Trek Fuel ex9.8 mounting a standard eyelet shock.

Now i’m not convinced anyone will be able to offer much here as it’s a very very specific question.

But i was having a few issues with my Trek/Fox thru-shaft type shock.

Now this type uses 4 threaded bolts and 4 spacers to mount.

But i decided to go to a standard eyelet shock, which i odered the kit from TFTuned.
https://www.tftuned.com/tf-tuned-mount-kit-127mm-trek-bikes/p3791
M10*50 offset and M10*60 for the top.

So after faffing and faffing i simply cannot get the top to work/fit.

The lower comes up as this, 50.38mm on the digitals. Which is fine and happy of course.
2022-06-23_02-04-02 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

But the upper without spacers shows 57.74mm
2022-06-23_02-03-06 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

and with the inside spacers shows 54.69
2022-06-23_02-03-00 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

As per the above… the spacer is M10*60…so quite clearly it’s not going to fit in a 55mm gap… even without the spacers in there the bearings get in the way.

I’m assured that it’s all correct, but well, i’m at a bit of a loss…. I’m waiting for Ruth/TFTuned to come back to me… but i simply cannot see what i’m missing. There’s no ‘guides’ like you sometimes see on a fork lower for example… it’s just a straight forward flush/flat mount and no amount of ‘go on you sod’ is going to persuade it in there no matter how much i’d like it to.

I could simply wait for Fox/Silverfish who are on a 4-5 day turnaround they say… but i’d also like the ability to run a standard shock if needed.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CfGjlS4Mca1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
https://www.instagram.com/p/CeRHHcrMsDM/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Trunnion Bolt Conversion Kit

TFT said it’s 60mm if you don’t use the inside spacers and remove bearing to fit. 54mm if you keep spacers, ideally I’ll keep them as they protect from weather a bit.

Waiting to see if they can supply a 54mm or if I get a mate to turn it down by 6mm

As usual my mind of impatience is running away with me.

2022-06-23_06-20-26 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

I’m wondering if the pipe cutters would actually get through this ? it’s stainless which apparently makes it tougher… but….i dunno. Not somethign i have any experience in.

spoke to Frank ‘Bounce Suspension’ who make the spacers… He’s not due to do a tooling run on these until the end of next week but tells me a company called Basecamp Suspension may have a 54mm set in stock…. so awaiting them to wake up and get into work to see.

https://www.basecampbikes.co.uk/pages/suspension-servicing/

Bottom mount and spacers installed and happy. All good.
2022-06-24_11-03-44 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Top has got really interesting as Bounce make a converter which means you keep your standard Trek bolts and trunnion style setup, but using an eyelet type shock instead.
So thanks to the guys at Basecamp Suspension, i now have a top solution winging it’s way to me to be fitted HOPEFULLY tomorrow.
It’s been…. interesting !

0184AD2B-949B-46DD-8B0E-6D22FAA3543B by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

4585A6B6-85D6-4A9A-97DE-2C5F4B146D90 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

D15E7FE9-19BD-4A94-9D18-10AC257FA738 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

2022-06-25_03-56-01 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Top ones arrived as i hoped (and paid for) and fitted easily and quickly. 🙂

Bike suspension set-up and ready for Surrey Hills tomorrow with the fellas.

Shocks can be such a pain in the ass eh?

Yeah, I must admit when purchasing the bike it wasn’t something I gave much thought to. But this has sure been slightly complex to resolve. I wanted it sorting before heading to Morzine though and now was the only free time before we go.

Breakfast then off testing for the day.

Great stuff!

Worked well today at Surrey hills, I’d argue there’s a little bit more pedal bob than the standard shock, but certainly can’t argue with it.

Top spacers were £50. Bottom set were £45. Shock cost me £80 from Brink. Which all in all I’m fairly happy with.

I’ll decide next week if standard one goes back on assuming it comes back from Fox/Silverfish ok.

Standard Trek shock arrives back from Silverfish today via DHL, although all i’ve got is a tracking/package, so i have no idea yet what they’ve done or not. My shock had a scuff on it, so i’ll easily know if it’s the same shock i sent or a replacement anyway… I’m hoping there’s something in the box to tell me what they’ve done (or not) if it’s my old shock.

I’m not decided yet whether i’ll leave my Rockshox Deluxe RT3 on there or fit the standard one back on.

Any thoughts and tips as to which one is likely to be better are appreciated…

I was thinking that the Fox is likely to be optimised by Trek for the frame and potentially better for that reason ? But i don’t know which of the 2 shocks is ‘better’ or why ? Both are 210*52.5

Apart from the noise i certainly had no complaints with the Fox… Although i’d argue i’m not really good enough to notice much, or indeed for it to make a difference

In theory that standard shock has re-active valving as well as the through shaft thing (which is why the bottom mount is like that as the damper shaft exits through the bottom of the shock as it compresses – I hadn’t realised that’s quite what happened but explains the odd mounting) and it should stick to the ground better.

In practice would it be noticeable…..I would have thought it should feel a bit better then the bog spec RS Deluxe if both are in tip top condition.

I may take the tools then and do some back to back testing, i can park near the bottom of our ‘enduro’ trail and see.

So today the shock arrived back from Silverfish/Fox and it’s silent… like lovely 🙂

Was all done under warranty, so no charge… bargain.

So i threw it on and as the wife is away me and the lad went out for a play.
First of all riding the Enduro Line… where i was destroyed by him, but i was really impressed with the shock, it’s nicer than the RS Deluxe.

We then moved onto this line.

This was a bit of a ‘thing’ for me as the gaps are a bit wooah and a bit wheey for me… But after some coaching from the 13 year old i was eventually clearing the gap he does first, which we measured at 13′ give or take. It’s so so much a head thing for me, i just need a little bit of self belief that i can actually hit these things and not spanner myself, but in the end i got it right and was hitting the landing nicely.

We then went for beer, pizza and ice-cream at our favourite local 🙂