SLXs on other bikes.
Quite impressed for a budget spec brake.

My lbs, cycle studio Redditch has a couple of those. Rubbish spec but sweet smooth power delivery and no electric milk float noises from the motor on a quick car park test. Good job I don’t know where my credit card is

I hope they will change this in a firmware update

It won’t, or at least it doesn’t with specialized , reason given when I asked was its to protect the battery. It can be a real pain when you’re using a range extender.

It won’t, or at least it doesn’t with specialized , reason given when I asked was its to protect the battery

I didn’t realise specialized take a similar approach. My other ebike gives me whatever level of assist I ask from it right down to 0 percent.

I get on OK with them on my Wild fs. Can’t say I notice much difference between them and my XTs or SLXs on other bikes.
Quite impressed for a budget spec brake

I have xt 4 pots on the wild FS, but these mt420 have the really long 2 finger lever and no servowave,so they feel really weak to me. I suspect that just changing the lever to slx or xt levers would bring them up to xt levels of power.

You’ve upgraded a lot, any reason you just didn’t buy a better version in the first place?

You’ve upgraded a lot, any reason you just didn’t buy a better version in the first place?

It was far cheaper to do it this way, and I get a spec I want. the only additional parts I had to buy was the brakes, the rest I just had lying around from spares. So its cost ~£6000 to get this spec, and thats without taking into account selling the fork, brakes, derailleur & shifter that it came with that I wont use.

The next model up is the 9.7, which costs £7800 (£2050 more than I paid for the 9.5) , and still ‘only’ has a fox 36 rhythm fork, deore 6100 brakes ,XT derailleur, and alloy bars. ok the 9.7 has better wheels, but wheels are a bit of a consumable for me, so I’m fine with having slightly heavy/cheap wheels.

– I don’t like how when you get to 10% of battery left,the motor limits you to a max of 110w of power regardless of what assist mode you select, imo this is wrong ,I should be the one to choose I use that last 10% of battery , if I want full power I should get it, I hope they will change this in a firmware update.

I didn’t realise specialized take a similar approach. My other ebike gives me whatever level of assist I ask from it right down to 0 percent.

It’s probably as they are taking a much more aggressive approach to using the battery capacity, so the 10% that is being reported on the Trek is probably pretty close to the the zero reported on your other e-bike. And neither bear much relation to the actual battery status. So once you get down below 10% (reported) on the trek they limit the power output from the battery to protect it. Means they can have a smaller battery and use it more.

A lot of the car manufacturers do it as well. Calculation based on customer usage, lifetime of the battery and so on.

It’s probably as they are taking a much more aggressive approach to using the battery capacity, so the 10% that is being reported on the Trek is probably pretty close to the the zero reported on your other e-bike. And neither bear much relation to the actual battery status. So once you get down below 10% (reported) on the trek they limit the power output from the battery to protect it. Means they can have a smaller battery and use it more.

That would make sense – Its still annoying though 🙂 I’ll need to make sure I dont go lower than 10% in future

I think the Rise does the same thing with a low battery, if I recall, it’s below 6% and it restricts the power to ECO mode only.

So its cost ~£6000 to get this spec

What has it come to when I read this and thought “ooh, that’s not bad at all actually”.

Enjoy it, looks like a great spec you’ve put together. Their high-end models are bafflingly expensive.

What has it come to when I read this and thought “ooh, that’s not bad at all actually”.

yep, bike pricing (not just ebikes) is currently nuts.