top fuel trek review

2022 Trek Top Fuel Review | All-new frame & geometry, with a whole new attitude

The not-so-minor details, 2022 trek top fuel 9.8 xt.

https://www.trekbikes.com/

- Brilliant trail-ripping geometry - Active and supportive suspension - Masses of cornering grip & stability - Refined and practical frame design - Downtube storage is a welcome addition

- Dropper post is sluggish - Wheels are solid but quite heavy - Carbon bars are harsh - Heavier than many of its competitors

Flow reviews the 2022 Trek Top Fuel

The Trek Top Fuel has long been known as the American brand’s flagship full suspension XC race bike, purpose-built to to compete at the very highest level of the sport. In more recent years however, the Top Fuel has steered in a different direction. With the short-travel Supercaliber taking over duties for World Cup XCO racing, Trek has softened the Top Fuel’s serious, race-focused persona, adding travel and bulking it up in the process.

For 2022, the Trek Top Fuel makes its biggest move away from its XC racing roots. Equipped with a brand new frame, an updated suspension design and some thoroughly modern geometry, the Top Fuel aims to retain the pert pedalling performance of its predecessor while significantly boosting its all-round capability. So, has Trek succeeded?

Watch our video review of the new Trek Top Fuel here:

Along with the active ABP suspension design and chunky tyres, there’s an exceptional amount of grip and support on offer for a 120mm travel bike.

Trek Top Fuel overview

Despite being all-new, the Trek Top Fuel retains its position in between the Supercaliber (the 60mm travel XC race bike) and the Fuel EX (the 130mm travel trail bike).

It’s equipped with a 120mm travel fork just like its predecessor, but rear travel has actually lifted by 5mm up to 120mm. This increase has been achieved with a longer stroke shock (50mm vs 45mm), and Trek has also flipped the orientation of the trunnion-mount. The rocker link now drives the shock via two sealed cartridge bearings to improve sensitivity.

You’ll no longer find a dual remote lockout on the Top Fuel, which leads to a vastly cleaner bike with fewer cables occupying your view from the cockpit. Along with the bigger shock, slacker geometry and 2.4in wide tyres, it is without doubt the most trail-oriented Top Fuel we’ve seen yet.

To put it into context, that sees it move away from the likes of the Orbea Oiz TR and the Canyon Lux Trail , and more towards the direction of the Santa Cruz Tallboy and Pivot Trail 429 .

A new, burlier chassis

Though it looks pretty similar, the Trek Top Fuel frame is all-new for 2022. It’s not so much a radical overhaul, but rather a collection of many small refinements that add up to a more practical package.

The chassis is notably beefier than its predecessor, with the seat tube diameter swelling to the new-school 34.9mm size. As well as increasing frame stiffness, the fatter seat tube is also shorter, allowing it to swallow a modern long-stroke dropper post.

The downtube is also larger, and it now features the integrated storage design we’ve seen employed on the latest Fuel EX and Slash. A latch underneath the bottle cage removes the trap door, providing you access within. A neat tool roll is included with the bike so you can carry a spare tube, levers and CO2. You could also fit a lightweight jacket in there along with some snacks.

Trek has updated the Knock Block headset, increasing the available turning radius from 58° to 72°. This provides you with greater freedom of movement on the trail, but still prevents the handlebar controls from smashing into the top tube. If you’re not into it though, the Knock Block is removable.

Also nice to see is a threaded bottom bracket shell for ease of maintenance, and the rear ABP pivot can now be tightened with a cassette tool. Also new for the Top Fuel is guided internal cable routing – poke the cable in at one end, and it’ll pop out the other, no fishing required.

Trail-leaning geometry

The 2022 Trek Top Fuel has received a series of geometry updates over the outgoing model, bringing it up to speed with other boundary-pushers in this travel bracket. Here are the key numbers;

• Head tube angle: 66°
• Seat tube angle: 76°
• Reach: 420mm (S), 450mm (M), 465mm (M/L), 480mm (L), 500mm (XL)
• Rear centre length: 435mm
• BB drop: 36mm

Compared to the old Top Fuel, the head angle has kicked back by 1.5-degrees and the reach measurements have gone up by 10mm. The seat tube angle has also steepened by 1-degree to improve the climbing position, while the chainstay length and BB drop remain the same.

The Top Fuel still features a Mino Link, but it’s now located at the lower shock eyelet. Bikes will come setup from the factory in the Low position. Flipping that into High will lift the BB height by 7mm and steepen the angles by 0.4°.

You can get even rowdier by fitting a 130mm travel fork, which will kick the head angle back to a very-slack 65.6° in the Low position. And for those wanting to push the needle further, there’s clearance to run 2.5in tyres.

Trek Top Fuel price & specs

We’ll see four Trek Top Fuel models coming into Australia this year – two with alloy frames and two with carbon. All Top Fuel models feature the same geometry, suspension design and travel. They’re all equipped with 29in wheels, and there are five frame sizes available from Small through to X-Large (the XS size with 27.5in wheels won’t be available in Australia).

Pricing kicks off at $3,499 AUD for the Top Fuel 5 and goes up to $8,299 AUD for the Top Fuel 9.8 XT that we have on test here. Additionally, Trek will offer a 9.9 spec via the Project One bike builder program.

You can check out the specs and prices for all those models down at the bottom of the page. Right now we’ll be diving straight into our experience of testing this bike here; the Top Fuel 9.8 XT.

• Frame | OCLV Mountain Carbon Fibre, ABP Suspension Design, 120mm Travel
• Fork | RockShox SID Select+, Charger 2 RL Damper, 44mm Offset, 120mm Travel
• Shock | RockShox Deluxe Ultimate RCT, 185x50mm
• Wheels | Bontrager Line Elite 30, OCLV Carbon Rims, 29mm Inner Width
• Tyres | Bontrager XR4 Team Issue 2.4in Front & Rear
• Drivetrain | Shimano XT 1×12 w/XT 30T Crankset & 10-51T Cassette
• Brakes | Shimano XT 4-Piston w/Ice Tech Rotors
• Bar | Bontrager Line Pro, OCLV Carbon, 27.5mm Rise, Width: 750mm (S), 780mm (M-XL)
• Stem | Bontrager Line Pro, 45mm Length
• Seatpost | Bontrager Line Elite Dropper, 34.9mm Diameter, Travel: 100mm (S), 150mm (M-M/L), 170mm (L), 200mm (XL)
• Saddle | Bontrager Arvada, Austentite Rails
• Confirmed Weight | 12.88kg (Large, Tubeless)
• RRP | $8,299 AUD

This differs from some other brands that utilise a single frame, and simply up-fork and up-shock it to create a slightly longer travel bike (like the Specialized Epic EVO and Orbea Oiz TR). The Top Fuel is not one of those bikes.

Trek Top Fuel sizing & fit

We put the new Trek Top Fuel into the hands of our tester Ben, who owns the current Top Fuel and has also spent considerable time on the Fuel EX. At 181cm tall, Ben’s been riding a size Large across all three bikes.

The Top Fuel is well-proportioned out of the box. The 480mm reach is very long, but it’s balanced nicely with a 50mm stem and the 76° seat tube angle. The Bontrager saddle is totally inoffensive, and we haven’t needed to shunt it into an extreme position just to get it comfortable.

The 760mm wide riser bars are a great match for this bike, and while it may not be totally necessary for all riders, the 170mm stroke dropper post is fashionably long for such a short travel bike.

Suspension & tyre setup

With the anodised sag gradients on the fork and shock, suspension setup is made easy. Weighing 80kg loaded up, Ben’s been running 180psi in the rear shock (26% sag) 80psi in the fork (20% sag).

The factory rebound tune for both the RockShox SID fork and Deluxe shock is quite light, so each rebound dial was set a couple of clicks slower than halfway.

Tubeless rim strips and valves come pre-fitted to the Bontrager wheels, and Trek kindly includes two bottles of sealant with the bike, making tubeless setup the breeze it should be. Pressures were set at 20psi on the front and 22psi on the rear.

Trek Top Fuel weight

Given its swollen proportions, the new Trek Top Fuel has gotten heavier. With the tyres setup tubeless, our test bike came in at 12.88kg without pedals. To put that number into perspective, here’s how it compares to some similarly-priced XC and Trail bikes we’ve recently tested;

• Canyon Lux Trail CF 9 – 11.22kg
• Merida Ninety-Six 8000 – 11.63kg
• Scott Spark 910 – 12.43kg
• Specialized Stumpjumper Pro – 12.84kg
• Trek Top Fuel 9.8 XT – 12.88kg
• Giant Trance Advamced Pro 29 1 – 13.38kg

Trek claims a carbon Top Fuel frame weighs 2.7kg including the rear shock, which puts it on the heavier side of things for a 120mm travel bike. The alloy frame is purportedly a whole kilo heavier again, with a claimed weight of 3.74kg.

The Top Fuel’s rolling stock is also a significant contributor to its overall mass. The Bontrager Line Elite wheels are heavy at 2,071g for the pair (with tubeless strips and valves). Incidentally, these are exactly the same wheels that came on the Slash 9.9 X01 , which is a full-bore enduro race bike.

