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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.
Bike started with 780’s, cut down to 760 before leaving bike shop, cut another cm off each side after a week, so down to around 740. I’m 5’10” w medium bike. I get the wider bars on a 29er for more leverage over the gyroscopic effect of the larger wheels, but hey–whatever is comfortable for you works…just remember, measure twice, cut once. Enjoy!
