Words Liam Friary
Images Cameron MacKenzie

Have you ever been kept up late at night reliving distressing memories? Does your mind chatter and strong emotions interfere with your day-to-day? Are you looking to understand yourself more and make some changes? If your answer is “yes”, then we should talk.

My lived experience with mental health gives me a strong appreciation of the journey we take from being in crisis mode to thriving. I want to work with you to help you get to where you want to be. The focus will be on what I can do to support you in your life’s journey. I do this by utilising an integrative approach that best suits each individual.

When you’re ready to take that step to seek support, I’ll be there for you. Call or email me so we can schedule our first session and get you to where you want to be.

Daniel is available on Wednesdays, Thursdays and FridaysThe latest Trek Top Fuel is one of the most versatile to date. This fourth-generation platform encompasses the heritage of XC from earlier generations while nodding to the future with more travel and capability. The lines are somewhat blurred between an XC long-travel bike and a lightweight trail bike. Regardless of categorization, the bike is designed to be super-adjustable with a redesigned frame and a 4-position Mino Link. There’s also a ton more you can customize, like wheel size, geometry, and suspension travel, making it super appealing for everyday trail riding or even XC racing duties.

Trek has opted for refinement rather than revision, a trend the industry is increasingly embracing. Generally, bikes are in a good place regarding geometry numbers, so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel—at least for now. While the new Top Fuel looks similar to the previous generation, it has gone on a slight diet with about a 100g savings in the carbon frame and uses slimmed-down tubes across the entire frame. The new 4-position flip chip, used for adjusting the bike’s geometry or the amount of shock progression, is located at the lower shock mount. This flip chip offers High/Low geometry settings that modify the angles by 0.5° and change the BB height by 6mm. Additionally, you can move the suspension leverage rate forward and backward with the flip chip. The forward position offers 14% progression, while the rear position offers 19%, providing more ramp-up at the end of stroke. I rode mainly with the rear, more progressive position and found it better suited to my riding style and the terrain where testing was done.

I appreciate the ability to change out the rear and front travel if desired. The rear shock is built around a 185x50mm shock, but you can increase the stroke to 55mm and boost travel to 130mm. The frame is rated for a 120-140mm travel fork, which allows for different setup options such as an XC whippet with 120/120mm travel or a rowdier trail bike with 140/130mm travel. I’m inclined to build the latter, so hopefully, I’ll have more on that sometime soon. If you wanted to have a mullet setup with a 27.5″ rear wheel, that’s also possible with this new platform.

Returning to small refinements, the new Top Fuel is slightly more progressive than the previous generation and has a tad more anti-squat. Rear travel is kept at 120mm and comes with a 130mm travel fork up front. 29″ wheels are standard on all frames except the small, which is built around 27.5″ wheels. The internal storage has also been updated with larger openings and better weatherproof sealing, and cables have been kept out of the way to minimize snagging. Trek has won the applause of shop mechanics by keeping cables out of the headset and eliminating the Knock Block headset. A tried-and-true threaded BB is used, as well as bolt-on downtube armor and a rubber chainstay protector.

While there are slight changes to geometry, the 65.5° head angle remains consistent across all sizes. The effective seat tube angle ranges from 75.2-76.9° – Trek lists this angle based on a specific saddle height for each size. Another update is the size-specific rear center lengths, which vary from 435mm (smaller frames) to 445mm (X-Large frames).

I had the pleasure of riding the new Top Fuel in Durango, Colorado. There’s plenty more to come from that trip, plus some other riding around North America. Having a week based in Durango meant I could get familiar with the bike, logging over 15 hours of ride time. The first thing that struck me was the pedaling efficiency and overall zippiness of the bike. I rode twice a day locally and had two high-country long ride missions as well. On all occasions, from road to gravel to trail, I didn’t feel the need to hit the lockout lever as it pedaled great wide open. The bike feels swift and light but handles rowdier terrain very well. While the Pike fork nods to more trail-oriented riding, there’s something about the overall frame that makes it more compliant than the white paper stats indicate.

This compliance was evident when we ventured into the backcountry, which made for lengthy descents. The bike would eat up what was in front of it on rougher sections of trail, with the suspension holding its own. The lower progression setting was ideal for the ramp-up. It offers adequate dampening and felt comfortable even after several hours in the saddle. The Bontrager spec’d tyres are very supple and keep the weight down however I’d prefer something a bit beefier even with the weight penalty. Whilst they didn’t give me any grief on rockier descents you’d have to choose the best line as I was a tad worried about snagging them.

On the shorter, punchier rides in and around Durango’s extensive trail network, the bike was super smooth and sprightly. From more XC-oriented loops to bike park-style jumps and berms to rock slabs, even with sketchy rocky descents, the rear end stays active even under brake load. I think the key component is the four-bar suspension platform over a single-pivot flex-stay, which offers superior grip both uphill and downhill. There’s suitable snappiness, and the bike generates speed very well.

I’m very keen to build this bike as a burlier 140/130mm trail bike, so hopefully, we can make that happen soon. We will bring an in-depth review of the new Trek Top Fuel in our next publication, which is out in September.