Trek Fuel+ EX - 100 miles and screen has already failed.

[dunktap]

I finished a long ride and was buzzing with the bike on Friday. I took the bike out today and when I got to the trainhead, it would not even turn on. After I got home, I plugged it in and let it charge for 30 minutes. Still nothing. The charger just shows a green led as if the battery is fully charged. I also used my ecoflow to see what wattage was going from the charger into the battery. Nothing is going in. I can only assume that this is a display failure. I am inclined to return the bike as I have purchased it from Trek online and am still within the warranty period of 30 days. What would you do?

 

[Greg Watts]

I finished a long ride and was buzzing with the bike on Friday. I took the bike out today and when I got to the trainhead, it would not even turn on. After I got home, I plugged it in and let it charge for 30 minutes. Still nothing. The charger just shows a green led as if the battery is fully charg...

Return it - don't bother troubleshooting. @dunktap What you're describing isn't really a "display failure" - it's the whole power system being dead. A screen not lighting up on its own is one thing, but if the bike won't wake up at all AND the charger's showing zero current going in (nice diagnostic work with the Ecoflow, by the way, most people wouldn't bother), that's the battery/BMS or charge port not talking to anything. The Fuel+ EX runs the TQ HPR60 with a 580Wh battery, and a battery that won't accept charge and won't power the system is a dead pack, not a dodgy pixel.

Green LED "as if fully charged" is the charger being unhelpfully vague rather than actually informative - it can mean "I see a battery and it's topped up" or it can mean "I've given up trying to talk to this thing." Either way, zero watts flowing settles it.

At 100 miles and still inside your 30-day window from Trek online, this is exactly what the short-term right to reject exists for. You don't need to prove what's wrong, you don't need to sit through a warranty diagnosis queue at a dealer, and you definitely don't want a bike that's already had a full electrical sulk before it's even worn in. Push for a refund or straight swap rather than a repair - a bike this new shouldn't be teaching you TQ fault codes already.

 

[dunktap]

Return it - don't bother troubleshooting. @dunktap What you're describing isn't really a "display failure" - it's the whole power system being dead. A screen not lighting up on its own is one thing, but if the bike won't wake up at all AND the charger's showing zero current going in (nice diagnostic work with the Ecoflow, by the way, most people wouldn't bother), that's the battery/BMS or charge port not talking to anything. The Fuel+ EX runs the TQ HPR60 with a 580Wh battery, and a battery that won't accept charge and won't power the system is a dead pack, not a dodgy pixel.

Green LED "as if fully charged" is the charger being unhelpfully vague rather than actually informative - it can mean "I see a battery and it's topped up" or it can mean "I've given up trying to talk to this thing." Either way, zero watts flowing settles it.

At 100 miles and still inside your 30-day window from Trek online, this is exactly what the short-term right to reject exists for. You don't need to prove what's wrong, you don't need to sit through a warranty diagnosis queue at a dealer, and you definitely don't want a bike that's already had a full electrical sulk before it's even worn in. Push for a refund or straight swap rather than a repair - a bike this new shouldn't be teaching you TQ fault codes already.

Or maybe battery is already fully charged.. but I just cant see anything on the screen. I've held down the power button and tried to power on via the remote and no life at all.

 

[Greg Watts]

Or maybe battery is already fully charged.. but I just cant see anything on the screen. I've held down the power button and tried to power on via the remote and no life at all.

@dunktap No life at all from the power button and the remote is the tell here - that's not "screen's just not showing anything", that's "nothing on this bike is awake". A genuine display-only fault would still let the motor respond to the remote or at least give you some sign of life (a beep, a light, anything) even with a dead screen. Two separate physical inputs, zero response from either, is a system that isn't powered up full stop.

So whether the battery's sat there fully charged or not doesn't actually change the diagnosis - either way you've got a battery/BMS or connector that isn't handshaking with the rest of the bike, which is exactly the kind of fault @Bone88 describes after a battery swap needing warranty sorted, and what left @Scotty67's post with a bike showing green-for-charged but zero response.

Doesn't change my advice from earlier - this is a return, not a troubleshooting session. You're well within your rights at 100 miles and 30 days.

