Rail (750Wh) Rail 9.8XT first ride review

[Tomroy]

Both brackets are attached to the alignment plate, you can't move them without bending the plate.

View attachment 95673

Yes you can they have a clearance hole through the plate, so there is float in the brackets for adjustment.

 

[torabora851]

Yes you can they have a clearance hole through the plate, so there is float in the brackets for adjustment.

Brackets attached to the plate with bolts you can move only the whole construction:

 

[Tomroy]

No sorry you are right, you can’t slide it up only rotate it with the plate. My Rail 9 didn’t have the plate and once I moved the bottom bracket up it removed all play and was rock solid. I might take the plate out of my 9.8 and try it. If not I’ll sell it and get a Levo, as much as I love my Rails I’m sick of messing about with them. They should have fixed this 2 years ago

 

[Tomroy]

One or two washers between the lower battery mount and the battery plate to space it up might do the trick. Painful to do though as motor will probably have to be removed.

 

[Oupy]

Won't this do the trick? Bosch Powertube Battery Foam Damper - EMTB Forums

 

[Tomroy]

Won't this do the trick? Bosch Powertube Battery Foam Damper - EMTB Forums

Maybe for a little while, but you won’t be getting full contact on the terminals and they may wear quicker. They wore on my rail 9 and I would get power cut out, hence why I had to pry up the bottom battery mount. It didn’t have the battery plate though.

 

[torabora851]

One or two washers between the lower battery mount and the battery plate to space it up might do the trick. Painful to do though as motor will probably have to be removed.

I did it today: put one 1.5mm washer between the top bracket and the plate. So far so good, the battery is no longer moving inside. Still not happy with the result, still rattling and clucking inside, will try to add some foam this weekend.

 

[Mitch@Trek]

It is tight, but goes in no problem and locks in place. You can actually feel significantly less
Movement of the battery (almost no movement at all). I haven’t tried with just the damper plate.

I haven’t ridden the bike yet with this mod.
I also installed the P rubber strip on each side of the battery where the cover meets the frame.

it all adds up to keeping the battery very snug when fitted. Fingers crossed for a quieter ride.

I will definitely test a descent with the battery removed to get a base line noise test.

such simple things to add to the bike with no downsides. really struggle to understand why Trek haven’t fixed this? They must test ride the bike and simply accept the noise levels as ‘normal’.

@Mitch@Trek would love to get your feedback on this.

Dave, are you also running the updated alignment plates too?

 

[Dave_B]

yes, its a brand new bike and has the updated alignment plate.

 

[Dave_B]

My first attempt at battery rattle fix.
I will report back…..

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@Mitch@Trek you can see the alignment plate in my pics.

 

[Mitch@Trek]

@Mitch@Trek you can see the alignment plate in my pics.

You likely may still needed a slight tweak in the alignment for your plates, which we have part of it stickied to the thread. But the foam insulator is something we can certainly help with for those who need it. I'll share the feedback along though!

 

[Tomroy]

You likely may still needed a slight tweak in the alignment for your plates, which we have part of it stickied to the thread. But the foam insulator is something we can certainly help with for those who need it. I'll share the feedback along though!

I am having trouble finding stock of the foam pad in Australia.

 

[BobMtnBkr]

Dave,

Great report. My 2021 TREK Rail 9.8 XT makes a ridiculous amount of noise from the battery compartment area. The banging and clunking over hard hits is very obnoxious. Dealer installed RIB alignment kit at purchase. Bringing it back to them to reexamine. And just ordered the battery foam damper. Look forward to seeing how well it works. Will report back.

Regarding suspension setup…

All our local mountain bike trails are coastal Virginia deep-woods singletrack. Tight trees, lots of big roots. Minimal undulation. A scattering of wooden jump features. Have a machine-made bike park about an hour away.

I weight 200lbs. 62 years old.

