Trek Top Fuel 8 2022 Review

The Trek Top Fuel 8 was launched in the fall of 2021. It features a 120mm front and rear suspension, more modern geometry, and internal frame storage over the previous generations. The Top Fuel used to be the flagship cross-country bike but that has since been replaced by the Supercaliber. On one hand, it feels like Trek just keeps making the same bike but renaming it. The Fuel EX used to be a short travel trail bike, the Slash was once a 27.5 mid-travel, and so on. Now everything has moved up and gotten longer, lower, and slacker over the last 6 years as you would expect.

Spec

The Trek Top Fuel 8 is a full aluminum frame sporting BONTRAGER wheels, bar, stem, tires, and dropper seat post. Paired with a Shimano XT/SLX group set and Rock Shox suspension package to finish it off. This build comes with top of a line rear shock the Delux Ultimate. With great tuning abilities and a lockout, it suits a wide variety of riders. On the front end, it’s paired with a SID select. While offering 120mm of travel and 35mm sanctions being the highlight. This fork paired with the nice rear shock is a bit of a letdown. I’d rather see a step down in the rear and a high-end fork with a few more adjustments. The new 2023 spec offers a Pike at 130mm of travel if you’re looking at that model.

With reliable shifting from Shimano its hard to go wrong here. Coming back to my main weak point with most entry level Trek bikes its the wheels. While offering great engagement in the hubs the alloy wheels are just so soft they ding and dent so easily. As well this bike came equipped with the SRAM DB8 brakes. While they look good I wasn’t impressed. Out of the box they needed a bleed. Well its not DOT fluid, it uses Mineral oil. Thus requiring a different bleed adapter and oil. Which I didn’t have so I changed the really quick. More on that later.

Ride Quality

After a few months of lugging this bike around the country and riding different trails, it’s safe to say that it’s very efficient in all areas of climbing and defending. While a bit undergunned for steep technical riding it’s still capable if you choose the right line and control the speed. Drops and jumps are just fine with a short travel bike but sticking to the more mellow ones is something I would recommend.

This Top Fuel is the first bike in almost 2 years that’s a full 29er, I’ve been rocking that mullet life for a bit now. I can notice the extra speed the rear end carries when climbing for sure. It acts like it just goes up and over everything so well. Now with the efficiency of the short travel paired with the 29 wheels, it’s a no-brainer that it’s great in this category. At the current setup of this bike it’s coming in at 32.2 lbs with pedals, and a tube in the frame. (Down tube storage for the win) Not the Lightest bike but it doesn’t feel heavy on steep climbs.

Changes and Upgrades

Out of the box I had issues with the SRAM DB8 brakes so those went straight to the trash. Back to the shop at least for a trade-in credit. Swapping them out for G2 RSC, but keeping the stock centerline rotors for now 180F 160R. Later I upgraded to HS2 180 F&R for better power, traction control, and less braking fatigue on a long descent. I also wanted to keep the line of SRAM brakes through all my bikes so my bleed kit, changing of rotors, and things are easy. The second upgrade I did right out of the box was the wheels. Swapping them out for some Hope Fortus 30 SC with Pro 4 hubs. While this swap didn’t get me any weight savings it did give me a better alloy rim paired with some pretty good hubs.

After about 6 months of riding this setup, I was finding I wanted this bike to pack a punch and handle the rough stuff more confidently. I happened to have a Pike Ultimate 140mm lying around and I swapped that on there. Instantly the bike was changed. It felt like a mini Fuel EX, which it is anyway. Taking the head tube angle to almost 65 degrees from the stock 66 helps keep that bike stable at speed as well. with no extra weight added in this move, the bike still feels like a climbing machine.

Now you may be looking at this and asking why didn’t I just buy the nicer build. Well, I didn’t want to spend that much up front. With the wheel and brake swap on day one I only spent a few extra hundred dollars. Knowing I had that Pike to try out at some point as well it sounded like the best deal.

Overview

This bike I am riding is a M/L frame and I find it sweet that Trek offers that middle size for folks in-between. More sizes the better for everyone. Stock specs can be found here

The Top Fuel 8 retails at $3,999 (shops may have 2022s on sale for $3,499 or less) The next build in the lineup is the 9.7, coming with a carbon frame and almost identical part package. Retailing at $4,699. with the changes I made that’s pushing that bike to almost 5k and without much weight swings so I opted to save a few bucks and try something different. Trek offers a wide range of builds from $2,699-$10,999.

Who’s this bike best for? I think a lot of cross-country to trail riders would enjoy this bike, it’s got the speed for racing but a sporty feel for everyday trail riding. Some people like the word “down country” and while it’s a great way to describe this bike, I feel like it’s an over used term in the industry.