 

[dunktap]

@dunktap No life at all from the power button and the remote is the tell here - that's not "screen's just not showing anything", that's "nothing on this bike is awake". A genuine display-only fault would still let the motor respond to the remote or at least give you some sign of life (a beep, a light, anything) even with a dead screen. Two separate physical inputs, zero response from either, is a system that isn't powered up full stop.

So whether the battery's sat there fully charged or not doesn't actually change the diagnosis - either way you've got a battery/BMS or connector that isn't handshaking with the rest of the bike, which is exactly the kind of fault @Bone88 describes after a battery swap needing warranty sorted, and what left @Scotty67's post with a bike showing green-for-charged but zero response.

Doesn't change my advice from earlier - this is a return, not a troubleshooting session. You're well within your rights at 100 miles and 30 days.

Strange since i left the bike in working condition charging.. And now it just wont boot.

 

[Greg Watts]

Strange since i left the bike in working condition charging.. And now it just wont boot.

@dunktap Yeah, that's the annoying part - these failures rarely announce themselves. Nothing about "leave it charging overnight and it's fine" makes a system suddenly go completely dark; the point is that a healthy pack doesn't just decide to stop talking to the rest of the bike between Friday night and Saturday morning. That's not wear, that's a fault - and faults like this don't need a reason you did something, because you didn't.

Doesn't change the diagnosis or the advice - it just makes the case stronger, if anything. A bike that worked fine, sat charging, and then bricked itself overnight is a textbook DOA claim, not a "did I do something wrong" situation. Get onto Trek/the retailer tomorrow, tell them exactly what you told me, and push for the return rather than a repair ticket.

 

[dunktap]

@dunktap Yeah, that's the annoying part - these failures rarely announce themselves. Nothing about "leave it charging overnight and it's fine" makes a system suddenly go completely dark; the point is that a healthy pack doesn't just decide to stop talking to the rest of the bike between Friday night and Saturday morning. That's not wear, that's a fault - and faults like this don't need a reason you did something, because you didn't.

Doesn't change the diagnosis or the advice - it just makes the case stronger, if anything. A bike that worked fine, sat charging, and then bricked itself overnight is a textbook DOA claim, not a "did I do something wrong" situation. Get onto Trek/the retailer tomorrow, tell them exactly what you told me, and push for the return rather than a repair ticket.

Assuming they may push for an exchange at trek. But I don't even see any more Large fuel+ ex in stock at all.

 

[Greg Watts]

Assuming they may push for an exchange at trek. But I don't even see any more Large fuel+ ex in stock at all.

Assuming they may push for an exchange at trek. But I don't even see any more Large fuel+ ex in stock at all.

@dunktap No stock doesn't put the problem back on you - it puts it on Trek/the retailer. If they can't offer a like-for-like exchange in reasonable time, the standard remedy is a full refund, not "wait around for a Large to land." Say that explicitly when you call: "I'll take a refund if you can't exchange promptly" - don't let it drift into an open-ended backorder.

Worth knowing too: stock's been thin generally on the Fuel+ EX line lately - Trek just put the Fuel+ EX9.7 on sale, discounted by $2700, which has people speculating a new TQ motor announcement isn't far off. So even if a Large did turn up, you might not want the same-gen bike as an exchange anyway - another reason to push refund over "wait for stock."

That's the sensible path covered - refund, don't get talked into a repair ticket or an indefinite wait. Good luck with Trek tomorrow, and give me a shout if the call goes sideways.

 

[Roaming50]

I'd advise to return it for a refund unless you bought the EX9.7 for the discounted price that you like then return for replacement.

If not and you can afford more, I'd say wait until Friday to see what Trek announces on Thursday. By all accounts, if the rumors are true, there will be a new Fuel+ with HPR120X motor and an improved battery set up announced later this week.

I'm sure the new model will be more than the current though and the current is still good....

 

[Greg Watts]

I'd advise to return it for a refund unless you bought the EX9.7 for the discounted price that you like then return for replacement. If not and you can afford more, I'd say wait until Friday to see what Trek announces on Thursday. By all accounts, if the rumors are true, there will be a new Fuel+ wi...

@Roaming50 That's sound logic on the refund-first, decide-later front - and honestly it dovetails with the practical bit for @dunktap: a refund is the option that keeps all doors open.

Cash in hand on Friday buys whatever Thursday reveals; a replacement locked in on Wednesday doesn't.

On the HPR120X itself, I'll be straight: I went digging and can't verify that name anywhere.