Trek has also plumped up the rubber. The previous Top Fuel featured semi-slick XR3 tyres, but the new bike is now spec’d with 2.4in wide XR4 Team Issue tyres. They’re not overly heavy at around 800g each, though they do offer significantly better grip across a broader range of conditions.

What does the Trek Top Fuel do well?

From the very first ride the new Trek Top Fuel proved to be easy to get used to, with no quirks to the fit, handling or suspension.

The proportions are significantly broader compared to the outgoing Top Fuel, with the front wheel sticking out much further ahead of the rider. Despite the long reach however, the effective top tube length is basically identical to its predecessor, so the overall cockpit length remains the same.

The steeper seat angle is noticeable though, providing an improved climbing position with your hips placed further over the bottom bracket. As a result, less bum-shuffling is required on stem-chewing ascents.

Pedalling performance is also superb. Despite its burlier exterior, Trek is still prioritising pedal efficiency with the Top Fuel, with the main pivot positioned high and quite far forward of the bottom bracket. Anti-squat is claimed to hover around the 100% mark, and indeed the rear suspension clenches tightly under chain torque, propelling the whole bike forward with minimal energy loss.

Active suspension performance

Despite the trunnion bearing mount and the longer shock stroke, the rear suspension doesn’t feel radically plusher than its predecessor, which already offered great performance. It is noticeably more supportive though, particularly when absorbing square-edge hits at speed, and when returning to earth after boosting off a lip on the trail.

It’s worth noting here that many bikes in the 100-130mm travel bracket make use of a carbon flex-stay design, including the Canyon Lux Trail, Merida Ninety-Six, and Specialized Stumpjumper. As well as being simpler, flex-stay designs are typically lighter too.

In comparison, the Top Fuel sticks with a genuine four-bar platform based around the ABP suspension design. Trek claims the ABP pivot helps to isolate braking forces from the suspension, and indeed it does result in less skipping and skidding when you’re on the brakes on loose, rocky descents.

With all the pivot points rolling on steel ball bearings, the suspension is more active and possesses a more consistent feel to both compression and rebound damping when compared to a flex-stay design. Yes it’s heavier, but the Top Fuel offers notably more active suspension performance, with excellent traction on loose climbs and better reactivity across chattery rock gardens. It’s very impressive for a 120mm travel bike.

Look out Fuel EX!

The geometry is also brilliant, and the handling really sets it apart from the outgoing Top Fuel.

Cornering performance has improved, with more grip courtesy of the longer front end and those XR4 tyres. These are great all-rounders, with a supple casing and surprisingly decent rolling speed given their size and tread pattern.

The new Top Fuel is also much more composed on rough and fast descents. Thanks to the longer reach and slacker head angle, the overall wheelbase length has grown by almost 40mm. That’s huge, and it offers a vastly more planted feel at speed. Along with the big tyres and active suspension, this really is a solid little trail bike.

In fact, the geometry updates kind of make the Fuel EX look a little outdated. The two bikes now share the same head angle, and the Top Fuel has a 10mm longer reach and a steeper seat angle. The front end is quite a bit higher on the Fuel EX though, and that does inspire more confidence on really steep descents.

As mentioned earlier though, it’s possible to fit a 130mm fork to the Top Fuel, which would lift the front end and actually make it slacker than the Fuel EX. Indeed there’s now quite a bit of overlap between the two platforms, leaving us to ponder what could be in store for the next generation Fuel EX.

What does it struggle with?

You’ve likely gathered that the new Trek Top Fuel is more of a muscly trail ripper than a spindly XC featherweight. While it may carry over the name, it’s evolved into quite a different bike compared to its racier ancestors.

The lack of a remote lockout results in a much cleaner cockpit, and we like how it signals the Top Fuel’s commitment to its trail riding intentions. However, it may disappoint those riders and racers who prefer having an instantaneous sprint button at their fingertips.

Indeed with all the updates, and the fact that the new Top Fuel has double the travel of the Supercaliber, there is now an even bigger gap between these two bikes. Riders who are still interested in some part-time XC racing, but aren’t sold on the Supercaliber’s sharp geometry and proprietary IsoStrut suspension design, may be turned off by the Top Fuel’s new attitude.

Of course you could easily inject some speed with some lighter and faster-rolling tyres, like Bontrager’s XR2. There’s also around half a kilo to be saved in the wheelset, which would make a significant difference to the Top Fuel’s acceleration and climbing enthusiasm.

You could also flip the Mino Link into the High position to steepen the angles. In that guise, with lighter wheels and faster tyres, the Top Fuel would make for a comfortable and confidence-inspiring option for those wanting to sign up for the odd endurance race or multi-day event. If you’re serious about your XC racing though, this is not the bike for you – you’ll be wanting to look at the stupendously efficient Supercaliber for such endeavours.

Component highs & lows

The 2022 Trek Fuel 9.8 XT is a solid package out of the box, especially when you consider it comes in $1,600 cheaper than the 2021 model. And that’s with a pretty much identical build kit. How has a new bike gotten cheaper in the midst of a global pandemic and industry-wide component shortages? Heck knows!

There’s not a lot to be said about the Shimano XT groupset – it works, it’s solid, and it’s easy to tune. The I-Spec mounts offer plenty of adjustability for getting the brake and shift levers into the right spot, and the integrated dropper lever is a nice touch too.

The RockShox suspension isn’t quite as sensitive as the Fox equivalent, particularly the SID Select+ fork, which felt a little stickier than we expected. Otherwise the fork and shock perform well, and the ease of setup is great.

The Bontrager dropper post works fine, but the action is sluggish compared to some of its competitors. And while the carbon handlebars offer a nice profile, having spent a lot of time on OneUp handlebars lately, the Bontrager Line Pro feels considerably harsher in comparison.

We’ve had excellent long-term experience with Bontrager’s latest Line Pro & Line Elite carbon wheels , which feature thick carbon beads that are designed to increase impact strength while also reducing the chance of pinch-flats. They’re totally solid and come with an excellent crash-replacement guarantee, while the buzzy 108pt engagement freehub delivers rapid pickup at the pedals. As mentioned earlier though, they are heavy, providing an opportunity to drop significant weight with a wheel upgrade.

Otherwise we’ve been impressed with the frame finish so far. The Mino Link is simple and effective, the Knock Block is totally unnoticeable on the trail, and we’re big fans of the built-in storage from the Burrito Box. Or is it the Kebab Cave? Maybe a Sausage Roll Hole? Sushi Shaft? Cannoli Cavity? Hot Dog Hollow? Spring Roll Room?

Alright, alright! We’ll show ourselves the door…the door that leads into the Spring Roll Room – ha!

Flow’s Verdict

Tying together a whole suite of updates to the frame and suspension design, there are no doubts that the new Trek Top Fuel is a more capable bike than its predecessor. It’s still very efficient, but having adopted a more progressive approach to its geometry, it delivers a significant improvement in stability. Along with the active ABP suspension design and chunky tyres, there’s an exceptional amount of grip and support on offer for a 120mm travel bike.

With all those changes, the Top Fuel moves even further away from the Supercaliber. And for some riders, that gap will be a little too wide.

Trek seems happy to have a clear delineation between the two platforms though. This differs from some other brands that utilise a single frame, and simply up-fork and up-shock it to create a slightly longer travel bike (like the Specialized Epic EVO and Orbea Oiz TR). The Top Fuel is not one of those bikes.

Instead of being a long-legged Supercaliber, it’s really a shrunken-down Fuel EX, albeit one with more contemporary geometry. And having ridden both bikes, unless you really need the extra travel of the Fuel EX, this is arguably the better option.

Sure it may have put off the weight-weenies and lockout-lovers, but there’s no denying that the Top Fuel has broadened its appeal to an even wider range of riders, and we reckon it’s more fun as a result.

