As you would expect from Trek, internal routing keeps things neatly tucked away, their Cable Freak solution is one of the best we’ve seen. Trek has ditched the Full Floater link from the Fuel, instead opting to simply bolt the shock onto the downtube. The reason is that air shocks are now more developed so Full Floater isn’t needed to compensate, the result is a much stiffer bike.

Let’s move onto the spec. Ours is the 9.9 with a Race Limited spec, basically these are the same bits that EWS racers would pick. Fox bring a Float X2 shock and 2 position 130/160mm 36 fork. The idea is that you’ll use the lower setting on transitions but we barely changed it once, this bike simply climbs fine on full-whack.

The drivetrain is Eagle, but we’re at the point where you should really expect it if you’re going to be spending this much on an enduro bike. The rest of the spec is dominated by Bontrager: wheels, bars, seatpost, stem, saddle, tyres. Yes, it’s an in-house brand but it’s so much more than a cost saving exercise. They are well thought out bits of kit and a true pleasure to ride.

“One of the slackest 29ers on the market”

150mm travel may seem a bit under gunned in the Enduro World Series, considering the Slash is competing against bikes with 170mm plus, but the big wheels and clever design easily compensate for this.