2010 Trek Mountain Bikes: Top Fuel, Fuel EX and Remedy

Trek’s 2010 Mountain Bike lineup features several new technologies to enhance their already stellar full suspension bicycles, including:

• New Fox-Built/Trek-Designed DRCV shocks with dual air chambers on Remedy and Fuel EX
• New OCLV seatstay on Fuel EX with Net Molded pivot bearings and full carbon disc brake tabs
• ABP (Active Braking Pivot) Race – a narrower ABP with easier quick release
• Carbon Armor integrated downtube protection
• Full Floater rear suspension design on all three models

UPDATE: We weighed most of these bikes at Interbike, click here for that post to see them on a scale.

There’s more, and the bikes are as beautiful as ever.  Images and specs are yours to behold when you click ‘more’…

2010 TREK TOP FUEL

Shown at the start of the post in its natural habitat as the complete Top Fuel 9.9 bike, here’s the breakdown of new tech on the 2010 Trek Top Fuel frame, conveniently bullet-pointed for you below:

• No-cut seatmast has 100mm of adjustability and is available with two mast lengths: 185mm & 245mm
• That gives you a BB Center-to-Center range of 575mm to 815mm, enough to accommodate you
• Crossbow frame design is 100g lighter and 33% stiffer than original design
• Rocker and main pivots are Net Molded carbon to eliminate aluminum inserts, offers precise alignment
• BB90 with Net Molded carbon bearing races has no distortion under load, narrow Q factor
• Net Molded precision carbon bearing races in Headtube

The Top Fuel 9.9 SSL is the top-of-the-line model and has a claimed weight of 21.18lbs. It’sbuilt with the full SRAM XX set up minus the Rockshox SID World Cup XX.  Instead, it gets a 100mm Fox F100 fork to match the custom-tuned Fox FP23 rear shock.  It’s got special “Race Cam” Pro Pedal tuning to offer a wider range of differentiation between settings so that “3” is virtually locked out.  The 9.9 SSL gets Bontrager’s Race Lite XXX wheels with carbon fiber rims using offset spoke placement for the pretty white spokes. XXX components round out the cockpit.  Cross country racers, this is made just for you…if you have $7,350 to spare.  If you’re on a budget, the 9.8 model weighs in at just 23.8lbs, is spec’d with Shimano XT and is $4,720.

Click on any of the images to enlarge them.

The Top Fuel also comes in a WSD (Women’s Specific Design) model that’s built just like the 9.8 except for the saddle.  It even has the same price: $4,720 and likely the same weight.

Keeping prices in check for the aspiring racer, the aluminum Top Fuel 9 weighs just 25lbs and offers the same race-oriented design with some nice, swoopy tubes.  The name change from “8” last year means there may be more than one alloy Top Fuel in the stable for 2010.  The “8” was/is built with SLX and a Rockshox Reba fork for $3,150, but the “9” is built with XT and what appears to be a Rockshox fork, we’re just not sure which one, so expect it to cost a little more.

2010 TREK FUEL EX

The 2010 Trek Fuel EX is the top-of-the-line trail bike model from Trek.  It has 120mm travel and gets their totally new DRCV rear shock (tech info on that below) to improve performance on both big and small bumps, amongst other improvements:

New features for 2010 Fuel EX:

• Lighter, stiffer frame – 2050g frame w/ shock (17.5″), 200g lighter than 2009
• Net Molded rocker and main pivot, eliminates aluminum inserts and improves alignment
• E2 tapered headtube with Net Molded cartridge bearing races directly in frame

The 2010 Fuel EX keeps the one-piece magnesium rocker arm to maintain rear-end strength and stability, and the new ABP Race slims things down in the rear and makes wheel changes easier.  New for 2010 are curved, full carbon seatstays with Net Molded precision fit sockets and all-carbon disc brake tabs.  The 9.9 gets a Fox 32 F-Series Fit RLC shock with tapered steerer, 15QR axle and 120mm travel.  Wheels are Bontrager Rhythm Pro Disc, and most cockpit parts are Bonty Rhythm, also.  Truvativ Noir cranks with SRAM X.0 rear derailleur.

There are a total of 10 Fuel EX models, with two carbon framed models (9.9 and 9.8) and eight alloy frames, which includes two WSD designs.  Prices range from $6,820 to $1,590, and six of them have the new DRCV rear shock.  The Fuel EX 9, shown above, is the top-of-the-line aluminum model and comes in at $3,560 and is spec’d similarly to the 9.9 with the exception of XT cranks versus the Noir carbon.

