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2014 Fuel EX 8 29 - Review and Service Questions

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
So I have about 700 miles on this bike now, and I'm still impressed with it. The bike, with Wellgo flats, probably weighs 31 lbs, but rarely feels that heavy when climbing ( I have a 24lb 29er HT for comparison ). Very efficient pedaling platform.

Pics for clicks

The only issues I've had so far are mostly related to the Dusters rim/hub. The rear hub became fairly loose (took to a few shops) and the rear rim bent got beat up quick (on rather light terrain). I replaced this with a Stans Flow EX and Hope Pro 2 Evo combo. Good as new. The front duster is still holding strong.

The 2014 Fox 32 damper was defective? When I took it in for a service around 350mi, the tech said it was missing pieces. Fox warrantied the service and sent a newer 2015 FIT damper. Fork is now broken in and smooth as butter now. The first 200 miles or so with the Fox Float 32 were, eh. Other than that and the usuals like pads and cables, everything has been great. Oh and my ABP nut started coming loose. Now I check everything after each ride.

Now Im starting to look at other services. My rear shock is definitely due but still performs great, but now Im also wondering about bearings in the frame. It doesnt feel like anything is wrong, but I've never checked either. I was thinking about waiting till 1000mi and doing them all regardless. I ride in CO, in mostly dry conditions. Thoughts? Also to get the rear evo link bolts out (the ones attached to the seat stays), do I just do it lefty-loosey from the inside of the evo link like a normal bolt?
 
#2 ·
I have same bike, 2014 fuel ex 8 29. Owned for about 1 year, about 800 miles. I had the fork damper unit replaced with fit 2015 as well. I also did seals and gold fluid on the fork. Pretty happy with the fork now, though I am no expert and am not as sensitive to fork performance as some.

I also recently (at 600 miles, 200 miles ago) had an issue with the rear triangle in that the rear 12 mm thru axle didn't want to thread in. Upon closer inspection, the rear drop out were out of alignment by some ~.1 inches. Trek store was a good sport and warrantied and that issue is gone. I did notice 2 rides later that one of the rear drop out bearing flanged nut thingy (pardon my French) was loose so I just torqued up with a crescent wrench by hand. NO issues since.

I also tacod my front wheel on some brutal trail whoop-d at around miles 250. I am not exactly sure what happened. Result was seriously bent, not quite what I would call a true taco, though so bend I had to kick it to clear fork so I could ride home. Back at home I built some custom clamps from 2x4s and stood on it and brought it back into to round more or less, then trek store adjusted spokes to bring it back into true as much as they could. Nearly true since and no issues. This is the duster of course. I do know the inner wall is visibly rupture din spots but I am not running tubeless and with a bit of rim tape (I use light gauge duct tape) the tubes don't seem to care. All is well there.

I also have a slop in the rear wheel axle. Not sure where it is. I recently attempted to tighten brake side lock nuts but I still have a bit of slop. I have ridden that once (today) and now I also have some sort of click/creak coming from the rear of the bike, could be anything, not assuming it is rear wheel related. No big deal.

I also recently broke a rear spoke. Replaced myself and one ride on it and it no more broken spokes.

Good bike. Main issue with it right now is nothing against the bike really, just that I can't seem to easily prop up front wheel and/or wheelie (though I never have tried prior) and after reading up I suspect the chain stays aren't designed quite as short as they could be. I also have shorter arms for my size which doesn't help. I am looking to do 2016 ex 8 27.5 perhaps. Waste of money really, I probably wont be able to wheelie still.

I wouldn't worry about suspension bolts except to keep them tight. Maybe take everything apart and relube rear shock after 2k miles. That is my plan.
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
Yeah I noticed it to be a little hard to pull back on, but as you already said, another bike and I still probably couldn't do it well. Yeah the slop in the rear wheel was driving me crazy. I have it sitting in my basement right now and can mimic the play by hand holding each side of the ends. I also think inherently, the 28h duster is probably not the best option for someone who likes to flog the bike and weighs 190-200 geared up.

I am also having a creek, and I think it is the BB because it happens mostly when Im standing and crankin up a hill. Im going to stick to my 1000mi teardown/grease plan for the rear suspension/bearings and bottom bracket
 
#4 ·
I have the same bike. The only issue I had was I somehow lost the main nut on the main suspension bolt. It's got some huge torque on it too! My torque wrench doesn't go that high! I check all the others frequently now.
 
#5 ·
I owned my '14 Fuel EX for about a year and 1052 miles. It was a fun bike and it got me back into mountain biking after a 20 year absence.

I will echo the complaints about the wheels- they pinged constantly and after two trips to the LBS for truing, I broke down and bought a truing stand. Took a few attempts to get them right, but then they stayed constant for the life of the bike. I ended up buying a set of Crank Brothers Iodine wheels on clearance, but they weren't much better as they popped and pinged after a few hundred miles and were much harder to true. I eventually got them right, but just had bad luck with 29er wheels.

I couldn't wheelie the Fuel to save my life either, I could ride them no issue on the the Fatboy, but was lucky if I could go 10ft on the Fuel. I'm sure the suspension wasn't helping, nor were the longish chainstays.

I put the new style seals in and switched to Fox gold on the fork and it was a night and day improvement on small bumps.