2022 Trek Top Fuel 9.9 XTR

• Fork | Fox 34 Step-Cast, Factory Series, FIT4 Damper, 44mm Offset, 120mm Travel
• Shock | Fox Float DPS, Factory Series, 185x50mm
• Wheels | Bontrager Line Pro 30, OCLV Carbon Rims, 29mm Inner Width
• Drivetrain | Shimano XTR 1×12 w/e*thirteen TRS Race Carbon 30T Crankset & 10-51T Cassette
• Brakes | Shimano XTR Race 2-Piston w/Ice Tech Rotors
• Bar | Bontrager RSL Integrated, OCLV Carbon, 27.5mm Rise, 820mm Width
• Stem | Bontrager RSL Integrated, OCLV Carbon, Length: 35mm (S), 45mm (M-XL)
• Saddle | Bontrager Arvada Pro, Carbon Rails
• RRP | $14,199 AUD

2022 Trek Top Fuel 9.7

• Fork | Fox Rhythm 34, GRIP Damper, 44mm Offset, 120mm Travel
• Shock | Fox Float DPS, Performance Series, 185x50mm
• Wheels | Bontrager Line Comp 30, Alloy Rims, 29mm Inner Width
• Drivetrain | Shimano SLX/XT 1×12 w/Deore 30T Crankset & 10-51T Cassette
• Brakes | Shimano SLX 4-Piston
• Bar | Bontrager Line, 27.5mm Rise, Width: 750mm (S), 780mm (M-XL)
• Stem | Bontrager Elite, 45mm Length
• Seatpost | TranzX Dropper, 34.9mm Diameter, Travel: 100mm (S), 150mm (M-M/L), 170mm (L), 200mm (XL)
• Saddle | Bontrager Arvada, Steel Rails
• RRP | $6,299 AUD

2022 Trek Top Fuel 8

• Frame | Alpha Platinum Alloy, ABP Suspension Design, 120mm Travel
• Fork | RockShox SID, Rush RL Damper, 44mm Offset, 120mm Travel
• Brakes | Shimano Deore 4-Piston
• RRP | $5,299 AUD

2022 Trek Top Fuel 5

• Fork | RockShox 35 Silver RL, Motion Control Damper, 44mm Offset, 120mm Travel
• Shock | X-Fusion Pro 2, 185x50mm
• Wheels | Bontrager Alloy Hubs & Alex MD35 Rims
• Drivetrain | Shimano Deore 1×12 w/Deore 30T Crankset & 10-51T Cassette
• Brakes | Shimano MT200 2-Piston
• Bar | Bontrager Comp, 15mm Rise, 750mm Width
• Stem | Bontrager Rhythm Comp, 50mm Length
• Seatpost | TranzX Dropper, 34.9mm Diameter, Travel: 100mm (S), 150mm (M-M/L), 170mm (L-XL)
• RRP | $3,499 AUD
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Trek Top Fuel 8 review

• Alan Muldoon
• July 27, 2023

Once a lean XC race-focused machine, now a bulked up down-country rig. We test Trek's latest take on its short travel full suspension design.

Trek Top Fuel 8 Credit: Roo Fowler

Product Overview

Overall rating:, trek top fuel 8.

• • Poppy, playful and efficient
• • Available in six frame sizes
• • Internal down tube storage
• • Mino Link flip chip allows geometry tweaks
• • Needs a 180mm rear rotor
• • Accurate rear shock set up is crucial
• • A solid build, so not the lightest in its class

Manufacturer:

Price as reviewed:.

Think Top Fuel, and the image of a XC race bike instantly springs to mind. But like a faded polaroid tucked into the corner for a dusty picture frame, it’s not an accurate representation of the current design. With the Fuel EX increasing in travel, the Top Fuel has been swept along in its backdraft and seen in high definition, it’s now a capable 29er trail bike with modern sizing and 120mm travel and one of the best down-country bikes on sale. 

A dropper post and sorted cockpit complement the Top Fuel’s playful and poppy nature

Trek offers the new Top Fuel in carbon and alloy options, where the Top Fuel 8 tested here is the high-end alloy build. Regardless of frame material all Top Fuels come with integrated downtube storage. And while the quick release hatch under the bottle cage isn’t big enough to cram a three course lunch into the frame, there’s enough space for a tube, multi-tool, a few snacks and a lightweight jacket. 

Down tube storage is handy for those riders who are travelling light

Trek always offers a comprehensive size range; and with frame options from S to XXL, with a tweener M/L option too, the Top Fuel 8 is no exception. It also has geometry adjustment, but rather than having Trek’s signature Mino Link on the seat stay pivot, the Top Fuel has a flip chip at the lower shock mount. In the low setting this gives a relatively tall 340mm BB height for a 120mm bike, which is probably the only carryover from its race-bike roots – designed to let you keep the cranks spinning, and the speed high at all times.

• Best down-country mountain-bike: short travel full-suspension

The rest of the Top Fuel’s vital stats are on the money though, where a slack 65.6º head angle and steep 77.2º effective seat tube angle make it easy to hammer up the climbs and shred the descents. 

Flip chip in the lower shock mount offers 0.5deg head angle and 8mm BB height adjustment

It’s built solid too, the complete bike tipping the scales at 14.89kg. It also comes with a combined rider and bike weight limit of 136kg (300lb) so it’s clearly no wet noodle. Yes, it’s not the lightest for a 120mm bike, and not far off what you’d expect for a 150mm bike, but that’s the price you pay for integrated storage, as the alloy down tube needs reinforcing when you cut a hole in it.

Thankfully, the Top Fuel 8 rides light, as there’s less travel to pull through to get the bike off the ground, so it offers a different ride experience to modern long-travel trail bikes which tend to have one eye on enduro racing. 

The stock RockShox Pike Rush RC fork dishes out 130mm of travel

There are no sag gradients on the 130mm travel RockShox Pike fork, which we assume is down to cost saving, but set-up is still really straightforward with a tape measure to hand. And while the Pike has a reputation for having a sporty, firmer tune, the basic RC version on the Trek felt smooth and composed in all situations. Yes, the RC damper has a very wide range of rebound adjustment, but there’s only a small range that’s actually usable, but it is enough to get the rebound just so; and that’s all that really matters, right?

• Best mountain bike suspension forks: XC, trail and enduro forks

You need to be equally attentive when setting up the rear suspension. Set to 30% sag, the top-end RockShox Deluxe Ultimate RCT shock bottoms relatively easily. So if you want to run the shock softer to achieve a lower dynamic BB height, you’re going to need to add volume spacers. As such, we increased the shock pressure and reduced the sag to 27.5%.

This small change alone was enough to prevent premature bottom out, but we could still use all of the available shock stroke when we really needed it. We also ran the low-speed compression setting in the minus position for maximum plushness. In the low geometry setting we measured rear wheel travel at 115mm, which is 5mm less than claimed. 

One of the biggest differences in terms of ride feel between the Lapierre and the Trek, other than sizing, are the wheels. The Bontrager Line 30 rims have a 30mm internal rim width, 5mm more than the Mavic rims on the Lapierre XRM 6.9 we tested the Trek against. This adds to the overall volume of the tyres and the stiffness of the bike. It is also why we dropped the tyre pressures slightly on the Trek, even though we were running the exact same tyres on both bikes. 

Bolted on chainstay protection is a neat and considered touch

With 108 points of engagement the freehub on the Bontrager rear wheel offers rapid, secure engagement, with less chain slack and chain slap as a result. The bike is not totally silent though as there is a little bit of cable rattle, but it will probably disappear when you stuff the BITS storage box to the gills.

The contact points on the Top Fuel 8 are all sorted and while there’s a stack of stem height adjustment, the three 20mm spacers don’t offer any fine tuning of the handlebar height. So swapping one of the 20mm spacers of a 10mm, a 5mm and two 2.5mm spacers, would be our first move before leaving the store.

• How to: ultimate guide to handlebar cockpit set up

Nothing else needs changing though. The mix of Shimano XT and SLX for the 12-speed drivetrain worked flawlessly in the dry, dusty test conditions, where the smaller 30t chainring is a real saviour on long draggy climbs or on days when your legs feel like lead. 

ABP suspension design transforms the seat stay assembly into a floating brake mount

Performance

The steep seat tube angle on the Trek Top Fuel 8 really helps with the pedalling dynamics on steeper climbs and the cockpit is long enough that even with the shorter 45mm stem, you never feel cramped or uncomfortable when climbing. It’s not so steep though, that it feels like the pedals are behind you when sitting down spinning across flatter, rolling singletrack.

Stand up to sprint and the rear suspension on the Trek clearly gets animated, the rocker link flapping around like the tail on an overly excited puppy. So the best approach is to sit and spin up the climbs, as the shock remains remarkably still and lifeless until you encounter a bump. Also if you really want to go for it on smoother climbs, the rear shock has a firmer pedal threshold setting. In short then, gaining elevation on the Top Fuel 8 is relatively straightforward and painless.

Knock Block 2.0 steering lock with 72º steering angle, protects the frame without limiting steering

So, it’s somewhat surprising just how rapidly you can throw those gains away. This bike simply rips the descents. Given the limited travel it still seems to carry speed everywhere, and while bumps that would normally chip away at your momentum are still felt though the chassis, they do not perturb the Trek one bit. It rails corners too. Simply load up the suspension mid-turn, and the Top Fuel has just the right amount of support and extension to keep the front end loaded, before slingshotting you out of the turn faster than you entered it. Combine the raw speed with the balanced weight distribution, and the Top Fuel 8 is a really fun, exciting ride and blisteringly fast too.

Would the Trek Top Fuel 8 be even faster with a genuinely low geometry setting? You bet it would. But we’d settle for a bigger rotor on the SRAM DB8 rear brake, as this bike is so fast in fact, that the 160mm rotor feels wholly inadequate and it looked like it had been tempered after just a couple of rides. 

