Hi guys,
So, long story short, I managed to pick up a 2021 Trek “Fuel EX 9.7”, hardly used for an absolute steal!
While I was collecting the bike, the seller told me that he had bought an E-Bike around a year ago, so this bike had only been used a couple of times to ride around a reservoir with his friends, but he’s in his 50’s so it’s never seen a jump or a drop. I asked what E-bike he had bought, he couldn’t remember, so went and took the cover off it in his garage and told me it was a Santa Cruz full floater E-bike. That was the first thing I found strange. The new bike must have cost at least £6,000 and he couldn’t even remember the name of it… that’s how much money he had. He also had a beautiful house and car.
He told me he bought the bike brand new in 2021 for “about £4K” and that it was totally stick apart from the pedals.
I threw the bike in the car, brought it home and put it in the garage. The seat angle was all wrong, meaning I had to spin the dropper post 180 degrees. This was the second thing I found strange.
Then, when putting the bike away, I realised it has Fox 36 Float forks… but the Trek Fuel Ex 9.7 came with Fox 34…? That’s the third thing I found strange. If he bought this brand new in 2021 as a stock bike, why does it have these forks.
Then, as I was looking over the bike, I noticed a bolt protruding slightly, so looked up the torque spec to tighten it to. When I looked online, the Trek EX 9 range has two different versions of the bottom rear shock bolt. One for the 9.7 that needs tightening to 10nm and one for the 9.8 and 9.9 that needs tightening to 17nm.
I set my torque wrench to 10nm and it didn’t move, showing it was already at more than 10nm. This is the fourth thing I found strange. Now, it could be that the bolt is cross threaded, but the bolts do look like the 17nm ones in the diagram.
I’m just confused to be honest. The bike has the Line Comp 30 rims and not the carbon rims, so I don’t think it’s a 9.8… but I just want to know more about the bike and how I have ended up with what I’ve got, when I’ve been told it’s totally standard.
Thanks all in advance! You’ve been a wonderful help so far!
I also want to replace the brake pads, as these ones don’t feel like they grip particularly well. It could be that they have some grease or something on them, as I don’t think they have been used much. The bike is on its original tyres… so it can’t have been used a lot.
by Last-Bit-Last-2042
2 Comments
You can drop the serial number here and it’ll tell you what bike it was originally: https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/productRegistration/
If the wheels aren’t original, then the tire wear is irrelevant in telling how used the bike was. If it has orginal cranks, look at the crank arm wear (from your shoes rubbing), that’d give you an indicator. If you bare big like me (riding an XL frame), I’d consider the 36 an upgrade over the 34. I always feel bad for the bikes when my 200 lb self gets on um, so beefier parts are always welcome haha.
As for the bolt, just run it out and see if its cross threaded. If it isn’t, put it back in to the proper torque.
Some people might tell you it is possible to use fine sand paper and sand your brake pads to clean them up. I’ve had ok luck with that, just to get me through, but new pads aren’t too expensive. Clean therefore good with brake cleaner and/or rubbing alcohol too.