Heading into the Summer, Trek’s light weight full suspension specialist is getting an update. For the 2020 model year, the Trek Top Fuel is evolving from a light weight, competition focused race bike to become a more versatile and capable bike capable of both XC riding and racing as well as trail riding.
To do so, the Top Fuel is getting a number of notable improvements starting with a bump in travel numbers. While the current Top Fuel is a 100mm travel front and rear full suspension bike, the new Top Fuel jumps to 120mm in the front and 115mm in the rear.
The rear suspension also changes its packaging with a new fixed lower shock mount and relocated Mino Link. A fixed lower shock mount is said to improve the cable routing and frame stiffness while Trek claims there is no loss of suspension performance. Trek’s ABP or Active Braking Pivot suspension platform continues.
Mino link is now on the front of the rocker link and upper shock mounting bolt. This makes it easier to access, and therefore easier to change. Flipping the Mino link results in a 0.5° change to the head tube angle and seat tube angle, while changing the BB height by about 6mm. The bikes ship in low position – so you’ll need to flip the link if you prefer faster steering.
The ability to make the bike slacker or steeper with Mino Link is in conjunction a new “balanced geometry” that has a steeper seat tube angle, slacker head tube angle, and longer reach compared to the current Top Fuel. All of these attributes should result in a more trail-worthy ride, but without losing the XC edge the bike has been known for.
Up front, the frame now makes use of their Knock Block steering lock system with Trek’s Straight Shot Downtube. The Straight Shot Downtube is just that – a straight shot down from the head tube. This is said to provide a stiffer and lighter downtube but it makes it so the fork could contact the frame in a crash. Trek’s answer to this has been their Knock Block steering lock system which is integrated into the headset and stops the fork before it can contact the down tube.
Additional frame details include Control Freak internal cable routing that keeps the cables from rattling, and also allows for any cockpit configuration including Di2. All Top Fuel frames are 1x only with a 34t maximum chainring and 180mm rotor maximum. Coinciding with the more trail-worthy frame design, the frame will also include larger tire clearance with enough room for a 29 x 2.4″ tire.
Frames also get more room for dropper posts and every build will include one. You can expect to see 100mm travel droppers on smalls, 150mm on medium and larger, and 170mm on large and XL 9.8, 9.9 models.
Each bike will ship with a directional 13° stem that Trek envisions as slammed for XC or flipped up for Trail riding. This provides up to 47mm of adjustment in bar positioning.
As you might expect, adding more suspension travel, bigger tires, and dropper posts adds some weight and the claimed weights from Trek seem on the high end for an XC race bike. Does this mean we’ll see something new from Trek for pure XC racing? We’ll have to wait and see.
With the exception of the Top Fuel 8 which is all aluminum, all other models feature a full carbon frame. Pricing starts at $3,299.99 for the Top Fuel 8 NX up to $9,999.99 for the top end Top fuel 9.9 XX1 AXS. Two framesets will also be available with the alloy and carbon option. Standard bikes should be available now, with Project One carbon options available in Late July.
Models
Top Fuel 8
- 12-speed SRAM NX Eagle
- Dropper post
- TwistLoc remote
- Bontrager Kovee Comp wheels
- Bontrager XR3 Team Issue Tubeless Ready
Top Fuel 9.7
- Full carbon frame
- 12-speed SRAM NX Eagle
- Dropper post
- RockShox Reba RL fork
Top Fuel 9.8 GX
- Full carbon frame
- Wider 30mm Bontrager Kovee Elite carbon wheels
- 12-speed SRAM GX Eagle
- Bontrager Line Elite Dropper
- FOX Performance 34 Step-Cast fork
Top Fuel 9.9 XX1
- Full carbon frame
- Bontrager Kovee Pro carbon wheels
- 12-speed SRAM XX1 Eagle
- Bontrager Line Elite Dropper
- FOX Factory 34 Step-Cast fork
- SRAM Level Ultimate brakes
Top Fuel 9.9 AXS
- Bontrager Kovee Pro carbon wheels
- Wireless SRAM XX1 Eagle AXS
- Wireless RockShox Reverb AXS dropper post
- RockShox Pike Ultimate fork
- SRAM Level Ultimate brakes