• Best cross-country XC mountain bikes: hardtail and full suspension

The Top Fuel 8 is at home on fast sweeping singletrack

At 14.89kg (32.83lb), the Trek Top Fuel 8 isn’t that much lighter than a 150mm bike. So if you want one bike to conquer all trails, it wouldn’t be our first choice. It’s still a great 29er trail bike though, and if bike park laps and enduro racing don’t fall under your trail bike remit, the Trek Top Fuel 8 offers a fast, fun and engaging ride. Its poppy playful nature, combined with generous sizing means you never feel limited by the travel for regular trail riding. Yet, it still feels more energetic and efficient under pedalling than than most 150mm bikes. It’s a heady combination that manages to keep both the tempo and fun factor high, without any apparent lows.

Trek Top Fuel 8 review: a progressive rather than podiuming XC machine

Trek’s top fuel delivers superlative short-travel suspension performance but it’s definitely a trail bike not an xc bike.

BikePerfect Verdict

Awesome suspension, agile swagger, grippy kit and practical frame updates build a brilliant rally bike, but high weight buries any XC aspirations

Infectiously agile and playful vibe

Superlative suspension feel

Seriously tight tracking frame

Trail tough kit

Internal storage

Too heavy for XC racing

Simple fork damper

Tight internal storage access

Yawning gap between this and the Supercaliber

Why trust BikePerfect Our cycling experts have decades of testing experience. We'll always share our unbiased opinions on bikes and gear. Find out more about how we test.

Top Fuel used to be Trek’s out-and-out best full-suspension mountain bike for racing, but with the soft-tail Supercaliber under its sponsored riders now, the Top Fuel has developed a burly rather than race character. 

The latest frame, suspension and spec changes to the 8 make the most of its short-travel agility and gripped tenacity to create a proper rally racer. Excess weight shows on climbs and acceleration though.

Design and geometry

The alloy Top Fuel frame not only has the same geometry, shock and suspension layout as its carbon counterpart but Trek’s engineers have also worked super-hard to give it the same extensive, updated feature lineup. That includes the lever-locked trapdoor into the down tube for internal storage, threaded bottom bracket shell with chain guide tabs. The Knock Block 2.0 inset now allows 72-degrees of steering lock (not 58-degrees as before) or you can fit a blank insert for full rotation if the bars aren’t slammed. 

In fact, it’s one of those bikes where we continually found ourselves riding how we always want to ride, not how we actually ride. That inevitably builds into an addictive upward spiral of confidence and insolent speed that often ended with us snapping at the heels of more expensive longer travel bikes even on really rowdy trails. Picking a larger, longer frame will settle it even more at speed, but for flow trails, it was refreshing to really rip those big Bontrager side tire lugs round on a compact, close combat chassis. Just be careful you don’t get too carried away, as however good it feels, less travel inevitably means the tires are having to cope with more impact force and we soon put a couple of splits in the rear tire despite the ‘inner strength’ casing.

When that happens the narrow neck of the storage hatch can make getting your spare tube out awkward and the high cage position means you won’t get a large bottle in either. There’s space for a 2.5in tire in the rear swingarm which pivots co-axially around the rear axle according to Trek’s ‘Active Braking Pivot’ wisdom. While it limits choice, the switch to a 34.9mm seatpost size should mean stiffer, smoother dropper action, especially on larger frame sizes which get up to a 200mm shaft stock. The new trunnion style shock pivots more smoothly and is the right way up now compared to last year’s inverted shocks. That means the MinoLink geometry flip chip to change angles by 0.5-degrees is now at the base of the shock but it’s still easy to get too. Significantly all RockShox spec Trek bikes from the 8 upwards get the same ‘Ultimate RCT’ spec Deluxe rear shock.

The alloy frame is a kilo heavier (3.74kg vs 2.7kg) than the carbon option according to Trek’s weights. This saves you $1,400/£1,500 if you buy the frame separately, although it still retails for $2,319.99/£2,350. Those numbers prove it’s neither affordable or light for a bike that you’ll find listed in the XC section of Trek's website, not the trail pages. In fact, the 130mm Fuel EX Al frame is the same weight although that doesn't have internal storage.

A 66/66.4-degree head tube definitely suggests progressive riding rather than traditional podium hunting vibes too. The 465/469mm reach on our M/L size is more trad than rad though so riders after a stretch should make use of the short 450mm seat tube and opt for the L with a 480/484 reach. All bikes get the same 76/76.4-degree seat tube angle and 434/435mm chainstay length though so while having six (S-XXL) sizes is great, the balance is definitely centered around the M - M/L - L models.

Components and build 

The Top Fuel 8 is the most expensive alloy bike, above the 7 at $3,529.99/£3,200 and the 5 at $2,629.99/£2,700 (we don’t know what 6 did to offend them but its missing from the line-up), but below the carbon-framed 9.7 at $4,229.99/£4,700.

The highlights of the package are the lightweight SID fork (albeit with the simplest Rush Damper) and Shimano XT rear mech and shifters. The Bontrager XR4 tires are some of our favorite welterweight all-rounders too. The SLX crank is a great piece with a 30T ring for easy climbing, but muscle Mary’s will find a 36T fits the frame too. You get a 150mm Trans-X dropper with a Bontrager Arvada saddle on top and 35mm diameter Bontrager Elite 45mm stem and 780mm wide bar.

Deore four-pot brakes just about do the job adequately via 180/160mm rotors but together with the wide rim tubeless Bontrager Line Comp 30 wheels they’re an obvious area where extra weight creeps in and adds up to nearly 14.5kg without pedals. 

Performance

Add that weight to chunky treaded, relatively grippy tires and however Trek categorizes the Top Fuel, the 8 clearly isn’t the best choice for charging climbs and ripping round simple XC laps. Now we’ve got rid of the people who’ll likely love the 12.2kg Trek Supercaliber for the same money, we can start talking about what the Top Fuel does do really well – and that’s riding properly rowdy.

While bikes like the Evil Following , Santa Cruz Tallboy , and Norco Optic have already established that short-travel bikes can feel awesome, the Top Fuel definitely goes into the small travel, BIG capability hall of fame. Like most of its peers, it doesn’t squander initial shock movement and can feel slightly sharp in the car park unless you drop tire pressures low. 

Once moving though it’s both amazingly fluid and connected over ruts and roots whether climbing janky tech or sucking onto stutter bump/root ripple turns or off-camber high lines. The wheel path and rear pivot position mean there’s minimal pull back through the pedals as it hoovers up chunder so you can stay on the gas without getting jacked or stalled out. While we’re always suspicious of acronyms and a 160mm rotor doesn’t generate much torque anyway, the braking performance of the ABP rear end is impressively grippy compared to the same hardware on other bikes. 

The RCT damper also has plus and minus low-speed compression settings to fine-tune support sensitivity depending on personal/terrain preferences. Even in the plus setting the mid-stroke mobility does mean you’ll want to flick into the much firmer ‘pedal’ mode if you’re stood up slow cadence churning on a climb or don’t want distracting bounce on long smooth climbs. The SID fork gets a similar firming option via the fork top lever though we rarely touched it unless we were really hanging on a road climb.

While the superlative suspension performance is definitely the heart of the Top Fuel’s ‘have a go hero’ character, the rest of the bike definitely exploits it rather than squandering it. The alloy frame might be heavy but it’s seriously stout when it comes to squaring up to the trail when things get punchy.

While the simpler Rush damper starts to get seasick and inconsistent well before the back end, the 35mm stanchions do a great job of staying on track. Shorter travel means less dive too and together with well-balanced cockpit dimensions and steering angle gives a really predictable and tenacious target lock.

Despite the hefty weight and relatively slow rear hub engagement the fact you can keep the power down or brake really late meant the Top Fuel always felt hyped to be hitting trails and tweaking lines as fast as possible. The shorter M/L size made it a proper joyride on tighter, twistier trails but you can still drive it really hard, heels down, feet level through turns and it loves to pump downslopes.

Trek’s Top Fuel 8 is a brilliant example of just how good short-travel suspension can feel, and less stroke always means a more responsive, visceral ride than a leggier bike. The geometry and proper trail tires really let you exploit the hooligan that’s hiding in the frame along with your pump, tool and spare tube too. 

As much as we’ve loved ripping around the trails on it, there’s no doubt it’s heavier and harder to accelerate/elevate than we’d like for its supposed XC/downcountry range placement though. If you’re about the overall vibe, not outright velocity, that doesn’t matter though.

