Trek has relaunched its ill-fated SL e-bike, the Fuel EXe, which now comes with more power, more travel, more component choice and a new name. The Fuel+ uses a revised frame giving riders wheel and travel choice options, while the under-gunned TQ HPR50 is now replaced by the slightly more powerful HPR60. Oh, and existing EXe owners can upgrade their old motors too.

Trek’s new Fuel+ EX comes in 29er or mullet, and gets more travel than the old EXe

Trek Fuel+ need to know

• Reincarnation of the Fuel EXe, now with more powerful TQ HPR50 and bigger, 580Wh battery
• Comes in three iterations, EX with 29er wheels, MX with mullet and LX with 160mm travel
• Switch between with interchangeable rocker link and lower shock mount (LX requires new shock)
• Travel on stock Fuel+ EX grows by 5mm to 145mm, MX model gets 150mm and a 160mm fork
• Trek Project One lets you customise the components and colours
• Seven models in the range, starting at £4,400, topping out at £10,300 with X0 AXS

The Fuel EXe originally launched back in 2022 when SL or superlight e-bikes were all the rage and 300W of peak power and 50Nm of torque seemed like all riders wanted. Two years later though, the Trek Fuel EXe 9.7 was the worst performing machine in our lightweight e-bike of the year test, outpowered by seven other bikes.

The Fuel+ keeps the brilliant EXe frame and decent suspension, and adds more power and choice

It seemed like riders thought so too, because the discounts on the Fuel EXe were outrageous, better than half price on some higher end models. If I can engage smug mode for a minute though, I didn’t give up on the Fuel EXe, and called it my Bike of the Year 2024 thanks to its engaging ride. If only there was a way to capitalise on how good the frame is, I lamented…

Trek Fuel+ details

Upgrading the motor and battery is the single most important thing Trek has done for this bike, but I’ll leave that aside for now as it’s actually not the most interesting facet of this new Fuel+. It’s also worth knowing that Fuel EXe owners can actually retro fit the new TQ HPR60 motor into their bikes. It’ll boost the torque to 60Nm, although it’s limited to 300W by firmware to stop it overheating.

The LX version looks badass with a coil shock, and it’s very much stepping onto Slash+ territory

You can now choose between three Fuel+ options: a regular Fuel+ EX with 29in wheels, 145mm travel and a 150mm fork; the Fuel+ MX with slightly more travel at 150mm, a 160mm fork, and mullet wheels; and the Fuel+ LX, which boasts 160mm and a 170mm fork.

Swap out the lower rocker link here, and the rocker above, and you can switch to a mullet setup without disrupting the geometry or progression

It’s done this by introducing interchangeable rocker links and lower shock mounts, buy an aftermarket link set and you can mullet the bike, add 5mm travel and introduce a little more progression. If you want to switch it to the LX long travel attitude you also need a new shock though, because the stroke and eye to eye measurements both change – its a 60mm stroke on the EX and MX, but a 65mm on the LX.

Get hold of the MX rocker link and lower shock link and you can convert the bike to mullet

Trek has also released a new version of the pedal powered Fuel EX too, with the same frame tweaks and wheel choice options. Check out Guy’s review of the Trek Fuel EX 8 2026 to see how it rides.

So, lots of choice for riders if they decide they’ve got the wrong setup. Honestly though I’m surprised Trek went to all this trouble, when plenty of brands just use a flip chip to flick between mullet and 29er. And as for the long travel, isn’t this something the Trek Slash+ already has covered? I supposed that bike is a more enduro-focussed ride, and doesn’t yet have the latest TQ motor.

The Trek Slash is still a wicked bike, but suffered from the same underpowered motor as the Fuel EXe

I put the question to Trek, it said “to get the geo and progression we wanted in the various configurations AND make a robust system we decided to do individual links.” That means just using a flip chip would have screwed with its carefully designed geometry and progression.

