Mountain Bikes!

Agreed, especially when a $19 Shimano BB will put up with years of abuse.

 

I've actually seen the same, the Shimano BBs are quite inexpensive and just work for whatever reason. And even if they do get crunchy after a couple seasons since every bearing out there is still susceptible to the "luck of the draw" with contamination intrusion, again they are inexpensive and easy to replace.

 

i've had this Enduro one, the one that is press-fit but screws together on the shell so effectively BECOMES a threaded, for like 3-4 years, that I bought for an old bike, and the way those idiots welded in their seat tube to the bb shell it wouldn't fit inside. Was sitting in my toolbox the whole time. I was super happy to not waste this $150 one and finally get to use it haha. So far so good.

 

Shimano bearing cups are made of a slightly flexible material to conform to a wide variety of BB shell tolerances from manufacturers that can't make round and aligned holes in frames, consistently. They aren't the best, but they work well and def cheap enough to keep replacing them unless you need more performance, or have a fancy screw together or one piece option.

 

Anyone a trek dealer with a fuel ex 9.8 gen 6 large in stock? Trying to find out what the weight is. Site lists a medium at 31.8lbs.

 

Due to a few unexpected developments, I am now shopping for an e-MTB. Debating whether to start a separate discussion so as to not dilute this discussion.

I haven't ridden my Trek Top Fuel as much as I thought I would, for cross-training purposes, when I was training for BRAG and RAGBRAI this past year. Mostly been riding on the road with my new gravel bike. Thus my experience with MTB'ing is limited, when comparing specs of the e-bikes. A friend sells the Husqvarna e-MTB's at his dealership, and loves his, but don't know how they stack up to others out there.

 

The new Trek Top Fuel e-bikes look rad. I would probably stick to a bike manufacturer for an e-bike instead of a Moto manufacturer.


I have ridden a FS Scott e-bike and it was gnarly. 20 mph uphill is such a different experience. I didn’t love how it handled downhill as you can really feel the weight of it, but it was really really cool. If I had a spare $5K lying around I would snag one.

 

The Trek 'bike locator' function is kind of wonky to use, but I entered multiple cities, sequentially, to finally find a Checkpoint I was looking for a year ago, in eastern KY. The Trek franchise agreement requires someone to physically take delivery of the bike, but it can be sold with you listed as the first owner. I discussed this with several Trek dealers last year.

 

Trek's FS e-bikes start around $5k, and go up quickly...

 

Even on the eMTB side there are long and shorter travel bikes. What are you looking to do? General all around biking you don't need the longer travel. If you're doing more aggressive gravity stuff, you'll want longer travel.
Aluminum vs carbon frames too. The e bikes are heavier anyway, but that weight also doesn't really matter so much until you run out of battery. The motor is the big deal, and the new Shimano ep8 system is what you want to start with either way.

 

Thanks brex for your perspective. After reading several of your earlier posts, I almost PM'd you to ask your perspective. I won't ever ride aggressively enough again to need the longer travel. I was wondering what other components you might suggest I look for in the current marketplace.

 

I prefer Shimano to SRAM. I would look for SLX level components for best all around value. If looking at the SRAM world, GX is the minimum I would go with there. The SX stuff is throw away level crap, NX a half step up. It's not until GX that you get components that are decent.
With Shimano, even the Deore level is good, doesn't have plastic in critical areas like SX and NX does.
Going to XT with Shimano is a price jump, slightly lighter and nicer materials but the big difference on the XT jump is the shifter operates differently with the multi release stuff.

You'd probably be happiest with the 140-160 range bikes rather than the 170+.

 

I concur with much of what Brex says. I have the intense Tazer MX and it is longer travel but with the juice its still super fun even on more tame trails. I am riding far gnarlier stuff than I ever imagined a mountain bike could do with this thing haha! You can definitely find some deals on these through motorcycle shops-what part of the country are you in?