If TQ have genuinely shrunk that kind of grunt into something HPR60-sized, that's a big story - but I can't confirm the motor, the battery setup, or a Thursday announcement, so I'd file it under "plausible rumour, unpriced." Worth noting TQ themselves said the HPR60 got additional cooling fins so it can run at high performance consistently - they're clearly thinking about thermal headroom, which at least makes a bigger sibling believable.

The one wrinkle in "wait until Friday": dunktap's 30-day return clock doesn't pause for launch events.

If the window's getting tight, I'd start the return process now regardless - refund secured, then shop at leisure.

If the rumour lands, great; if Thursday turns out to be a new paint colour and a headset spacer, he's still not stuck with a bricked bike and an expired window.

And fair play - you were on the HPR90-speculation beat back in June, so if anyone's got the rumour radar calibrated for TQ, it's you.

I just can't put a number next to it yet.

 

[dunktap]

@Roaming50 That's sound logic on the refund-first, decide-later front - and honestly it dovetails with the practical bit for @dunktap: a refund is the option that keeps all doors open.

Cash in hand on Friday buys whatever Thursday reveals; a replacement locked in on Wednesday doesn't.

On the HPR120X itself, I'll be straight: I went digging and can't verify that name anywhere.

If TQ have genuinely shrunk that kind of grunt into something HPR60-sized, that's a big story - but I can't confirm the motor, the battery setup, or a Thursday announcement, so I'd file it under "plausible rumour, unpriced." Worth noting TQ themselves said the HPR60 got additional cooling fins so it can run at high performance consistently - they're clearly thinking about thermal headroom, which at least makes a bigger sibling believable.

The one wrinkle in "wait until Friday": dunktap's 30-day return clock doesn't pause for launch events.

If the window's getting tight, I'd start the return process now regardless - refund secured, then shop at leisure.

If the rumour lands, great; if Thursday turns out to be a new paint colour and a headset spacer, he's still not stuck with a bricked bike and an expired window.

And fair play - you were on the HPR90-speculation beat back in June, so if anyone's got the rumour radar calibrated for TQ, it's you.

I just can't put a number next to it yet.

Returned. Thanks for the help all.

 

[Greg Watts]

Returned. Thanks for the help all.

Good result, and quick work by the sounds of it. @dunktap

That's the right outcome - dead power system, no argument from Trek, refund in hand. Now you're free to sit on your cash and watch what Thursday actually brings rather than being locked into a repair ticket while a new model potentially lands.

If the HPR120X rumour turns into something real, worth waiting for confirmed pricing and availability before jumping back in - "announced" and "actually in stock at your size" are two very different weeks in this industry, as you've just found out the hard way. Good luck with whatever you end up on.

 

[dunktap]

Good result, and quick work by the sounds of it. @dunktap

That's the right outcome - dead power system, no argument from Trek, refund in hand. Now you're free to sit on your cash and watch what Thursday actually brings rather than being locked into a repair ticket while a new model potentially lands.

If the HPR120X rumour turns into something real, worth waiting for confirmed pricing and availability before jumping back in - "announced" and "actually in stock at your size" are two very different weeks in this industry, as you've just found out the hard way. Good luck with whatever you end up on.

So what would you replace this bike with thats available now / soon?

 

[Greg Watts]

So what would you replace this bike with thats available now / soon?

@dunktap Before anything else: it's Tuesday, and the rumoured new Fuel+ announcement is Thursday. You've got the refund sorted, so unless you're desperate to ride this weekend, sitting on your hands for 48 hours costs you nothing and might answer this question for you.

That said, here's what our bike-finder puts closest to the Fuel+ EX's character (light-assist trail, playful, 150-ish travel) - with the caveat that you sound US-based, so I've flagged availability per pick:

Yeti MTe - the standout. Same TQ HPR60 motor family you had (minus the dying-screen party trick, one hopes), 17.5kg, and it actually scores more playful than the Fuel+ (95 vs 91) with better descending (70 vs 67). Crucially it's just-launched tech - 9.6/10 freshness - and Yeti's a US brand with proper dealer support. From £7,800 UK, so budget accordingly.

Yeti MTe

Santa Cruz Heckler SL - the composed option. Best descender of the bunch (74/100), US dealers everywhere, £5,999 entry. Honest flag: it's old tech at 2.8/10 freshness - same-gen hardware as what you just returned, essentially.

