CHRIS’S TREK FUEL EX 8 XT £2,800

The confidence-boosting Fuel EX is off to a lying start

As much fun as I had riding a burly trail bike last year, I have to admit to being more than a little excited to switch to a slightly more XC-focused machine. Enter Trek’s Fuel EX 8 XT, which is arguably less contemporary in terms of riding discipline (although there is a resurgence in ‘Rad XC’ bikes at the moment), but certainly more so in its looks. No more ’80s-inspired Miami-blue and lurid orange for me – now it’s a ‘black and even blacker’ colour scheme on some badass looking wide aluminium tubing. I’d better stick on my brightest riding gear this year, so as not to disappear completely into the shadows!

My two initial rides on the Fuel EX have been promising. Even though it has similar, modern geometry to the Vitus Escarpe I rode last year and only 10mm less travel at each end (140mm front, 130mm rear), the Trek somehow feels more compact – perhaps due to its shorter head tube – and, for me at least, more intuitive to ride. That’s helpful for an inexperienced rider trying to take on some gnarly trail features high up on a Welsh mountainside!

Whether as a result of my suboptimal suspension setup and tyre pressures (see p51) or other factors, the Vitus always felt a bit cumbersome to ride, like I was trying to steer a disobedient horse. I know it’s a common bad habit that a lot of beginners have to unlearn, but I found myself focusing on the bike beneath me, rather than the trail in front. Not so with the Fuel EX – after only a couple of hours, it was behaving like an extension of my own body. I noticed this most on the trail-centre descents at Cwmcarn Forest, where the bike’s flickability and the grip from its 2.6in tyres (Bontrager XR4 Team Issues) made it brilliant fun.

My only quibbles so far are that the bar is a fraction narrow for my taste, at 780mm, and that the cable for the dropper-post remote popped out and frayed during my first proper ride, which was pretty annoying. These are the first two improvements I’m going to focus on. Now that I feel calmer and more confident – and have a bike that encourages that confidence – I want to spend this year learning to keep up with the others! www.trekbikes.com