 

I just saw one of these at my local bicycle shop, that was in for service. Looks nice, and I learned that they put the front brake on the right side of the bars.
What version is your bike Spooner, Pro or Expert, and what year? I'm in the North Atlanta suburbs and my local shop is listed as a dealer for them. Not sure if they have any or not.

I'm still looking closely at the Husqvarna's that another friend's shop has. Both have the Shimano ep8 system brex recommends. Most of the name bike brands I've found locally use a different motor system.

I've read that Shimano is coming out with two new DEORE XT Di2 Drivetrain Systems for E-MTB's in '23. I believe I also read that Shimano will also have a newer, updated version of their EP-8 motor system in '23. Owning a SRAM Force eTap AXS equipped Trek Checkpoint gravel bike, I'm now a fan of electric gear shifting on bikes.

 

I have the pro model. The expert has the E7000 motor and really for the extra money you get a ton of stuff. The ohlins suspension is seriously the best suspension I’ve ever used and is super tunable. The coil shock works amazing too. I swapped the brakes to the normal way which is easy with the magura brakes that come with it as there is no top or bottom of the master cylinder. The thing is a total riot to ride and I just giggle every time I ride it haha.

 

Hoping you more knowledgeable folk could give me some advice. I started mountain biking this year and my girlfriend is interested in getting into it now. We're looking for a used bike on marketplace and came across a 2010 model Trek Fuel EX5 for $400. It seems like a good deal for a dual suspension bike, but it's 12 years old. Should we even consider this or just get a newer hardtail? I'd plan to take it to a local bike shop for a tune up anyways. Here's the listing https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/832515201509338/ and the archived spec sheet https://archive.trekbikes.com/us/en/2010/trek/fuelex5#/us/en/2010/trek/fuelex5/details

 

What is she looking to get out of it? Just starting out, to see if she would enjoy it? It could be worth it for that. But it also might need $200 worth of tune up as well, and I wouldn't give more than $200 for that bike. I would bet that suspension has never been refreshed, but again if she's just starting out, that would work on easy dirt.
There's also the devil's advocate side that using an old POS bike might make her hate it, but you would know her well enough to know if that's true.
I also don't know the local MTB market, so can't say where it sits as far as that goes. But $500 can get you a much nicer hard tail for her to learn with around these parts.

 

I appreciate the input. We're going on a weekend vacation to Helen, GA next month and would like to go on a few of the trails around there. Mainly looking for a bike for her to learn on and ultimately see if she even enjoys mountain biking. I did some more research and figured out that it pretty much is a $200 bike. The local MTB market is pretty slim since there's really only 1 trail nearby. But as long as the bike shifts smoothly and has brakes, she'll be happy.

 

You could also take a look at bikesdirect.com. they have tons of inexpensive options. You would need to do the initial assembly or pay a shop to do it, but they have bikes that would fit the same bill of her exploring, seeing if she likes it.
So it's just your call at this point if you are good with that Trek above and price (or get them to come down a bit), it will do what you need it to do.

 

My wife likes to do relatively easy trails. She has had the following bikes:
~$300 Trek (new) 2013ish
~$700 Liv (new) 2017ish
~$2k used Liv E-Mtb (I think it retailed around $3800) 2020ish

The Trek kind of sucked, as it didn't have a great geometry for off road, the brakes did not inspire confidence and it was hard/odd to shift. The Liv was designed for a woman's frame and really fit her a ton better, and was way more confidence inspiring offroad. The Liv Ebike was a huge step up to her confidence. I bought it so she could keep up better when we took trips to NC, climbing mountains instead of hills in KY. But, it has been great even around here because the little added power that she uses really helps her confidence for dicey climbs over roots/ruts. She loves it.

I'm afraid of buying a E-MTB for myself. I rode hers for 100 yards on a flat trail and I felt like I was on a dirt bike. It's way too small for me, but damn is it exhilarating. I think I'd never want to pedal again if I had one.