Top Fuel Spec - wheels and color

PB Forum :: Trek
Top Fuel Spec - wheels and color
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flag ncolavolpe
Posted: Dec 10, 2018 at 15:43 Quote
I was told I needed to write a persuasive letter for AP english, so here it goes:

Dear Trek,

I have only ever owned Trek bikes, six of them to be exact. They work better than other bikes I have tried, as well as being light and reliable. I currently own the 2018 Top Fuel 9.8sl, and I love it. I have raced it for the entire 2018 season as a Cat 1 junior and in the high school races in the fall.

When looking at the 2019 model and then comparing all of the Top Fuels from 2017 to 2019, I noticed something odd. It seems like the spec on the Top Fuels has been getting worse and worse as the years go by. In 2017, the bike came with X1 and XO 1x11 groupsets along with Kovee Pro wheels and Fox Performance suspension. Then, in 2018, the bike had Kovee Elite wheels and GX Eagle. In 2019, the 9.8 has a Rockshox SID fork, which is heavier then the Fox step cast, along with Kovee Elite wheels and more GX Eagle.

Even more concerning is the downgrade on the 9.9 from DT Swiss XMC 1200 wheels to Kovee Pro wheels. The DT wheels were top of the line, equivalent in price to the Bontrager Kovee XXX wheels. The Top Fuel 9.9 does not have your high end wheels when it is your highest level xc bike. Although the wheels are great, they are not the highest level Bontrager makes. The price increased by $300, but the reason as to why this has happened is unclear. The in house wheels should be cheaper than the DT Swiss wheels for Trek to spec on your bikes. Especially given that the Kovee Pro wheels were on the 2017 9.8. That’s right, the same wheels (in 23mm version) were on a lower end bike. On Specialized’s mid range Epic, priced at just $5,520, the customer gets the Top Fuel 9.8 level spec with a $1,200 carbon wheelset. This confuses me: Roval is to Specialized and Bontrager is to Trek. Yet on the high end, Top Fuel 9.9, the in-house wheelset is worth just $1,200, the same as a midrange Epic. On the high end Epic, the customer gets a $1,900 wheelset. Cannondale specs a set of Enve M525 wheels, worth $2,800, on their World Cup Scalpel.

If Trek wants to compete in terms of spec with the other brands, it would only make sense to spec XXX wheels on the 9.9. Although this may raise the price to $9,000, the result would be the same spec as others brands but over $1,000 cheaper. The second change is the fork, which was changed from a Fox Factory step cast to a Rockshox SID SE Carbon. The Rockshox fork retails for over $1000 while the Fox fork retails for around $950. So that is a small increase in price. However with Trek Factory Racing teaming up with SRAM and Rockshox, it seems like the price for the two forks, (for Trek), would be the same or very close. Keeping this in mind, the Fox fork is much lighter. Weight is very important to many xc racers, so the increase in price for a heavier part is confusing. An example would be the 2019 9.8sl, which got heavier and more expensive.

Along with the wheels and price, I believe Trek should make changes to the color options. The color scheme for the 9.9 has remained the same since the Top Fuel was reintroduced in 2016. Take Cannondale for example. Their Team Edition Scalpel has had small changes to the color scheme every year. Although they were just small changes and there was always a lot of green, they kept the new bikes looking separate and apart from their older models. For your bikes, it is possible to change the color but costs the buyer an extra $500. The trail bikes, such as the remedy and fuel ex, now have two optional colors: a darker, more stealth option and a bright, in-your-face scheme. So why isn’t this free color choice option available for all xc bikes or at least the 9.8 and 9.9 level ones? Specialized has always offered two color schemes for the buyer to choose from without raising the price, much like Trek did in 2016 with the Top Fuel.

I believe that if Trek made these changes to their Top Fuel bikes, they would make more customers happy and have the best looking and performing race bikes on the market. That’s every company’s goal, isn’t it?

Anybody else agree? I would like to hear other's thoughts on this idea and if it would even be possible/make sense for Trek top make these changes.
flag tomgibson
Posted: Jan 9, 2019 at 10:31 Quote
i agree with you mate, but i think you have to take a couple of things into consideration:
-Trek are trying to keep the prices similar year to year while parts prices have increased.
-Even though the 9.8 has changed to GX, the GX groupo is a way better than it's predecessor.
-On the fork point, i think a lot of things are getting heavier on bikes, the days of the 20lb full suspension are gone. Stronger forks improve stiffness and downhill riding. Wider thus stronger frame tubing. Wider rims for better tire profiles etc.