Fork is a 160mm ZEB Select+. Serviced lowers after 20 hours of use. For now…. Set at ~80 psi, LSC full open & 7 clicks of rebound. SAG is ~20%. Use ~ 80% of travel for most of each trail w/ 2-3 bottom-outs per ride. Pounding makes my hands go numb.

Fork performance is unsat. Very harsh initially and muddy in the middle. Played with 0, 1 & 2 tokens. Pulled tokens and added Vorsprung Luftkappe. Works better, but still not great. Looking at fork spring conversion kits.

Shock is 150mm Super Deluxe Ultimate. Sag is ~30% @ 240 psi. Compression is open with lever in middle setting. Rebound is 4. Performance is ok, but gets poor on successive hits. Per your setup, will try a couple more clicks on rebound and switch lever to (-). Looking at coil options.

Bob



Bike is on high chip to maximize turn in and minimize pedal strikes.

 

[CarbonMan]

Interestingly that ebike-mtb.com noticed this is in their preview:



Seems like Trek is aware of that

2022 Trek Rail 9.9 XX1 AXS first ride review – The smartest Trek of all time?

Wir testen für euch das neue Trek Rail 9.9 XX1 AXS 2022 mit neuem Bosch Smart System und intelligentem RockShox AirWiz-Fahrwerk.

ebike-mtb.com

Trek hasn't solved it yet cuz I have a 2022 RAIL 9.8 GX that I picked up a month ago, and there's no foam or anything else in there. Also the bracket was not adjusted to the specified tolerances (close, but not quite; it's very finicky to get just right). There are instructions to adjust the bracket (see the pics in torabora851's post), which I did and they help but there's still some rattle. I like Dave_B's fix and am going to try it. I agree that it's pretty lame that Trek let it go like that; didn't they notice it during pre-production testing? Especially given that rattle was a problem in the prior generation.

 

[Dave_B]

My fix has not fixed it.

riding today over some chunky choppy roots and generally blown out trails and I am sure it’s still making a noise. Not as bad, but still there and enough to be distracting.

I’ve got rubber strips under the metal plate and all the foam that I posted pics of and the Bosch rubber damper.

I do now wish I had bought a Levo. Even though it would have been lower apec

regarding battery mount alignment.

does this look right?

still not reaching full travel on the suspension either. So I suspect the fork has a few tokens in it and the shock must also.

the rear end feels very crashy over repeated chunky stuff (shock is open and on the most open LSC setting). Maybe changing to a coil shock will help this and along with getting the forks dialed in, may improve the rattle situation.

@Mitch@Trek why release a bike with such a massive issue? The battery weighs 5kg. To have it rattle like it does, for me and I am sure many others, ruins the ride.! The bike cost me over £9k, it’s a bloody expensive mistake. What are Trek going to do to fix the issue?

 

[Oupy]

Did you test without the battery to rule it in or out indefinitely? It kind of sounds to me you are hearing the standard Bosch rattle noise that all the Gen 4 motor's make...

You can recreate the Bosch rattle on right now - just grab the chain ring and quickly move it backward and forward - if you can't hear anything roll the bike a bit a try again. On my carbon rail the noise travels up the frame and sounds more like a cable clicking type noise than a clunk. Other test, lift and drop the rear end, you will hear it rattle.

Highly suggest trying this before you spend more effort on other fixes.

 

[Dave_B]

Haven’ tried riding with battery out, will be doing so next weekend when I’m with some riding buddies.

 

[Oupy]

This is what the Bosch rattle sounds like:

Bosch Rattle

Bosch rattle demonstration

youtube.com

 

[Bomble]

I've done the battery lock delete on my Rail so now the battery is bolted in solid, the bike still rattles. I think its the Bosch rattle combined with the carbon frame.
By contrast, sound wise my Whyte feels like a Rolls Royce over the same trails.

 

[Dave_B]

This is what the Bosch rattle sounds like:

Bosch Rattle

Bosch rattle demonstration

youtube.com

mine doesn’t do that.