Test conditions

• Temperature: -2 to 8 degrees
• Surface: Mixed blue-black trail center, moorland tracks, off-piste wooded tech and DH

Tech Specs: Trek Top Fuel 8

• Price: $3,829.99 / £3,850
• Model: Trek Top Fuel 8
• Discipline: XC/downcountry/trail
• Head angle:  66/66.4-degrees
• Frame material: Alpha Platinum Aluminium
• Weight: 14.46kg
• Wheel size: 29 x 2.4in 
• Suspension: RockShox SID 120mm travel, 44mm offset/RockShox Deluxe Ultimate RCT 120mm travel
• Drivetrain:  Shimano XT M8100 mech and shifter. Shimano SLX M7100, 10-51 cassette, chain
• Cranks:  Shimano XT 30T chainset
• Brakes:  Shimano Deore M6000 brakes with 180/160mm rotors
• Cockpit:  Bontrager Line 780mm bar and 45mm stem
• Wheelset:  Bontrager Line Comp 30 wheels
• Tires:  Bontrager XR4 Team Issue 29 x 2.4in tires
• Seatpost:  TranzX 150mm dropper post
• Saddle: Bontrager Arvada, steel rail saddle

Guy has been working on Bike Perfect since we launched in 2019. Hatched in Yorkshire he's been hardened by riding round it in all weathers since he was a kid. He spent a few years working in bike shops and warehouses before starting writing and testing for bike mags in 1996. Since then he’s written several million words about several thousand test bikes and a ridiculous amount of riding gear. To make sure he rarely sleeps and to fund his custom tandem habit, he’s also penned a handful of bike-related books and talks to a GoPro for YouTube, too.

Current rides: Cervelo ZFS-5, Forbidden Druid V2, Specialized Chisel, custom Nicolai enduro tandem, Landescape/Swallow custom gravel tandem

Height: 180cm

Weight: 69kg

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Trek Top Fuel Review

by Kyle Scott | Nov 12, 2021 | Bike , Mountain Bikes , Short Travel Mountain Bikes

Table Of Contents

Build options.

• The Bottom Line
• Price Comparison
• Climbing Ability 100% 100%
• Downhill Ability 70% 70%
• Overall Fun 70% 70%

Travel: 115mm rear/ 120mm fork

Head Tube Angle: 68

Seat Tube Angle: 75

Reach: 470mm (large frame)

Weight: 26.08 lbs

Price: $8,999.99

What We Like: Super lightweight

What We Don’t: Knock Block in headset

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• Overall Fun 90% 90%

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The Top Fuel is a spirited machine that comes in a price bracket for all riders. It has 115mm of rear travel paired with a 120mm fork to keep trails comfortable while demolishing miles. With an effective seat tube angle of 75 degrees, it is more slack than some of the other bikes on the list, and with a head tube angle of 68, it is also slack enough to help on the downhills without sacrificing climbing ability.

The Trek Top Fuel is the only bike on the list that comes with a dual suspension lockout lever stock on the build. You are able to hit a lever on the handlebars that will firm up both suspensions, helping in the climbing and sprinting department. The same lever also works the dropper post, which is a bit slow in our opinion—but at least you won’t be needing a jockstrap while riding.

Trek also uses their patented Active Braking Pivot, which will keep your wheels on the ground when braking through choppy sections, keeping traction where it needs to be. The 115mm of travel keeps this bike super fast, but that can get you in trouble if you land in chunder. The Top Fuel does come with some larger tires, albeit with limited knob, but the 2.4s will keep traction and control as you get moving. The Fox 34 front fork is burly enough to handle a lot of what is thrown at it.

Where do we start? Trek is a large company, and they can produce a lot of options. It also helps that they have their in-house component company Bontrager. At the top of the component list are the wireless drivetrain options, especially the SRAM XX1 Eagle AXS drivetrain, and just about every component is either made of or brushed with carbon fiber for between $13,049.99 – $13,699.99. The Top Fuel 9.9 X01 is between $11,699.99-$12,349.99, and again it comes complete with high-end components and a lot of carbon fiber. From there, the Top Fuel comes in models ranging from $8,000 to the Top Fuel 7 SX with its aluminum frame that still comes with dual lockout and a dropper post for $3,499.99.

Trek also offers all three frame types for the Top Fuel for those looking to build their own set up. Carbon, $3.799.99 (on sale at time of writing for $2,879.99), Aluminum, $2,499.99, and Alloy for $2,349.99 are three options. This big company equals big options.

The Bottom L ine

With a 7 year warranty, you’ll be able to trust this bike until “modern geo” standards change again, and we’re all riding on bikes with 5-meter chainstays and 42-degree head tubes looking like Fred Flintstone on his way to work.

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Trek Top Fuel 9.8 Review

The Top Fuel has been a staple in Trek’s line-up for many years now and its target market has always been those XC racers and enthusiasts wanting a full suspension option. However, the development of the Supercalibre as Trek’s pre-eminent XC race weapon has given the Wisconsin-based brand room to ex-pand the Top Fuel’s horizons and push it into the hotly contested, ‘downcountry’ category.

For those of you living under a rock for the past few years, the downcountry moniker has been given to the increasingly popular segment that takes the XC characteristics of a light, short-travel bike and blends them with the aggressive geometry and suspension design of more downhill oriented bikes. The result is  a versatile bike capable of riding uphill at near XC pace and descending more demanding trails with composure. The 2022 Top Fuel is a perfect example of this new breed.

Compared to its former model, the new Top Fuel comes with a beefed-up version of the OCLV carbon frame and a new shock mounting position that allows for an extra 5mm of travel, allowing for a balanced 120mm of travel front and rear. The geometry also gets a kick in the downhill direction with a slacker 66° head angle and a longer 450mm reach (for a medium frame).

Another new feature is Trek’s integrated frame storage compartment – a lever under the bottle cage opens a trapdoor, providing you access to a recess within the downtube. There you’ll find a neat tool roll with pre-made pockets for a tube, levers and a CO2 bottle.

Our test model was the carbon-framed 9.8 XT, which sits a step down from the top-of-the- line 9.9, but still comes with an excellent complement of components—the Rockshox SID fork and Deluxe Ultimate RCT shock pro- vide great cushioning, the XT drivetrain and brakes are hard to fault, then everything else gets the Bontrager treatment.

A set of Line Elite 30 carbon wheels shoed with team 2.4” XR4 tyres and carbon handle- bars complete the lightweight build kit, giving our medium test rig a rider-ready weight of just under 13kg.

At 176cm tall I instantly felt at home on the medium Top Fuel, but as I headed off on my first ride, I was unsure what to expect from this 120mm race-bred whippet. While I really enjoy pushing the limits of the 130mm-travel bike in my shed, this was my first foray into anything smaller, and, in the spirit of any good review, I wanted to see what it was capable of.

The carbon thoroughbred powered up the first hill, giving me the illusion that I was a snarling beast of an athlete. In fact, the climb- ing prowess of the Top Fuel, with its improved seat tube angle, never wavered during the entire test. At the same time, I knew this was an area where the Top Fuel would excel; I was more interested in exploring how it would handle the ‘down’ bit of downcountry.

To start, I erred on the side of caution and eased the Trek into some fast, undulating flow trails to get a feel for things. Straight out of the gate the Top Fuel pushed me into the attack position and enticed me to be push harder. I complied, and with nothing but smooth trail in front of me, the bike’s race pedigree shone through. This thing was fast, really fast (Strava later informed me that those two warm-up laps were my fastest-ever on that trail).

Again, I’d had an inkling that the Fuel would be rapid on that style of trail, so I wasn’t that surprised by the way it held speed. What impressed me more was its handling and how balanced it felt.

However, smooth flow trails are one thing, but it was time to push the limits further and venture into some burlier terrain. Once again the Top Fuel impressed. Although it rode with the composure of a much bigger travel bike, although I did have to temper its natural race instincts and pick some more realistic lines from where it tried to coax me to go. Its light weight, small travel and short chain stays meant it was as agile a 29er as I’d ridden, and Trek’s choice to spec it with its mid-aggressive XR4 team tyres added another layer of confidence when things got spicier.

With that said, the limits of the 120mm SID fork weren’t hard to find in the rowdier terrain. While the back end handled most things I could throw at it, my arms and shoulders took a beating trying to control the front. The fork’s shortcomings seemed to be compounded by the back end’s liveliness, constantly popping me forward onto the short fork.

It’s worth pointing out that there’s a limit to how plush you can tune 120mm of rear travel and not bottom it out, so it naturally ramps up very hard at the bottom of the stroke. These  rougher trails were a great test and put the limits into perspective, but perhaps these limits here were more based on my expectations rather than on the bike’s ability. The Top Fuel easily handled all the trails I rode; it was more my mindset that needed adjusting, as this wasn’t a big-travel enduro bike.

Overall, my mind was opened to the capabilities of a 120mm bike, and I was genuinely amazed at the Top Fuel’s speed and handling, but was there anything I would change?

I think that depends on which side of the ‘downcountry’ scale you sit. If you’re on the ‘country’ side, then no, the Top Fuel is a race- ready machine that can handle the rowdiest trails you’re likely to encounter. For those looking to push the boundaries on the ‘down’ side of things, I’d suggest beefing up the front end. Luckily there’s one very interesting fact that I’ve kept quiet about until now—the Top Fuel frame is specced to handle a bigger 130mm fork! If I was choosing my dream build  for this speed machine, I would look at putting a 130mm Pike or Fox 34 on the front and I’d send the little Deluxe Ultimate shock to my local suspension guru for some custom tuning to maximise every millimetre of its performance.

Trek’s latest iteration of the Top Fuel is a huge leap forward in versatility over its predecessors, opening the door to more adventurous trail riding, while retaining its XC pedigree. I think this is a great move by Trek, as I doubt (apart from the most hardcore gram-shaving racers) there’re many XC enthusiasts who wouldn’t mind a bit of extra help for the downs, and, God forbid, a dropper post.

