tenrec

This is a review of the first new bike I’ve purchased since I got my Trek Madone 4.7 in 2009. The new bike is a 2023 Trek FX3 Disc. Until now I’ve been riding my 1998 Trek 7500 hybrid when I didn’t want to use my Madone, but that bike is now showing its age and needs quite a bit of work. When I called my LBS to give me a quote on the repairs and upgrades, they made a suggestion: instead of putting several hundred dollars into the old bike, why not consider a new FX3 which was on sale for just a few hundred dollars more than that?

I did some research on the FX3 and liked what I saw. It’s similar in capabilities to the 7500, but is significantly lighter and incorporates a carbon fork and disc brakes. I gave one a test ride and decided to buy it. Now, with close to a hundred miles on it, I’m enjoying it so much that I decided to bring some of my thoughts about it to the forum.

Trek is marketing the FX series as “fast, fun, comfortable, and agile.” I certainly agree with Trek about the “fun” part – that’s the first thing I noticed about riding the FX3! As I said before, it’s lighter than my 7500, but it’s also more nimble and maneuverable. Its steering is responsive and the upright posture is very easy on my neck and shoulders. I like the “wings” on the handlebar grips that function as palm rests – however, as delivered I found them angled upwards too much. I had the LBS rotate them downwards from the stock position by around 30 degrees, and now they are much more comfortable and useful.

I do find the bike very comfortable to ride; perhaps the most comfortable bike I’ve ridden. I don’t know if it’s the frame, the fork, the tires, or a combination of all three, but the bike just glides over smooth pavement and minor irregularities with aplomb. With rougher pavement you definitely feel it, but it’s easy to remain in control. I find the ride on the old 7500 much harsher, despite its having wider (35mm, currently) tires. That bike is from the earlier days of aluminum frame design, with large diameter round tubes and an aluminum fork. In the quarter-century since it was made, manufacturers have improved their designs, techniques, and materials to make aluminum a much more comfortable frame material than it used to be. The shaped and butted tubes that make up the FX3 frame definitely give the bike a superior ride quality compared with the earlier effort. I’m sure the carbon fiber fork doesn’t hurt, either.

The saddle is also very comfortable. I haven’t done any really long rides on the bike yet, but in the time that I have spent on it, the saddle has not been a source of discomfort or fatigue, which is more than I can say for the old 7500.

I don’t find the bike to be particularly fast. Maybe it’s fast in comparison to some of Trek’s other bikes, such as the Verve series, but I don’t find my average speed to be any higher on the FX3 than on my 7500. Admittedly, it’s the middle of winter and I am not in great riding condition; plus I have been wearing much bulkier clothing due to the weather. I find that, due to my upright riding posture, as my speed increases my air resistance increases rapidly, and my speed maxes out. When I researched the bike I found that its 1X drivetrain, with only a single front chainring, had a generous supply of low gears suitable for climbing, but limited higher gears for faster riding on level or downhill sections of road. I was concerned that I would run out of high gears before I ran out of my ability to crank them, but that hasn’t happened – in fact, I have not encountered conditions yet in which I have used the large 46-tooth cog. I’m sure I will as I put more miles on the bike and encounter some of the major local downhills that I haven’t tried yet.

I will say that the FX3 accelerates faster than the 7500. Presumably this is due to lighter wheels. Initially it was harder to keep my feet on the pedals during rapid acceleration or fast pedaling. I found the pedals that came with the FX3 to be inadequate for any but the most casual riding. They are made of lightweight plastic with a textured surface designed to keep your shoes from slipping, but I didn’t feel they really succeeded – my feet would slide around on them during vigorous pedaling, and would lose contact completely under some conditions. I use clipless SPD pedals on my road bike and I’ve always had toe clips and straps on my 7500, and after a week or two riding the new bike, I found myself wanting greater stability and security while pedaling. The stock pedals are not compatible with toe clips, so I replaced them with a set of alloy pedals with clips and straps, and now find pedaling to be much more efficient.

As for the tires, I’m finding them to be excellent. At 32mm wide, they are quieter and more maneuverable than those on the 7500. (The 7500 has heavier wheels, too, which affects maneuverability.) Potentially these tires can be faster, with less rolling resistance, although I haven’t found that to be the case so far. Their traction is excellent, both on straightaways and when leaning through tight turns at speed. I’ve found them most comfortable when inflated to 80 psi for the road, but at 70 psi on local bike trails with rougher pavement.

The drivetrain on the FX3 is also proving to be excellent. Shifting is precise and quiet, and the derailleur responds instantly to the trigger shifters. I was surprised to find that upshifts are possible by either pulling OR pushing on the front trigger! My Trek 7500 has had a durable and reliable crankset and derailleurs, and the FX3 seems to at least match it.

Braking is adequate but not spectacular. I have never had a bike with disc brakes before, and I was expecting amazing braking power with little effort. I find that, while the discs stop the bike when needed, the braking power is no better than (and maybe not quite as good as) the cantilever rim brakes on my 7500. They are a bit quieter, but no more powerful. Modulation is similar. I have not tried the new brakes under wet conditions, under which disc brakes are supposed to show their superiority, but under normal dry conditions, I don’t find any advantage.

The new bike is very quiet, with little noise from the chain and a relatively quiet freehub ratchet while coasting. The tires are very hushed on the road, and the frame doesn’t have the hollow, resonant quality that my carbon fiber Madone has, which sort of amplifies road noise. The FX3 is almost stealthy in its silence.

I wish that Trek had provided an instruction manual for the bike – if not an actual paper booklet that comes with the bike, then an online downloadable manual. It could help a new user become familiar with the features of the bike, and perhaps recommend some sort of maintenance and inspection schedule. The LBS has asked me to bring the bike back in for inspection and adjustment within 30 days of my purchase; I expect to do that next week. I’ll ask them to have a look at the brakes and see if they can coax a bit more performance out of them.

Overall, I’m really impressed with the Trek FX3 – its features, performance, and value for money. I can highly recommend it to anyone looking for a moderately-priced, comfortable fitness bike.