The chasis and suspension were sound, the pedalling was very efficient and the brakes were the best I've used to date. The drivetrain was great after I switched to XT components.

Ultimately though, after buying my Fatboy, my Fuel played second fiddle. It was slightly faster than the Fatboy on the smooth stuff, but was much more challenging to ride on anything rough, technical or limited traction. After demoing a Bucksaw I knew the Fuel couldn't compare. I was faster on the Bucksaw and felt a lot more confident, nevermind the fact that it could roll over stuff that the Fuel couldn't. The Fuel went on the block right after I got a deal on a Bucksaw. RIP Fuel and thanks for the memories.
 
#6 ·
I have the same bike. I like it a lot. Pretty much everything has been upgraded except for the bottom bracket and headset. It's 28 lbs with pedals. The best upgrade has been the Reaktiv shock and Fox 34 fork. The 32 was too noodly for me at 195 pounds.

I second the opinion on the wheels. Trek warrantied the wheel set due to the ticking noise as well as the rear hub imploding on me mid ride with a set of Duster Elites. I'm guessing there isn't much difference between the Duster and the Duster Elites, but they are sitting on the shelf anyway. I replaced them with some Easton EC70 trail carbon wheels. Much better!

I often wish I would have picked up the Remedy for the additional travel, but every time I get on a grinder of a climb, I am happy to be on the Fuel. It climbs really well, and still handles the descents well enough for me.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
I also thought about the Remedy and may look to go that route next time. I don't NEED the extra travel, but it would definitely be used if I had it. I hear it climbs pretty good with Re:activ. I really like this bike now though, and am looking to probably keep it exactly as is, even the 3x, and hopefully running well. I dont want to put any more money into it because I really want a Carbon HT. I think the creaking BB is the only thing that is not perfect on this bike now and a slight rotor warp in the front.

Edit: Was cleaning the bike up and removed the seat post entirely and went to crank it up the hill and "BB" sound is gone.... I guess I need to grease the seatpost. Fuel EX 8 is perfect again.
 
#8 ·
I've had my 2014 Fuel 29er for just over 2 years now and the issues I've had are all the bolts in the rear triangle loosening up. I'd try tightening them up and then a few rides later they were loose again. The. I bought a torque wrench and tightened everything up to spec and haven't had that problem since. The spokes on both wheels loosening up, the bike shop finally retrued the wheels and applied something on the spoke threads so they wouldn't loosen on their own, and it wasn't lock tight they used I can't remember what it was. On the rear wheel was very wobbly you could grab the wheel on opposite sides and move it almost a quarter inch. Thank god I was at home when I noticed this and took the wheel off and had to tighten up on the rear bearing. Other than those items the bike has been great to me and I'm a bigger guy 6'4" and 280 pounds.
Image
 
#9 ·
I know I'm resurrecting an old thread, but saw this while looking for info on the experience I've had with my Fuel. 2014 Fuel Ex 8 29er. Thank god I bought 3 year red shield. 4 wheel sets now I believe. Broken Evo link. More hubs than I can count. Rear shock went to hell, lost air pressure mid ride and had to be rebuilt. Last fall had chain sag when pedaling backwards. So far they have replaced the wheel, the hub, the axle, the thru-axle, bottom bracket, cassette and derailleur bearings. Still sags.

My red shield is up and I'm concerned about the cost of keeping it on the trail. It spends 2 weeks a month at the LBS already.

They are going to replace the rear axle nuts (my cost now) so I hope that fixes it but dang.
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
Omicron said:
I know I'm resurrecting an old thread, but saw this while looking for info on the experience I've had with my Fuel. 2014 Fuel Ex 8 29er. Thank god I bought 3 year red shield. 4 wheel sets now I believe. Broken Evo link. More hubs than I can count. Rear shock went to hell, lost air pressure mid ride and had to be rebuilt. Last fall had chain sag when pedaling backwards. So far they have replaced the wheel, the hub, the axle, the thru-axle, bottom bracket, cassette and derailleur bearings. Still sags.

My red shield is up and I'm concerned about the cost of keeping it on the trail. It spends 2 weeks a month at the LBS already.

They are going to replace the rear axle nuts (my cost now) so I hope that fixes it but dang.
Click to expand...
Im rolling in around 1100 miles on mine and its been great. I recently replaced the chain and got a 20mm longer stem. Rear shock was serviced and then appeared to lose air and a little oil on my trip to Moab. I pumped it back up wiped the oil off the stanchion and all seems well, so I am keeping an eye on that, but otherwise nothing but bulletproof. I bought a carbon beargrease a little bit ago, so I have been splitting time with that this month. I love climbing technical trails with that rigid fat bike, but descending... not so fun.

For reference I ride fairly rough rocky trails with long descents here in Colorado, so its been put through its paces for sure. Sorry for your tough run of it.

My next FS bike will probably be a Salsa bucksaw or pony rustler.
 
#11 ·
Apologies for resurrecting an old thread. But I’m looking for the service manual (if it exists) for the 2014 Trek Fuel EX 8 or 9 29er. Bill of materials and exploded view would be ideal.

I know these are not readily available to the consumer. Internet search only found the generic trek manual.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#12 ·
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