![]() The 130mm of squish felt much deeper than that at those moments, and the result is a vague, imprecise ride when you're at your personal ten-tenths. With the Fox shock in the open mode and the O-ring saying just under 25-percent sag, dynamic moves that require a lot of body English and commitment weren't as comfortable as I would have hoped. You can get loose on it, too, but that's not its MO. The Fuel EX is most at home covering ground and focusing on fun. But when I'm pushing hard with the suspension left open, it often comes across like it's trying to be a 150mm bike, only not in the way I'd like it to. Let me put it this way: When I'm on a short-ish travel bike like the Fuel, I expect to have to think about what's under my tires and what I'm pointing at - that's part of the fun. It'll take the edge away from roots and rocks, sure, but it can also make it harder to understand what's happening under you if that makes any sense. It's almost as if you've eaten a few too many servings of dessert and gained a pound or ten. When things ramp up, be it your speed or the trail's intensity, that forgiving suspension starts to feel a little bit too forgiving when the shock is left in the open mode. I sort of want to describe descending the on Fuel EX as being a relatively calm experience given how it eats that small to mid-sized chatter that usually upsets bikes in this category, but that's only half the story. The bike is magic at muting that sort of stuff, and as you'd expect, it's not as likely to deflect off of such things than a less forgiving machine, which makes a lot of those "Ohhhh shit'' moments disappear. On the Trek, it feels like there might only be a few hundred of those during a ride, and that's the kind of thing that makes a massive difference over a long day, or even just a long, tiring downhill. Sure, one big hit could ruin your day, but it's really the thousands and thousands of smaller, chattery impacts that erode your body and abilities over hours and hours of riding. The active suspension does well to smooth out edges and chatter that would upset a lot of other trail bikes. The result? The Fuel EX was still magnitudes more forgiving, despite having the same tires at the same pressure and the sag being within a few millimeters of each other. The high-volume, mid-weight Bontrager rubber has to be a factor in that, so I installed a set of Maxxis tires on both the Trek and another soon-to-be-released trail bike with the same intentions and similar travel. Fox and Trek have put together what feels like a stiction-free suspension system, which is obviously not possible, but the back of the bike could trick you into believing exactly that. One thing that you won't ever have to ask the Fuel twice for is traction and compliance. The same could be said of the previous version, too, but we're asking a hell of a lot more of our trail bikes on the downhills these days than we were just a few short years ago. The traits that largely define how the Fuel EX climbs - active, forgiving suspension - play an even more important role in the bike's personality when the hard part is behind you and it's time for dessert. It's a more relaxed, forgiving approach, but just as rewarding and delicious. The Fuel is more lenient when it comes to silly stuff like choosing a good line, which is to say that you might do just fine going straight up that pitch in the same way that you'll probably be fine drinking from that slow-moving creek at the top because you didn't bring any water. Mmmm, delicious and rewarding, even though you're schvitzing a tiny bit. Not a terrible life, right? On the Ripley, your best approach is to lock onto whatever the so-called ''right line'' is and dance your way up with perfect form before taking a sip of the watermelon-infused soda water in your Polar bottle. Picture the nastiest technical climb in your 'hood and now picture yourself owning both an Ibis Ripley and this new Fuel EX. Conversely, the Fuel is happy for you to stay seated while spinning straight up, over, and through all sorts of rocky, rooty steps and chunder, and especially when the suspension is left wide open. ![]() Need to pound out a fire road to the top of the mountain? Firm the shock up to make the most of your effort.Ī zippy trail bike can make you feel like a rockstar on a lot of climbs, but the price to pay is more feedback, more attention required, and probably more fatigue over the long haul because of it. Doubting whether you'll make it up that sketchy climb? Leave the shock open for maximum traction.
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