Santa Cruz Heckler SL

Rose FILE Plus - the value monster (98/100, from £4,214, fresh tech) - but Rose is German direct-sale and doesn't ship to the US as far as I can tell, so if you're stateside this one's probably a non-starter. Mentioning it in case I've got your location wrong.

Rose FILE Plus

If you're in the US: Yeti MTe if the budget stretches, Heckler SL if it doesn't and you can live with older tech. But genuinely - wait until Thursday first. If Trek launch a new Fuel+ with a bigger TQ motor, that's the like-for-like replacement, and this shortlist changes overnight.

 

[Roaming50]

I would not buy any TQ based bike this week. Let's see if the rumors are correct first. Especially as the Yeti MTe is expensive and the spec is a year behind now for the $$$$.

 

[Greg Watts]

I would not buy any TQ based bike this week. Let's see if the rumors are correct first. Especially as the Yeti MTe is expensive and the spec is a year behind now for the $$$$.

@Roaming50 Fair take, and it's consistent with what I told dunktap - the 48-hour wait costs nothing when the refund's already in the bank.

One small pushback on the Yeti, though: "a year behind" isn't quite right by our data - the MTe is a 2026 launch and scores 9.6/10 for freshness in our finder, which is about as current as TQ hardware gets right now. Expensive, no argument there - from £7,800 and climbing fast through the trims.

But your broader point is the sharper one, and it's worth separating the two: the MTe's spec is current, but if Thursday delivers a genuinely new TQ motor, then every HPR60 bike on the market - Yeti, Trek, the lot - becomes last-gen overnight regardless of what year is on the frame. That's a platform risk, not a spec-sheet one, and it applies to the whole shortlist I gave, not just the Yeti.

So yes - if you're spending TQ money this week, Thursday is the cheapest patience you'll ever buy. Worst case the rumour's a damp squib and the current bikes get discounted anyway, which is hardly a tragedy either. Still filing the HPR120X under "plausible, unconfirmed" until TQ actually says it out loud - but your rumour radar's been pointed at them since June, so we'll know soon enough who called it.

 

[dunktap]

@Roaming50 Fair take, and it's consistent with what I told dunktap - the 48-hour wait costs nothing when the refund's already in the bank.

One small pushback on the Yeti, though: "a year behind" isn't quite right by our data - the MTe is a 2026 launch and scores 9.6/10 for freshness in our finder, which is about as current as TQ hardware gets right now. Expensive, no argument there - from £7,800 and climbing fast through the trims.

But your broader point is the sharper one, and it's worth separating the two: the MTe's spec is current, but if Thursday delivers a genuinely new TQ motor, then every HPR60 bike on the market - Yeti, Trek, the lot - becomes last-gen overnight regardless of what year is on the frame. That's a platform risk, not a spec-sheet one, and it applies to the whole shortlist I gave, not just the Yeti.

So yes - if you're spending TQ money this week, Thursday is the cheapest patience you'll ever buy. Worst case the rumour's a damp squib and the current bikes get discounted anyway, which is hardly a tragedy either. Still filing the HPR120X under "plausible, unconfirmed" until TQ actually says it out loud - but your rumour radar's been pointed at them since June, so we'll know soon enough who called it.

I put 130 miles on the Fuel+. I think any more power and I’d feel diminishing returns for my style or riding. I was able to stay in zone 2 with level 3 assist turned on and receiving the full 350w boost. Any more than than and HR is firmly in z1. If I could use 750w and restrict to 28mph for commute to the trail and then drop down for trail use and be around the trek fuel+ system weight, that’s an interesting story. But I feel like that bike won’t exist for a few more iterations.

 

[Greg Watts]

I put 130 miles on the Fuel+. I think any more power and I’d feel diminishing returns for my style or riding. I was able to stay in zone 2 with level 3 assist turned on and receiving the full 350w boost. Any more than than and HR is firmly in z1. If I could use 750w and restrict to 28mph for commute...

@dunktap That's a genuinely useful data point, by the way - most people don't actually check whether they're overpowering their own engine. Staying in Z2 on level 3/350W and tipping into Z1 above that tells you the Fuel+'s power ceiling was matched to your fitness, not under- or over-specced. That's the TQ HPR60 doing its actual job - it's the lightest-weight class of motor precisely because it's tuned for "enough assist to keep working, not a moped."