For anyone else who could be in the market for a short-travel bike to mix things up on our fitness rides, the Top Fuel would go toe-to-toe with any of the top boutique downcountry weapons on the market.

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2022 Trek Top Fuel

Wheel Size:

• XS: 27.5’’
• S–XXL: 29’’

Travel: 120 mm rear / 120 mm front

Material: Aluminum and Carbon versions available

• Aluminum frame w/ Fox DPS Performance shock : $2,300 USD / $2,900 CAD
• Carbon frame w/ Fox DPS Factory shock: $3,700 USD / $4,600 CAD
• Complete bikes $2,600 to $11,000 USD / $3,450 to $14,650 CAD; see below for details

When Trek first launched the Top Fuel in 2004, it was a dedicated XC race bike, and it stayed in that camp through several subsequent generations. In 2019, Trek nudged the Top Fuel a bit closer to the Trail category since the Supercaliber took over as their XC race full-suspension bike, but with just 115 mm of rear travel and XC-oriented geometry, that Top Fuel didn’t stray too far from its roots.

However, the all-new 2022 Top Fuel looks to add a big dose of Trail-bike capability, and features a bunch of interesting design details, too.

The overall layout of the Top Fuel hasn’t changed much from the prior iteration. It still uses Trek’s ABP suspension layout (a four-bar arrangement with a pivot concentric to the rear axle) with a vertically-oriented shock, and it’s still available in both aluminum and carbon versions. Both feature threaded bottom bracket shells, internal cable routing, and a storage port in the downtube. A water bottle does fit inside the front triangle on all sizes, but Trek says the XS is limited to a 15-oz one, and the Small can only accommodate a 20-oz bottle.

Both frame versions also feature Trek’s Knock Block 2.0 steering limiter, which has now increased the turning range to 72 degrees. Trek originally introduced the system to allow for a bigger downtube that would interfere with the fork crown if the bars got turned too far, but the new Top Fuel has no such limitation. Similar to the latest Trek Slash , the Knock Block system carries over on the Top Fuel to protect the cables from getting yanked on in a crash, but it can be removed if desired. There’s also ample rubber protection on the chainstay, seatstay, and downtube. A flip chip (Trek calls it a “Mino Link”) toggles between two geometry positions, which we’ll outline in more detail below.

Fit & Geometry

One of the most exciting details about the Top Fuel is that it’s offered in a whopping seven different frame sizes, ranging from XS through XXL, with a M/L snuck in the middle. This means that there’s both an especially wide range of sizes available, and that the jumps between sizes are a little tighter than average in the middle part of the range. And like we just saw from Rocky Mountain on their new Element — a bike that is squarely in competition with the new Top Fuel — the XS size Top Fuel gets 27.5’’ wheels, while the rest of the range rolls on 29’’ ones. That makes a lot of sense, for all the same reasons that we talked about in our First Look of the Element — shorter riders generally have less butt-to-tire clearance, and a shorter front wheel and fork makes it a lot easier for shorter folks to appropriately weight the front wheel, too.

The Top Fuel’s headtube angle sits at 66° in all sizes, and that’s paired with a 76° effective seat tube angle and 435 mm chainstays across the board. Reach ranges from a very short 400 mm to 520 mm across the size range. Interestingly, instead of doing neat 20 mm jumps between each size, Trek opted for a 30 mm jump between the Small to Medium, then tightened things to 15 mm between the Medium to M/L and the M/L to Large (the M/L frame’s reach clocks in at 465 mm). All those numbers are stated in the low position with the stock 120mm-travel fork; the high position steepens things by 0.4°, and Trek also condones running a 130mm-travel fork, which slackens both angles by 0.5°. For reference, here’s the full geometry chart:

There’s a huge range of geometry in modern ~120mm-travel bikes, from heavily XC-derived models to quite aggressive options (usually spec’d with a longer-travel fork), and the new Top Fuel sits somewhere in the middle of that range. Given how Trek has talked about the bike, that makes a lot of sense — this is supposed to be a bike for people who want a very sprightly, efficient bike with a solid dose of downhill capability for when things get rougher, and the Top Fuel slots in neatly there. It’s notably similar to the Transition Spur and Pivot Trail 429 , and just a touch less aggressive than the brand new Rocky Mountain Element and Guerrilla Gravity Trail Pistol — all strong contenders in this category.

Trek offers the Top Fuel in nine different builds, with prices ranging from $2,600 to $11,000, and there’s a great range of SRAM and Shimano options across a big spectrum of price points. And bonus points to Trek for sticking to Shimano on the least expensive few options — as we’ve discussed several times this past year , SRAM’s mid-to-high-end options work great, but Shimano has a clear advantage on the more budget-oriented end of the spectrum.

For reference, the complete build options are as follows:

• Fork: RockShox Recon Silver RL
• Shock: X-Fusion Pro 2
• Drivetrain: Shimano Deore
• Crankset: Shimano MT512
• Brakes: Shimano MT200
• Wheels: Bontrager Alloy
• Dropper Post: TransX
• Fork: RockShox Recon Gold 130 mm
• Shock: Fox DPS Performance
• Drivetrain: Shimano SLX shifter / XT derailleur / Deore cassette
• Crankset: Shimano Deore
• Brakes: Shimano MT4100
• Wheels: Bontrager Line Comp 30
• Fork: RockShox SID
• Shock: Fox Float DPS Performance
• Drivetrain: Shimano XT w/ SLX cassette
• Brakes: Shimano M6100
• Fork: Fox 34 Rhythm
• Drivetrain: Shimano XT w / SLX cassette
• Fork: RockShox SID Select+
• Shock: RockShox Deluxe Ultimate
• Drivetrain: Shimano XT
• Crankset: Shimano XT
• Brakes: Shimano XT 4-piston
• Wheels: Bontrager Line Elite 30 Carbon
• Dropper Post: Bontrager Line Elite
• Drivetrain: SRAM GX
• Crankset: SRAM GX
• Brakes: SRAM G2 RS
• Drivetrain: SRAM GX AXS
• Fork: Fox 34 Factory Step Cast
• Shock: Fox Float DPS Factory
• Drivetrain: Shimano XTR
• Crankset: e*Thirteen TRS Race
• Brakes: Shimano XTR 2-piston
• Wheels: Bontrager Line Pro 30 Carbon
• Fork: RockShox SID Ultimate
• Drivetrain: SRAM XX1 AXS
• Crankset: SRAM XX1
• Brakes: SRAM G2 Ultimate
• Dropper Post: RockShox Reverb AXS

Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About

(1) On paper, the Top Fuel looks like it’ll slot in somewhere between the most XC-derived 120mm-travel bikes and the most aggressive options in the class, but does that prove true on the trail?

(2) As shorter-travel Trail bikes get more and more capable, should more people who’d previously be shopping in a longer-travel category be looking at these sorts of options, including the Top Fuel?

Bottom Line (For Now)

Trek looks to have done a great job of modernizing their longstanding Top Fuel model, and in turn, bridging the gap between the Supercaliper XC race bike and the Fuel EX Trail offering. We’re hoping to get on one to see how it stacks up in a rapidly-growing field of contenders in that space, and will have a full review to come if we can make it happen.

2 comments on “2022 Trek Top Fuel”

Looks like a good all round option for up and down performance. I’d like to try it with a 130 mm fork in the high setting.

I have the 2022 Fuel EX7, I’m a xc type rider and do about one 50 mile ride per week on this bike. I went with the EX model because I like having the extra travel, however I wish I would have gotten the EX8 XT model and then just changed out the wheels and shifting for Sram GX 12 speed. The NX Sram has the DUB crankset and bottom bracket and there’s no thread together bottom bracket for this setup and the NX cassette is a boat anchor. So far I’ve put on lighter tires, seat post, and cassette and having a much lighter wheelset built for it now. I thought I would have been using the shock leavers but I just leave those full open 99% of the time these bikes handle great.

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Trek's Top Fuel is Reborn a Fast and Fun Trail Bike

The new Trek Top Fuel Pulls the XC-race stick out of its butt and joins the trail bike party.

The takeaway: You can ride all day without sweating the climbs.

• Reborn as a trail bike, the new Top Fuel has more travel and is more stable.
• Complete builds come with dropper posts and other trail-oriented parts.
• Aluminum frame Top Fuels start at $3,300. The most expensive carbon model is $10,000.

Weight: 24 lb. (9.9, size small)

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Hidden Adjustment

Trek's MinoLink flip chip is hidden in the upper shock mount.

Slippery Gold

This top-end model gets the extra-slippery Kashima Coat legs on its Fox fork.

State Pride

Take a bit of Wisconsin with you wherever you ride.

The Knock Block headset prevents damage to the top and down tubes.

The housing and hoses are clamped to prevent rattle.

