New Bike Help

[Mtbnut71]

Hi All,
I need a bit of help with my next bike.Looking at a Trek Fuel ex8 or Orbea Occam TR H10.Any feedback or suggestions on a brand of bike, I should look will be a great help to me.
Thanks in advance.

[VAtrailrider]

I had an Trek Fuel Ex8.  I  bought a Salsa fatbike as a back up since the Trek kept breaking.  I rode it weekly on singletrack trails. I am 6’2″ and 240. I don’t know if my size contributed to the Trek’s constant break downs. I ended up selling the bike and ride the Salsa exclusively now.  My input.

[EricRybarczyk]

I have the 2017 Fuel EX 9, and it has been great. The re:active shock works as advertised. I keep it fully open and have no issues with pedaling or climbing trails. The bike has been solid and reliable. I also like the mino-link flip chip for geometry adjustment. I prefer the slacker setting and feel more “in” the bike that way, but it is nice to have the option.

I can’t speak to the Orbea, but I suspect you will like the Fuel EX. Hopefully you can get a demo ride. That really helped me to be confident that I was getting the right bike for me.

[csjr]

I have a 2017 Trek Fuel Ex8.  I’m 5-10, 165 and old so I don’t really smash it.  I bought an 18.5″ frame.  It’s a good trail bike with 130/130 travel.  The bike shop helped me set it up in 5 mins and I’ve only made one really small adjustment.  Drivetrain is really solid, brakes good and comfortable.  Stock tires kinda sucked for my area so I upgraded to Maxxis minions DHF/DHR and went tubeless.  There’s a wee bit of bob if i’m riding on roads but locking out the suspension helps a bit with that.  My ONLY complaint is frame creak.  I thought the headset was loose and messed with it but that’s not it.  I have a torque wrench so I’ll need to learn to fix this.  It’s the suspension joints and I’m pretty sure it’s the bolt behind the front derailleur.  My last Trek Fuel (2003 Fuel 8) did this too and they warrantied the frame once (If I can’t fix this I’ll never buy another trek mountain bike–it’s annoying).  Other than the creaking it’s a good bike with a good warranty on the frame if you are hard on it.  The 2018’s have improved wheels and tires (30mm wide rims which will support a little wider tire, I’ve heard up to 2.7 or so).  You likely won’t win any races on it and don’t pay retail–I got mine last year for 2800 after a 15% discount.  For the retail price of 3200 I would do a LOT of shopping.  You can get a LOT of bike for $3000 if you know what you want and are not afraid to buy online and have some assembly skills.  First you need to decide how your new bike will be used primarily and if you need/want full suspension and how much of it.  Like I said I’m old so I want a forgiving ride–hence full suspension.  If I raced I think I would go hard tail with a fatter tire.  If I lived in mountains I would look at a million enduro bikes — the new YT’s are really nice.

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