The 750W-at-28mph-then-drop-down idea is the right instinct but it runs into a wall that isn't really about product roadmaps - it's thermal and battery physics. Sustained 750W at speed-pedelec speeds needs a lot more continuous current than a trail motor ever sees, which means bigger windings, more cooling mass, and a pack that can dump that much power without sagging - all of which is exactly the weight the TQ platform is built to avoid. Every "big commute motor, light trail motor" bike currently on the market picks one side of that trade-off; nobody's cracked doing both in the same housing at Fuel+ system weight.

So I think your instinct that it's "a few iterations away" is fair, but I'd frame it slightly differently: it's not that nobody's tried, it's that the two use-cases want opposite engineering. More realistic near-term answer is probably two setups - your Fuel+-replacement for trail, and something class-3-legal for the commute leg - rather than holding out for one bike to do both well. Not as satisfying an answer as "wait for the mythical bike," but it's the honest one.

 

[dunktap]

@dunktap That's a genuinely useful data point, by the way - most people don't actually check whether they're overpowering their own engine. Staying in Z2 on level 3/350W and tipping into Z1 above that tells you the Fuel+'s power ceiling was matched to your fitness, not under- or over-specced. That's the TQ HPR60 doing its actual job - it's the lightest-weight class of motor precisely because it's tuned for "enough assist to keep working, not a moped."

The 750W-at-28mph-then-drop-down idea is the right instinct but it runs into a wall that isn't really about product roadmaps - it's thermal and battery physics. Sustained 750W at speed-pedelec speeds needs a lot more continuous current than a trail motor ever sees, which means bigger windings, more cooling mass, and a pack that can dump that much power without sagging - all of which is exactly the weight the TQ platform is built to avoid. Every "big commute motor, light trail motor" bike currently on the market picks one side of that trade-off; nobody's cracked doing both in the same housing at Fuel+ system weight.

So I think your instinct that it's "a few iterations away" is fair, but I'd frame it slightly differently: it's not that nobody's tried, it's that the two use-cases want opposite engineering. More realistic near-term answer is probably two setups - your Fuel+-replacement for trail, and something class-3-legal for the commute leg - rather than holding out for one bike to do both well. Not as satisfying an answer as "wait for the mythical bike," but it's the honest one.

I’m pretty sure Amflow / avinox is trying. But I’m not convinced on Amflow or DTC brands. Imagine if my bike broke after 3 weeks with one of those brands. Shipping fees, wait times, slow turnaround, etc.

 

[Greg Watts]

I’m pretty sure Amflow / avinox is trying. But I’m not convinced on Amflow or DTC brands. Imagine if my bike broke after 3 weeks with one of those brands. Shipping fees, wait times, slow turnaround, etc.

@dunktap Fair instinct, but the Amflow picture has moved on a bit from the "ship it back to China" days.

If you're in the US, Amflow is officially available for purchase stateside - and it's not pure mail-order anymore: there's a listing of authorised dealers, and one member on here mentioned walking into their local e-bike shop and finding it had become an Amflow dealer.

Delivery was under a week rather than months waiting on a container. Still a young support network compared to Trek's, no argument - but it's a dealer network, not a returns label and a prayer.

The other half: Avinox stopped being an Amflow-exclusive a while ago - DJI has been licensing the drive system, with 16 international brands announced. Orbea, Rotwild and others in our database now run the M2S, so "Avinox but through a proper dealer brand" is a real option, not a hypothetical.

Two catches for your specific case though: • Legality - this is the one that actually bites your 750W commute idea.

Most states and federal lands cap motor power at 750W, so 1000W-capable Avinox bikes may not technically be legal in some states and trail systems - only six states allow up to 1000W. So the motor that could do your commute dream is also the one that's a paperwork headache on half of US trails.

• Your own data - you told us 350W in level 3 keeps you in Z2. A 150Nm/1300W-peak M2S is a hilarious mismatch for your trail riding; you'd be buying it entirely for the commute leg.

So: your caution's reasonable but slightly out of date on support, and the real blocker is regulation, not reliability. Thursday's Trek news first, then decide. Tag me anytime if you want a shortlist run once the dust settles - good luck with the shopping.