Let’s get to the motor now then, the new TQ HPR60 drive unit now has 60Nm of torque and 50nm more power, at 350W, making it 20% more powerful. That might sound underwhelming, but we’ve spent some time on it aboard the Yeti MTE T3 Xo e-bike, where it actually felt reasonably punchy. Sure, nothing to trouble the range or power of the DJI Avinox, but not so underwhelming as the original TQ HPR50, which felt like it struggled to reach even its own modest power claims.

TQ’s new HPR60 motor feels to me like it delivers more than 350W peak power

The new motor also has a revised motor casing with additional cooling fins, a new colour screen integrated into the top tube and available on the Fuel+ 9.8 and 9.9 models, and a revised app that makes customising modes and changing settings easier.

Trek says this new motor is more efficient too, and with the new 580wh battery the range is going to be north of 1,000m of climbing, judging by my ride on the Yeti MTE. There’s also now the option to buy an aftermarket 160wh range extender from TQ and top up the range still further.

Undo this bolt and slide off the cover to get to the new 580Wh removeable battery

The Fuel+ is also now one of the few e-bikes with an easily removable battery, so my advice would be to buy a second internal battery rather than the range extender. The small 360wh power pack will give you more range for almost the same price, plus you’ll still have space for your water bottle.

The reason this isn’t just a new Fuel EXe then is that there are some proper changes to the frame to go along with all this. The seat tube is now barrel straight for better dropper post insertion and standover clearance, and there’s reportedly more space in the front triangle to allow for a coil shock.

Trek has also gone from a generous seven sizes down to a pretty standard five, which presumably reduces the inventory bike shops and Trek will have to carry and thereby its costs too. It’s ditched the XS size that catered for riders below 5ft tall, and also merged its Medium/Large size into both Medium and Large.

Proportional chainstays across all sizes

On the plus side the chainstays are truly proportional to each of the five sizes, and with a flip chip and angle adjust headset there are hundreds of different configurations to choose from when you add in the wheel size and geometry choices available.

Anyone here remember Trek’s Project One? It let you customise the components and colours, but was restricted to just road bikes a few years ago. Now though it’s back on the Fuel EX and Fuel+ here, “including options fora coil spring, different dropper post lengths, and more,” according to Trek.

How about weight then? All the MX builds come in under 20kg, with the most expensive 9.9 model weighing a claimed 18.8kg. The 29er EX builds range from 21.7kg in the heaviest and cheapest EX 5 down to 19.4kg for the top end 9.9 Xo AXS. The long travel LX bikes all hover around 20kg.

How much do you want to ride this trail!

Trek Fuel EX+ models in the range

There are seven EX models to choose from, four MX builds and four LX options. That’s 15 different bikes! Currently I only have pricing and details for the EX bikes, but my guess is it’s actually the same whatever of the three triumvirates you go for.

Fuel EX+ 5 £4,400

The entry level bike uses an alloy frame, RockShox Recon Solo Air fork, X-Fusion Pro 2 shock, Shimano Deore drivetrain and 4-pot brakes, and Bontrager components.

Fuel EX+ 8 XT £5,000

Same alloy frame, but the 8 comes with a Fox Rhythm 36 fork, Performance Float X shock, SRAM eagle 70 drivetrain, BD8 brakes, and a mix of Bontrager and Race Face components.

Fuel EX+ 9.7 £5,500

The 9.7 uses the same spec as the 8, but you pay more because it switches to the full carbon frame… which actually sounds like a pretty good deal for the £500 bump.

Fuel EX+ 9.8 XT £7,625

Great spec on this bike, you get a Fox Factory 36, and Float X shock, Shimano XT (non-Di2) drivetrain and four-pot brakes.

Fuel EX+ 9.8 EX90 £7,625

This is probably my pick of the bikes, it gets the same factory suspension but the drivetrain switches to SRAM Eagle 90, and there’s a RockShox Lyrik Ultimate fork

Fuel EX+ 9.8 XT Di2 £8,950

Fox Factory suspension and Shimano’s new Di2 electronic shifting come on this 9.8

Fuel EX+ 5 9.9 Xo AXS £10,300

The top spec bike gets RockShox Ultimate suspension and Xo AXS shifting