Bike: ‘08 Trek Fuel EX 5.5
Tester: 23 years old; 151 lbs; “XC” dirt lover.
Where? Charlotte, NC & Pisgah, NC

This past weekend I woke at o’dark 30 and made the drive west to the mountains of Western North Carolina. There was a need to ride something with some type of elevation and the Fuel heard the calling.

I arrived at the Fish Hatchery in Pisgah, NC around 5:45am. An hour and half long nap was needed, plus I wasn’t feeling very confident that I should be riding in the dark at a place where I hadn’t ridden in a year. Wake up and the sun is starting to creep out. Suit up and climb on the bike for a 45 minute climb up a 3 mile gravel hill. Once settled in a happy cadence the bike disappeared under me. No bob, the chain turned quietly through the derailleur pulleys and I pedaled slowly up the climb. Once at the top I snapped a couple photos of the already dirty ride.

Now that I was warmed up it time for the fun part. Descending and then ascending Cove Creek. Very wet leaves and hidden routes were on the menu for the day. The Fuel responded wonderfully whenever the call was sound. The stock tires weren’t made for the wet, slippery conditions but not many tires are. Later in the day there was more tire issues but read on for that.

Descending Cove Creek was enjoyable, I needed to mess with the Fox Float R’s rebound adjustment from what Trek’s stock card recommended. But this was the first time I needed to do this in the dozen or so rides I’ve put on the bike. Once at the bottom it was time to turn right back around and climb back up the wet, rooty hill I came down. Soon into it I messed with the U-turn on the Tora and pulled down the suspension as much as possible. This helped me keep the front end down while keeping the rear wheel weighted as not to spin out on the leaves.

Once to the top I took a slightly different course down the hill side to Daniel Ridge. Somewhere on this trail I heard the knob of my rear tire ping off a root/rock. A mile down the trail a wobble could be felt in the rear wheel, thinking the tube was going flat I pulled over.  There wasn’t a flat and the wheel was in true. The issue was a cut in the sidewall which was causing a bubble in the tire. Gently I hobbled back to the car trying not to smack the rear wheel into anything. Time for a new tire!

All in all: The Fuel is doing great. Any issues I have with the bike are more individual things that are easy to change out. (Saddle, grips and tires.) Not having test ridden tons of bikes in this price range I won’t say it is the best bike for the price. The Sram works amazing, the shifters feel on the cheaper side but they work fine. I will say that I feel comfortable doing about anything on it within reason. While coming down the trail there were a couple 2 footers that I easily came off of and the bike felt great on the landing. Pushing it on the local group rides is easy to do. I wouldn’t recommend to race this bike on your next Elite level XC race but if you are dabbling in racing and might do a few beginner races a year this bike is perfect.

Check out TrekBikes.com for the bike.