Great read though
flag seraph
Posted: Oct 29, 2021 at 16:00 Quote
ncolavolpe wrote:
I was told I needed to write a persuasive letter for AP english, so here it goes:

Dear Trek,

I have only ever owned Trek bikes, six of them to be exact. They work better than other bikes I have tried, as well as being light and reliable. I currently own the 2018 Top Fuel 9.8sl, and I love it. I have raced it for the entire 2018 season as a Cat 1 junior and in the high school races in the fall.

When looking at the 2019 model and then comparing all of the Top Fuels from 2017 to 2019, I noticed something odd. It seems like the spec on the Top Fuels has been getting worse and worse as the years go by. In 2017, the bike came with X1 and XO 1x11 groupsets along with Kovee Pro wheels and Fox Performance suspension. Then, in 2018, the bike had Kovee Elite wheels and GX Eagle. In 2019, the 9.8 has a Rockshox SID fork, which is heavier then the Fox step cast, along with Kovee Elite wheels and more GX Eagle.

Even more concerning is the downgrade on the 9.9 from DT Swiss XMC 1200 wheels to Kovee Pro wheels. The DT wheels were top of the line, equivalent in price to the Bontrager Kovee XXX wheels. The Top Fuel 9.9 does not have your high end wheels when it is your highest level xc bike. Although the wheels are great, they are not the highest level Bontrager makes. The price increased by $300, but the reason as to why this has happened is unclear. The in house wheels should be cheaper than the DT Swiss wheels for Trek to spec on your bikes. Especially given that the Kovee Pro wheels were on the 2017 9.8. That’s right, the same wheels (in 23mm version) were on a lower end bike. On Specialized’s mid range Epic, priced at just $5,520, the customer gets the Top Fuel 9.8 level spec with a $1,200 carbon wheelset. This confuses me: Roval is to Specialized and Bontrager is to Trek. Yet on the high end, Top Fuel 9.9, the in-house wheelset is worth just $1,200, the same as a midrange Epic. On the high end Epic, the customer gets a $1,900 wheelset. Cannondale specs a set of Enve M525 wheels, worth $2,800, on their World Cup Scalpel.

If Trek wants to compete in terms of spec with the other brands, it would only make sense to spec XXX wheels on the 9.9. Although this may raise the price to $9,000, the result would be the same spec as others brands but over $1,000 cheaper. The second change is the fork, which was changed from a Fox Factory step cast to a Rockshox SID SE Carbon. The Rockshox fork retails for over $1000 while the Fox fork retails for around $950. So that is a small increase in price. However with Trek Factory Racing teaming up with SRAM and Rockshox, it seems like the price for the two forks, (for Trek), would be the same or very close. Keeping this in mind, the Fox fork is much lighter. Weight is very important to many xc racers, so the increase in price for a heavier part is confusing. An example would be the 2019 9.8sl, which got heavier and more expensive.

Along with the wheels and price, I believe Trek should make changes to the color options. The color scheme for the 9.9 has remained the same since the Top Fuel was reintroduced in 2016. Take Cannondale for example. Their Team Edition Scalpel has had small changes to the color scheme every year. Although they were just small changes and there was always a lot of green, they kept the new bikes looking separate and apart from their older models. For your bikes, it is possible to change the color but costs the buyer an extra $500. The trail bikes, such as the remedy and fuel ex, now have two optional colors: a darker, more stealth option and a bright, in-your-face scheme. So why isn’t this free color choice option available for all xc bikes or at least the 9.8 and 9.9 level ones? Specialized has always offered two color schemes for the buyer to choose from without raising the price, much like Trek did in 2016 with the Top Fuel.

I believe that if Trek made these changes to their Top Fuel bikes, they would make more customers happy and have the best looking and performing race bikes on the market. That’s every company’s goal, isn’t it?

Anybody else agree? I would like to hear other's thoughts on this idea and if it would even be possible/make sense for Trek top make these changes.

Hello from the future! The reason why Trek is/was changing the Top Fuel is because they're pushing their Supercaliber model more into the "XC race" category for the brand. As I'm sure you know by now, the new Top Fuel is more of a Downcountry/Trail bike these days with a full 120mm of travel front and rear.
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