From Cross Country to Trail Bike

While the 2019 Top Fuel featured 100mm of travel in the front and back, the new Top Fuel now has 120mm of front suspension and 115mm of rear suspension. They’ve also done away with the floating mount that compressed the shock from both ends. Instead, the lower eyelet is fixed to the downtube, a change that reduces weight and improves stiffness.

Tires are also trending wider across the industry, and the same proves true here. Instead of light and skinny race tires, the new model comes with 29x2.40-inch Bontrager XR3 Team Issue tires designed for a variety of riding conditions. The new Top Fuel 9.9 also has armor to protect the downtube against rock strikes and Trek's Knock Block headset which prevents the bars and fork from twisting backward and damaging the frame.

As for geometry, the new model is slacker and longer than the last, and it has a shorter stem and wider bars than the previous generation. One of the most notable changes, however, is the updated front suspension offset. Trek was arguably the first to get behind an increased offset—specifically 51mm—for their 29ers.

Other brands eventually followed and soon most 29ers were using 51mm offset forks. But the current trend of longer front centers and slacker head angles has reversed this tide, and the offsets are shrinking. Even Trek couldn't fight the reduced-offset trend: the new Top Fuel uses a 44mm offset fork.

All the Bells and Whistles

As a top-of-the-line 9.9 model, our review bike comes with everything you’d ever want on an endurance bike and then some. Last year’s Top Fuel family didn’t feature a single dropper post, but now, every model comes with one. The small starts with a 100mm dropper and from there dropper sizes run all the way up to 170mm on the largest sizes.

The left handlebar grip features a TwistLoc remote that lets you lock out both front and rear suspension with one simple twist. Unlocking it is even easier, you just push a small button with your thumb. I was warned about it prior to riding, to prevent me from accidentally triggering it, but I didn’t find that to be a problem at all. Maybe it’s my small hands, but I think you really have to activate it intentionally. However, near the end of the review period the fork's lockout mechanism began to stick and sometimes wouldn't open.

The bike also comes with Trek’s Mino Link, which is located on the front of the rocker, making it easier to access and change than on previous versions. In the high position, the 9.9 has a quicker-steering vibe. If you want a more stable feel, flipping it to the low position will drop the bottom bracket 8mm, and relax the head angle from 68 to 67.5 degrees.

Right now the Top Fuel 9.9 comes in two color options: All black matte (for those minimalists) or an eye-catching black and teal hybrid with neon green lettering seen here. If you’re thinking of getting the Top Fuel and really want to go all out then you might want to wait until July 25, when the new Top Fuel joins Trek's ProjectOne customizable paint and build program.

You get all of these features, and the bike still only weighs 24 pounds (size small). The only thing the Top Fuel 9.9 doesn’t come with is electronic shifting. For that you’ll want the $10,000 Top Fuel 9.9 AXS with SRAM's Eagle AXS wireless group .

Frame: Carbon Wheel Size: 29-inch Travel: 115mm Shock: Fox Factory Float Fork: Fox Factory 34 Step-Cast, 120mm Drivetrain: 1x12 Crankset: SRAM XX1 Eagle Carbon, 32t Rear Derailleur: SRAM XX1 Eagle Cassette: SRAM XG-1295 Eagle, 10-50 Brakes: SRAM Level Ultimate hydraulic disc, 180mm front/160mm rear rotors Seatpost: Bontrager Line Elite dropper, 100-170mm travel Rims: Bontrager Kovee Pro 30 carbon, tubeless ready Tires: Bontrager XR3 Team Issue 2.4 in., tubeless ready Sizes: S, M, M/L, L, XL

The Top Fuel Family

If this $9,000 9.9 falls outside of your budget, there are three other bikes in the Top Fuel family that you can get for less.

The family starts with the Top Fuel 8 at $3,300. It’s the only aluminum bike in the line-up, and it weighs almost 30.5 pounds (size medium, claimed). It comes with the same amount of travel, a SRAM NX Eagle drivetrain, and you’ll even get the TwistLoc remote. For $4,000, you can get the Top Fuel 9.7. You’ll get roughly the same set up as the 8 but with a full carbon frame.

The Top Fuel 9.8 comes in at just over 26 pounds (claimed) for $5,500. You’ll get better components like SRAM GX Eagle, the Bontrager Line Elite Dropper (like the 9.9), and a Fox Performance 34 fork and Bontrager Kovee Elite 30 wheels with carbon rims.

The the 9.9 and the 9.9 AXS get Bontrager Kovee Pro 30 wheels with 108-tooth Rapid Drive hubs, for near-instant engagement. At $10,000, the biggest differences between the 9.9 and the 9.9 AXS are the wireless SRAM Eagle AXS shifters and the wireless RockShox Reverb AXS dropper.

Reshuffling the Trek Full-Suspension Family

Trek has a number of world-class cross country racers on its mountain bike teams. With the Top Fuel no longer a race bike, those riders will need a new XC bike. And it appears one is coming soon. Trek's racers are aboard a new bike with a sock on the top tube covering up a new full suspension design.

With its new trail orientation, the Top Fuel has serious overlap with Trek's current Fuel EX, a 130/130mm trail bike. We expect that will be rectified with a new version of the Fuel EX that will launch later this year. It will likely have more travel than the current Fuel EX, as well as longer geometry, slacker headtube angle, steeper seat angle, a shorter offset fork, a stiffer frame, and will be built with heartier parts.

How It Rides

I took the new Top Fuel to the trails I'd been riding on my personal Trek Fuel EX 5 — a heavier and longer travel bike than this Top Fuel 9.9. The trails I rode during the initial test ride were flowy, with a few technical spots and long climbs.

The biggest thing I noticed? Climbing wasn't nearly as difficult as it was on my personal bike. I wouldn't call it effortless, but the difference was significant. Riding in the "cross country" setup, with the Mino Link set high and the stem flipped in the downward position, the Top Fuel is a quicker steering and faster feeling trail bike. In this form, the bike truly would be great for endurance races like the Breck Epic and BC Bike race.

In the low mode, the bike feels mellower, but still a fast and agile bike. On paper, it has a lot in common with the Yeti SB100 and Santa Cruz Tallboy, which puts the new Top Fuel in very good company.

Taking it on some rocky trails, the Top Fuel tackled them just as well. While it might not have as much suspension as other trail bikes, it can just as easily rip down most technical trails. The 29er wheels and wider tires help the bike roll over obstacles with ease, without taking away from the bike's superb climbing ability.

The new Top Fuel might not be a pure XC-race bike anymore, but it's still precise and very fast. Its new trail orientation makes it a great choice for a rider who wants a fast and light bike with most of the the efficiency of a cross-country race bike, but with bit more versatility and playfulness.

equipment Top Fuel 9.9

When she’s not out riding her mountain bike, Jessica is an editor for Popular Mechanics . She was previously an editor for Bicycling magazine. 

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Field Test: 2020 Trek Top Fuel - The Featherweight That Packs a Powerful Punch

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Trek Top Fuel 9 review

Race-light whippet

For skilled, time-hardened riders willing to put in the effort to show it who’s boss, Trek's aluminium race whippet is capable of stunning cross-country speed – a purist racer’s racer. But a laid-back all-rounder the Top Fuel 9 most certainly isn’t, so for trail use there are better options out there.

Ride & handling: Race-light whippet that's a capable but demanding ride at speed

From the moment you wheel the Trek out of the front door, it imparts a sense of straining at the leash. Its slender tube profiles, light wheels and a compact cockpit with no-nonsense straight bars are all so racy. Throw in a steep seat angle and a low weight, and it’s no wonder that it feels as though it’s going to rocket towards the horizon at the first turn of the pedals.

There’s no doubt that Trek’s rear suspension setup works extremely well. The rear axle pivot point and ‘full floater’ setup – which puts the Fox Float RP23 shock between the one-piece rocker and the swingarm – combines with a well thought out shock leverage ratio to create one of the most supple rear ends we’ve ridden. Switch the shock’s ProPedal compression damping off, point the Top Fuel up a rooty climb and marvel at the way the rear wheel sticks to the ground.

There’s no fuss, no squishiness and no unwanted bobbing. Invisible suspension is our favourite kind, and Trek have got it sussed (pun intended). The Top Fuel is a climber’s dream – all the speed and light weight of a hardtail with all the ground-sucking potential of a full-susser. If you thought suspension was a hindrance uphill, Trek’s engineers are out to prove that exactly the opposite is the case – they’ve pulled that off convincingly here.

Cashing in those gravity credits isn’t quite so much fun though, thanks to the Top Fuel's nervy, attention-seeking geometry and the very light build. It’s certainly possible to pilot it down rocky descents at speed, but you’ll need well-honed reflexes and a deft touch to hold it to a chosen line. If its climbing performance is defined by an uncanny ability to keep the rear wheel planted, that’s not as true at speed. While the suspension continues to work well, svelte wheels and tube profiles make it difficult to avoid bouncing off course. It’s fast, sure – but only in the right hands.

