Will The Trek Fuel Frame Suit My Needs?

I just happened upon a 2007-ish Trek Fuel (Don't know the exact model/year), which I've seen recommended here several times. I could get Just the frame for $40, bare with nothing on it. That seems pretty cheap to me for a suitable frame. Will that build a good "fast" ebike? I'd like strong acceleration from stops, and a top speed of at least 40. Do I need to spend more to get a good frame suitable for that, or will a mid-2000s Trek Fuel do the job?

Also, it's a size large. That model year has a fairly open triangle, but not quite as much as the early 2000s frames. How much battery am I likely to fit? Or is that question impossible to answer? For reference, I can just barely put my standard water bottle mounted 36v 12ah battery pack into the frame on the down-tube. It ends up coming within an inch or two of the suspension linkage. But of course there's room above it in the rear for a triangle shaped battery.

I can't comment on the frame. You may already be aware of this, but a frame up build is always a lot more expensive than buying a complete bike unless you have a box full of parts lying around or a donor bike to harvest parts from. So that $40 for the frame is not that cheap compared to a $300 complete bike. That said, you can build a bike that is exactly what you want and I enjoy the process of building a bike.

RunForTheHills said:

I can't comment on the frame. You may already be aware of this, but a frame up build is always a lot more expensive than buying a complete bike unless you have a box full of parts lying around or a donor bike to harvest parts from. So that $40 for the frame is not that cheap compared to a $300 complete bike. That said, you can build a bike that is exactly what you want and I enjoy the process of building a bike.

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^this

Have you priced the shocks out? Replacement Fox shocks used to be about $1400. I'm sure you can find alternatives but depending on the quality they might run you $500-1000 or more.

It's a great frame though. Super light, I think we had a 2008ish (dark grey with red pin stripes and EVO) one stripped down to like 22lbs. If you get it make sure you go over it thoroughly for cracks. I seem to recall the seat post tube being a weak spot. $40 seems a little too good to be true, but the cost of getting it on the trail might be why.

I don't believe there is much of a triangle on them at all. Have you considered a backpack?

Apparently this is debatable around here, but in my opinion the Fuel has to be one of the better choices for a fast ebike. If the frame was cherry I'd probably jump on it.

I'm aware of the building costs. I've built up several bikes from a frame. I'm pretty good at taking a year to do it and browsing CL every day or two until I piece everything together for a really good price. I love bikes and browse CL anyway, so it's not like it's some huge time-investment loss for me.

The main part of the build for me would be the expense of a fork and wheels. For the fork, I want to go through-axle and short travel with stiff tubes. To get that, I think my choices would be newer bikes, and more limited in frame usability due to triangle space. So I'll be buying a newer fork for an older frame anyway to get what I want. For wheels, I plan to build something with wide rims so that I can get the fatest/most stable tires I can into the frame. I'd like the bike to feel very planted and confident, particularly due to the speed and turning. I'm hoping I can fit 3" tires on it. Maybe even light duty/weight motorcycle rims and tires? I'll need to research that more. Then it'll probably get a 100mm travel XC style fork. I've read some about a longer swing-arm being beneficial to handling on a fast e-bike. Basically, bikes are designed to handle well at lower speeds and turn at much lower speeds. Vehicles designed to go 40+mph and turn at higher speeds tend to be longer. I'll have to read up on that more. I'd like something fun that will basically serve as a sporty moped, but still light weight and easily taken inside at night since I don't have a garage.

This is a good frame to build. I’d say it is going to be a good ride at 40 mph on pavement, if you build it with high end suspension components. Faster, you would need to stiffen the swing arm lateral flex, and that is not an easy task. It is the weakness of the early versions of that frame, to fishtail when ridden aggressively. If you ever plan to beat the 50 mph, you should be looking for a much more robust, DH grade frame.

I agree that it is cheaper to start with a fully built DH bike, if you can’t source and fix used DH components for cheap.

Someone has this 1000w 48v Leaf Motor kit for sale for $150. He says he rode it for ~350mi before leaving the battery out in the cold and killing it. He says the LCD still turns on and the kit works fine. Worth it or should I keep shopping around for a new kit online?

https://www.leafmotor.com/hub-motor/700c-48v-1000w-rear-hub-motor-electric-bike-conversion-kit.html

Edit: Looks like I linked the 700c, not the 26", but it's the same thing, just with a different rim.

I would personally buy that Leaf motor kit for $150, if it was local. Just be sure to open up the cover plate and look at the wires "windings" inside to make sure they are not burnt or dark in color. Then spin the motor to see if there is no friction, but be sure to tape up the ends of the phase wires coming out of the motor so that they do not touch. If its fine, buy it.

Sellers like the one you found are good, because they do not know how to fix the problem. They get a quote for a new battery and they receive a $1200 and they just sell it. I would tell him $100 and see what the seller says, then meet somewhere in the middle of whatever the seller wants, say the seller said $140, then you say $120.

Buy a good rim, Alexrims DH24 is a good rim, they come in 26" then buy a thorn proof tube (Amazon) and a good tire.

Spokes you can buy from www.ebikes.ca and they do have that rim on the list, they also sell rims so just buy everything from them! Buy a spoke tool, ebike motor freewheel remover, torque arms, 2 throttles (its good to have spares).

Looks like it's a 2006 Fuel EX6 in size large. So this is the exact frame(though not the bike. Random bike I found in a search)
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/14489636/

Electric Earth said:

Looks like it's a 2006 Fuel EX6 in size large. So this is the exact frame(though not the bike. Random bike I found in a search)
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/14489636/

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A quick check using photoshop to mock it up, looks like the shape is about right for the EM3ev hard pack, but don't know about the dimensions; make sure you bring your tape measure when you check out the frame, or print out a pattern of the battery.

I don't think you can fit much more of a wheel on the back though. I recall the wheel being pretty tight in the swing arm because of the geometry. Like real tight.

eta: I looked to make sure. I'm thinking of the 2008 EX8. It has the dip in the top tube by the seat post and the staggered chainstays. So the bike you're looking at might be one of the better Fuel donors.