My Area 106: This bike is the real deal (2008 Trek Fuel EX)

The picture here shows several popular bike magazines (current newsstand copy) singing the phrases of the new Trek Fuel Ex design. The gang inside Trek (marketing and product department staff) have done a great job of releasing this new design starting off with a Sun Valley, Idaho mountain bike camp Trek hosted in late summer that brought all the top industry magazine editors out to hear, see and ride these new bikes. Along with this new Fuel EX design, they also had the opportunity to play on the Top Fuel 69er, HiFi Carbon Pro (Gary Fisher), HiFi Pro 29er and most recently the new Trek Remedy being introduced now. You can get more info and spec at www.trekbikes.com or www.fisherbikes.com.

I've been spending time aboard the Fuel EX 8 model (about $2200 retail) since early August and I can honestly say this is one of my favorite full suspension bikes I've ridden. This is coming from a guy that believes in and prefers the 29ers since Gary Fisher began producing a model or two several years ago. I'm just about 6 foot, so the bigger wheels gave me a more confidence inspired ride by adding traction, descending & climbing ability, and the excellent control when riding over obstacles so easily.

All these are back for me with this new Fuel EX design but in a 26" wheel package. I enjoyed the late fall rides on the trail (till my crash) and now lately indoors at Ray's MTB Park. The bike's design for 2008 is featured primarily around: 1) Full Floater Shock mount 2) ABP - active braking pivot and 3) Evo mono link. The frame has a great shape (sculptured look) aesthetics to it this year which gives it the sales floor appeal, but it really shines on a trail. I'm not going to bore you with all the tech details (if you want that check out the video's on the Trek web site) but this new designed suspension truly works without a doubt. All these elements provide 4.75" of plush rear wheel travel that amazingly feels like there's much more (full float).

The mags are all giving it major top marks and I'm betting this bike eventually ends up winning several of the magazines "Best Mountain Bike of the Year" awards.

If you want to test ride one of these, please give your favorite Trek retailer a call and asked them to allow you to demo one for a weekend. You might have to pay a fee for this, but most will apply the fee to your bike purchase if you decide to buy the bike from them (better bike shops today offer this as an added service).

I also will have the Ultimate Demo Tour coming to Ray's the 1st weekend of March (stay tuned for more details on this demo). The dates are posted on Ray's MTB web site as well.