 

[BobMtnBkr]

My Trek ’21 Rail 9.8 XT is a cornucopia of obnoxious sounds. But the clunking sound I’m trying to fix is a more pronounced banging sound than in the video.

Seeing strike/wear marks inside carbon fiber tube. Bringing bike back to LBS for reexamination. Foam pad is on order. Will continue to pursue other solutions as required.

Considering upgrading to coil front and back to smooth out the ride on this Trek.

My Stumpjumper is virtually silent.

 

[torabora851]

After putting a few stripes of foam as @Dave_B did, and a shim between the top bracket and plate, to shorten the distance between brackets, the battery feels still. Also, I put a tire insert to my rear wheel, which made the rear end softer.

I don't have that feeling that the bike is falling apart anymore. But it is still much noisier than my old Merida eone-sixty.

Small test ride yesterday:
There are also a few videos with Merida eone-sixty to compare the noise.

Would be interesting to compare with other bosch bikes, Cube, and Mondraker.

 

[Dave_B]

After putting a few stripes of foam as @Dave_B did, and a shim between the top bracket and plate, to shorten the distance between brackets, the battery feels still. Also, I put a tire insert to my rear wheel, which made the rear end softer.

I don't have that feeling that the bike is falling apart anymore. But it is still much noisier than my old Merida eone-sixty.

Small test ride yesterday:
There are also a few videos with Merida eone-sixty to compare the noise.

Would be interesting to compare with other bosch bikes, Cube, and Mondraker.

That’s how mine sounds as well.

 

[mcboab]

I dont notice anymore rattles on my Bosch motor'd still under a month old 179Kms Mondi Crafty than I did on my aging analogue Ibis HD3. If I'm on a hill I can hear the whine of the motor but it doesn't come across as intrusive, maybe it will get noisier as it gets older as I've previously noticed other E-Mtbs coming up behind me when I was riding analogue (up hill obviously!) .

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Dave come and ride mine as a comparison.

The Bosch is noisy and rattly, but I only notice it now after coming from the TQ or Brose (the Brose near silent on descents but makes a whine on climbing).

What we REALLY need is a TQ90 motor! Would be stunning in the Trek Rail!!

 

[Dave_B]

Hi Rob, I would love to mate. But I live in Newquay
I'm riding SH this weekend though, both days, so if you are around, let me know.....
Don't tease with all that talk of TQ90......it would need to be retro-fittable

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Hi Rob, I would love to mate. But I live in Newquay
I'm riding SH this weekend though, both days, so if you are around, let me know.....
Don't tease with all that talk of TQ90......it would need to be retro-fittable

I’m in the SW quite a lot can meet for a Quantocks ride and you can try a few bikes!

 

[Dave_B]

perfect. just let me know mate....will defo join if I can. (weekends only though for me)

 

[Desert_Turtle]

I buy a new bike every few months and this time around I got a 22 Rail 9.8 GX AXS. It’s disappointing in stock trim. I’m not saying that it couldn’t be an excellent bike with a fork and shock change but the Rockshox stuff sucks, ruins a bike that’s probably great. As of right now I’m wishing that I had my Levo Pro back. Even the Flow app is sub-par. You can only have 1 bike registered at a time. I sure hope that I can get it dialed in better. As of right now I hate it. Hi

 

[Bummers]

I buy a new bike every few months and this time around I got a 22 Rail 9.8 GX AXS. It’s disappointing in stock trim. I’m not saying that it couldn’t be an excellent bike with a fork and shock change but the Rockshox stuff sucks, ruins a bike that’s probably great. As of right now I’m wishing that I had my Levo Pro back. Even the Flow app is sub-par. You can only have 1 bike registered at a time. I sure hope that I can get it dialed in better. As of right now I hate it. Hi

Why do you change every few months? Seems crazy to get a great bike then get rid a few months later