Equipment: Great spec with light build and supple-but-responsive suspension to boot

Despite being overshadowed by its £3,750, carbon-framed big brother, the Top Fuel 9’s clearly been on a racer’s diet. Comfortably below the 25lb mark for a 100mm-travel bike at this price is pretty respectable. When you’re pounding out the miles in search of a better race result, that kind of difference can matter – psychologically, if not strictly physiologically.

There’s no one single reason to attribute for Trek’s svelte build, although details such as the magnesium rocker link, aluminium spoke nipples, carbon seatpost and full Shimano XT kit undoubtedly help. Yes, you did read that right – the Top Fuel 9 boasts a complete XT group, right down to the brakes. Wheels, tyres and finishing kit are all high-end, in-house Bontrager.

On the suspension front, the Trek has a characteristically active rear end. Up front, RockShox’s evergreen SID race fork takes care of its duties with typical aplomb, and can be locked out in a second from the bar-mounted lever. There’s nothing here that needs changing, although the plain rubber grips do look a tad stingy next to the fancy lock-ons sported by most of the competition.

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2023 Trek Top Fuel 5 Review

If you are looking for a durable and efficient mountain bike then look no further than the 2023 Trek Top Fuel 5. 

This lightweight ride offers top-level performance and durability, ideal for riders of all levels from weekend warriors to professional racers.

Mountain biking is a great way to explore nature and stay fit at the same time. If you’re an avid mountain biker, you know how important it is to have the right bike for the job.

The 2023 Trek Top Fuel 5 was designed with this in mind, offering a perfect blend of lightweight construction with reliable performance that ensures an enjoyable ride no matter where you go.

This review will analyze all aspects of the 2023 Trek Top Fuel 5 including its components, geometry and specifications as well as its performance capabilities – giving you an insight into whether or not this mountain bike is worth investing in.

In addition, we’ll look at some of the pros and cons associated with this ride so you can make an informed decision about whether or not it’s right for your riding needs.

The Trek Top Fuel 5 is a mountain bike designed to help you get the most out of your ride. 

With its stiff aluminum frame and 29” wheels, this mid-range mountain bike is perfect for all types of riding from cruising around trails to making jumps in the park. Here’s what you need to know about its performance for the 2023 model year.

The 2023 Trek Top Fuel 5 is an exceptional mountain bike that offers an exhilarating ride. This incredible bike features a durable aluminum frame that’s light and stiff, lightweight parts, and an ultra-efficient full-suspension system for an efficient power transfer on every type of terrain.

Topped off with exceptional shocks and ride-tuned components, you’ll be able to tackle even the toughest trails with ease. 

Whether its muddy single tracks or rocky mountain passes, the Trek Top Fuel 5 will offer a responsive and forgiving experience with powerful maneuverability while still providing ample control.

– Lightweight Alpha Platinum Aluminum frame delivers optimal stiffness yet remains strong and reliable.

– Cross country performance tires give you optimum traction and grip when tackling any terrain.

– X-Fusion Pro 2 rear suspension provides efficient power transfer for maximum performance with 185mm of travel

– RockShox Recon Silver RL, Solo Air front fork with 120mm of travel

– High quality Shimano hydraulic disc brakes provide maximum control over your speed on all types of surfaces.

– Shimano crankset with a 30t chainring pulling on a 10-51t cassette

The frame of the Trek Top Fuel 5 is constructed with with Trek’s Alpha Platinum Aluminum which gives it a lightweight yet stiff profile that makes it ideal for cycling both on roads and off. 

Its broader geometry also allows for increased stability and control when climbing and descending hills, which makes it well suited for intense enduro rides. Its even got a clever internal storage compartment in the downtube to store a few tools!

The Alex MD35, tubeless compatible wheels come stock with 29×2.4” Bontrager XT3 Elite or Bontrager XR4 Team Issue tires that provide plenty of traction on wet surfaces or rocky terrain. 

The tires also provide extra grip when maneuvering tight corners as well as providing support against impact bumps when tackling rougher terrains.

The 2023 model features an updated 1×12 Shimano Deore drivetrain which provides precise and reliable shifts on even very steep inclines or descents. 

It has a 30t chainring in front and 10-51t cassette at the back, giving you ample range of gears suitable for any type of terrain you may encounter on your journeys.

When it comes to suspension, the Top Fuel 5 comes with a RockShox Recon Silver RL with 120mm of travel up front and an X-Fusion Pro 2 out back with 185mm of travel enabling you to enjoy the roughest of trails. 

This setup also keeps your hands feeling comfortable throughout more intense rides as it helps reduce vibrations thanks to its dampening abilities.

In terms of brakes this model has Shimano hydraulic disc brakes that offer great stopping power in dry or wet conditions. These brakes have consistent stopping power regardless if the trail pressure changes – offering control over your riding speed in all sorts of weather or road conditions.

Bottom Line

All in all, the 2023 Trek Top Fuel 5 offers great value for money thanks to its durable construction, efficient drivetrain, sufficient braking power and reliable suspension system, making it an attractive choice amongst serious mountain bikers who aim to make every ride count without burning through their budget.

Order online and have it shipped to your local dealer for final assembly!!

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Dear Annie: Make sure before voicing concern

Dear Readers: Wishing you all a very Happy Passover and Happy Earth Day.

Below is a poem by a great lover of nature, Henry David Thoreau.

“O Nature! I do not aspire / To be the highest in thy quire, – / To be a meteor in the sky, / Or comet that may range on high; / Only a zephyr that may blow / Among the reeds by the river low; / Give me thy most privy place / Where to run my airy race. / In some withdrawn, unpublic mead / Let me sigh upon a reed, / Or in the woods, with leafy din, / Whisper the still evening in: / Some still work give me to do, – / Only – be it near to you! / For I’d rather be thy child / And pupil, in the forest wild, / Than be the king of men elsewhere, / And most sovereign slave of care: / To have one moment of thy dawn, / Than share the city’s year forlorn.”

Dear Annie: Over the years, I have worked in day care centers for 2-year-olds, and my husband is a speech therapist. I have a family friend who is raising a 2-year-old from the community . We see the child continuously and think that he is behind developmentally, especially in speech.

They could hypothetically wait until he is old enough to go to school and, hopefully, the school figures it out, but I have worked with those who have special needs and know that the earlier the intervention, the better the outcome.

The only issue is how to tell the mom that we think they should apply for speech therapy without freaking them out that their child is behind . I just know that with all of these therapies, it may help this child in the future for success . He is an only child. – Family Friend

Dear Family Friend: I would make doubly sure that you are correct in your diagnosis before you speak with your friend, but once you do, tell your friend your thoughts about the toddler’s speech. You and your husband could even offer to help out while you find a good professional, assuming she is up for that. Friends tell friends the truth even if it is difficult. If she is truly a good friend, she will appreciate that you helped her get early intervention.

Send your questions for Annie Lane to [email protected].

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Green Energy

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The Las Vegas–LA electric high-speed rail line just broke ground

Brightline West, a future electric high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, broke ground today in Nevada.

On December 6, 2023, Electrek reported that the Biden administration awarded Brightline West $3 billion in funding. The money was part of $6 billion previously earmarked for high-speed rail, and came from the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as part of its Federal-State Partnership Program. (The other $3 billion will go to the public high-speed Los Angeles to San Francisco rail project, which has more than 100 miles of a high-speed line under construction.)

Brightline West will be a privately owned, 218-mile, all-electric high-speed rail service that will include a flagship station in Las Vegas (pictured above), with additional stations in Apple Valley, Hesperia, and Rancho Cucamonga. At speeds of more than 186 miles per hour, trains will take passengers from Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga, which is 37 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, in just 2 hours and 10 minutes – twice as fast as the normal drive time. 

Florida-based Brightline Holdings is expected to model the Las Vegas-LA rail line on its high-speed route between Miami and Orlando – the US’s only privately owned and operated intercity passenger railroad.

Brightline West estimates it will remove 3 million cars from I-15 annually, reducing over 400,000 tons of carbon emissions annually. It also anticipates creating an astounding 35,000 union jobs. The federal funding will enable the project, which is aiming to open by 2028, to begin construction.

Rick Harnish, executive director of the national nonprofit High Speed Rail Alliance , said today:

This is a transformational investment in American trains. Getting a high-speed line in operation this decade will show Americans this terrific way to travel. If you have ever felt frustrated by traffic gridlock or airport hassles, a better future just got closer.

Top comment by Al

I'm very excited to see this project completed. I never go to Vegas personally, but I think the more Americans that are introduced to the beauty of high speed rail, the less resistance there will be for future projects.

And why do people profess that the money spent has simply disappeared? That money went to jobs in the area and across the nation, both directly and indirectly. I've read that the economic multiplier is about 1.8, I don't understand how you have an issue with that.

Read more: The US’s busiest rail corridor just got a $16.4B boost – why that’s huge

Photos: Brightline West

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Michelle Lewis is a writer and editor on Electrek and an editor on DroneDJ, 9to5Mac, and 9to5Google. She lives in White River Junction, Vermont. She has previously worked for Fast Company, the Guardian, News Deeply, Time, and others. Message Michelle on Twitter or at [email protected]. Check out her personal blog.

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