Seven of the ten EX models get the E2 tapered headset, including one of the WSD women’s models.

2010 TREK REMEDY

The 2010 Remedy gets the new DRCV rear shock also, tuned for 150mm of all-mountain travel, mated to a Fox 32 Talas Fit RLC fork with 15QR and adjustable travel (110mm to 150mm) on the Remedy 9.9.

Built on an OCLV Red carbon frame, the Remedy 9.9 is lighter for 2010 and comes with several enhancements to improve durability.  While I’ve ridden a carbon Trek Fuel 100 for about six-plus years now and heard all sorts of things ding, smack and knock the downtube, the frame’s still fine. But Trek understands that those noises can cause some concern, and for riders bombing through the rougher things that 160mm travel will allow (double the 80mm on my bike!), and so they designed Carbon Armor.

Carbon Armor is a 4-layer system that adds embedded stiffeners to the main frame and covers it with a replaceable polymer shield to deflect sticks and stones so those pings will never hurt you.  All four Remedy models get the ABP Race, a magnesium one-piece EVO Link rocker arm, and the E2 tapered 1.125″ to 1.5″ headtube for better control.

The Remedy 9.9 comes in around 27lbs, and that’s with a Crank Brothers Joplin seatpost with remote drop lever…pretty freakin’ light for a big hit mountain bike.  Built with XTR cranks and SRAM X.0 rear derailleur and shifters, Avid Elixir CR brakes and levers and a Bontrager Rhythm cockpit, it comes in at $6,820.  You can get just a frameset, too.  The only glaring omission from the Remedy’s lineup is a larger rear axle option.

The Remedy 9.8 (carbon, above, $4,400) and Remedy 8 (Alpha Red Aluminum, $3,670) look very similar at a glance (a “7” is also available)…and are spec’d very similarly, also.  The big difference with the alloy Remedy’s is that both frames come with ISCG03 mounts.

Close up of the E2 headtube on the Remedy 9.8.

NEW TREK TECHNOLOGIES

Dual Rate Control Valve Shock: Co-developed with Fox, Trek designed this shock specifically to offer the tight small bump performance it wanted for quick response and firm pedaling while allowing its longer travel bikes to handle drops and big hits that it knew they’d be subjected to.  Coming stock on most models of both the Remedy and Fuel EX for 2010, the DRCV uses a secondary air chamber that’s only activated when the shock moves through 50% of its travel.  At 50% of its compression, a plunger opens a pathway to the second chamber and equalizes the pressure between the two.  The first stage behaves just like Fox’s standard Float air shock, and the whole thing weighs the same as a Fox RP23 XV shock, so there’s no weight penalty.  Both air chambers are filled simultaneously via a single Schrader air valve.

Other than the proprietary mounting system for the top of the canister, there’s seemingly no reason why this shouldn’t work well on other bikes, too.

Net Molding – Shown above with their bottom bracket, Net Molding gives Trek the ability to create precise tolerances and mount the bearings directly into their carbon frames with no aluminum inserts.  It certainly saves weight, and they claim it improves alignment precision, which leads to better performance.

E2 Tapered Headtube – Yes, we know, tapered headtubes (and, for that matter, Trek’s Net Molding process) are not new-for-2010 technologies, but we had these cool pictures available to us, so here they are.  This is what the inside of Trek’s E2 tapered headtubes looks like.

2010 Trek Elite 9.9 SSL

What’s that?  You want more?  Fine…here’s their 2010 Elite 9.9 SSL full carbon hardtail.  It’s a $6,300 race rocket that’s built with Trek’s OCLV Red Carbon, a no-cut seatmast, BB90 bottom bracket and spec’d with full Shimano XTR plus an FSA 2×9 drivetrain.  Up front is a Fox F100 Remote RL with FIT cartridge with 100mm travel.  It rolls, nay, flies on Bontrager Race XXX Lite carbon-rimmed wheels and XR Team Issue tires.

An alloy chain guard keeps the frame safe.  The headtube and BB shell are Net Molded for direct bearing placement.  It’s sibling, the Elite 9.8, uses the same geometry but Trek’s ever-so-slightly lesser TCT Black carbon with and XT drivetrain and comes in at $3,670.  There’s also a 9.7 ($2,620) just below that with Trek’s TCT White carbon frame and XT build.