Trek are the longest standing mainstream carbon fibre bike manufacturer, and their OCLV bikes have built up an enviable reputation for ultra lightweight strength over the past decade. With Carbon road bikes picking up multiple wins in the Tour De France, carbon hardtails taking World Championship and Commonwealth games titles and carbon softails taking Olympic honours, it was only natural that their World Cup winning Fuel full suspension design would eventually get the OCLV treatment.

We rode the first handbuilt prototypes of the Trek Fuel 100 OCLV at the Trek Media Camp in Garmisch Partenkirchen. This involved lots of chasing French journalists down sodden rooty singletrack and loose rock doubletrack on Diesel Freeride bikes (we lost) and then racing their veiny and tanned compatriots back up the other side (we won – though to be fair we had at least a 5lb bike advantage). We also dutifully ignored the fact that our bike was only one of three totally handbuilt prototype bikes made (making it almost certainly the most expensive frame we’ve ever ridden) and stuffed it as hard as we could through every rock run and corner available. To its credit we only crashed once, but it doesn’t half go a long way once it’s in the air…

As for the weather, if we told you they were using snowploughs to try and stop the stormwash off the mountains from flooding the hotel you’d probably get the picture.

For those who haven’t being paying attention to Trek’s knitting patterns for the past few years, OCLV stands for Optimum Compaction Low Void. Basically this means the carbon is squashed very hard to get as much of the air out of the resin as possible. As air pockets are the main cause of carbon fibre failures this is a very good thing, and makes the whole material super strong. Rather than some monocoque bikes which are moulded in two halves and then glued together, OCLV bikes use carbon tubes seamlessly glued into big carbon lugs at the seat tube and headtube.

It’s not all techno knitwear though as the downtube and seat tube then bond into an aluminium lower section that carries the bottom bracket, rocker link and shock mounting points. To strengthen the bike further, the downtube is pointed (not slightly rippled) on it’s underside. This helps the thin wall carbon tube survive rock and log strikes which would fold a round tube inwards on itself, and certainly shrugged off the crash testing we gave it. The whole structure is very neatly executed throughout with none of the cartoon bulbous headtubes or overly lumpy junctions that we’ve seen on other bikes, leaving the Fuel looking pleasantly understated for it’s level of technology.

The new mainframe then joins the existing all-carbon rear subframe via a moulded carbon rocker link, with 4mm in the carbon ‘seatstays’ replacing a conventional rear pivot but still giving around 80mm of travel. Like previous Fuels, the short travel system uses bushings rather than cartridge bearings which means a less fluid action but we haven’t heard of any longevity problems so far. The fact that the SID shock is tucked away in the crook of the frame and operates at a very low leverage ratio, should also help to keep seals and other internals happy for longer.

Trek are making no apologies that their top line bike is going to be equipped to full ultra-lightweight race replica standards. You’ll get a carbon crowned SID World Cup fork plugged in the front, and a lockout equipped SID shock at the rear too. This was our first chance to test the full production version of the SID lockout which comes with a very cunning push-button lockout release that works really well for those all too common moments when you realise you’re just heading over the edge but still locked down.

Stop and go kit will be full 2003 XTR (with V’s) and the lightest wheels and cockpit kit from the Bontrager Race Lite and Thomson lines. Even the saddle gets all its excess fat trimmed off to hit a planned sub-23lb weight.

Under pressure from team racers such as World and Commonwealth Games champion Roland Green, Trek have developed the OCLV frame purely to cut weight out of their already proven Fuel bikes. On that level the new bike is a definite success, weighing in around 23lb with current XTR – a weight many race hardtails would be proud of.

As a result it makes a mockery of climbs, where we would cheerfully sit in the pack on long alpine climbs just waiting for some fool to wind the pace up, the Fuel would charge up the hill more like a road bike than a mountain bike.

In the big and middle ring there is very little suspension bob or wallow to get in the way of your pedalling rhythm, but the rear is still supple enough to hold traction even on loose gravel wet rocks and rooty step-ups. Only when you’ve been forced down into the granny ring do you need to spin a smooth stroke to keep things from bouncing. Ripping the bike out of corners and charging through fast-flowing singletrack is an absolute joy, thanks to the immediate responsiveness to pedal or handlebar input.

Trek’s long top tube, short sharp steering stem ‘Pro geometry’ and 80mm of air sprung front and rear suspension delivers very well balanced handling. Even with summer specific Bontrager treads – which would normally have been our last choice in the post storm conditions – corners could be slid and lines flicked between very predictably. In fact we only managed to wipe out once trying to stick too much power into the exit of a big peaty corner and believe us when we say only one crash on a press trip is well below par!

As you’d expect from a bike this light with only shortish travel it tends to skim and skip over stuff rather than plough through it, but the shock absorbing nature of the carbon makes the bike feel smoother the faster you go. As a result we were generally surprised at how well the bike tracked and how little it ricocheted around through big, fast stuff. The low weight and agility also make it simple to flick the bike over serious trouble, but just remember that you’ll have to work that bit harder with your bodyweight to compensate for the lack of mass in the bike.

As with any short travel, lightweight bike, the Fuel 100 is going to appeal most to riders of a competitve nature. However the unfussy design and a very neutral suspension action make it a very easy to bike to live with day-to-day.

There’s no need to develop a special pedalling style, it tracks and steers with an accuracy that belies it’s feathery weight, and thanks to the carbon it lacks the hysterical twanginess and obvious flex that afflicts many very light bikes. Then of course there’s the fact that the lack of mass seems to add two gears worth of power to your legs in practically every situation.

It doesn’t like clouting things head on, but it’s almost certainly the most planted and easy to pilot 23lb bike we’ve ever ridden. Whether you’re into long, multi-day epics or finally changing from a hardtail for the sake of your back/piles this is an excellent high speed mile eater.

Price of the race replica Fuel 100 is a suitably stratospheric £3,399, but the more workaday specced ‘98’ model will use the same frame at £2,299, and there will be a frame only option too (£1499). Deliveries should arrive mid-November, so start saving now.