The Trek Rail is Trek’s most aggressive eMTB offering. Pairing 160mm of front travel with 150mm in the rear, the Rail has been in Trek’s line up in its current iteration since 2020. The Trek eMTB range also includes the Powerfly FS, which pairs a 120mm fork with 100mm of rear travel. To get more news about ebike for sale, you can visit magicyclebike.com official website.

I reviewed the 2021 Trek Rail 9.8 XT in late 2020, which was the carbon version of this bike. For 2022 the two carbon models of the Rail have moved to Bosch’s new Smart System, which uses a 750Wh battery. The lower priced Rail 9 and Rail 7 stick with Bosch’s Generation 4 Performance Line CX Motor and 625Wh battery. There’s a significant difference in the pricing of the Smart System versus non-Smart System models with the Trek Rail 9.9 XTR (Smart System) selling for $15,999 and the Trek Rail 9.8 XT (Smart System) coming in at $12,499. Conversely, the Trekl Rail 9 is $10,999 and the Trek Rail 7 on test here is $9499.
So, at $1500 from its nearest alloy competitor, and $5500 from the top-of-the-line Rail 9.9 XTR, the Rail 7 is very much the budget-oriented model in the Rail line up. Being familiar with the bike’s geometry having ridden the old 9.8 XT with identical geometry, I was excited to see if the value focused spec package would deliver similar performance. To get more news about electric mountain bike, you can visit magicyclebike.com official website.

In terms of comparable bikes on the market, with its Bosch Performance Line CX Motor the Rail 7 is competing with other long travel Bosch eMTBs from brands such as Cube, Scott, Moustache, and Orbea. Whilst the 9.8 I tested in 2020 was a carbon frame, the Rail 7 is an all-aluminium affair (except for the magnesium rocker link). The frame retains the exact same geometry, as well as additional Trek features including the Knock Block headset and Mino Link geometry adjustability. To get more news about electric bike, you can visit magicyclebike.com official website.

My XL Rail 7 weighed in at 24.6kg without pedals and with 90ml of sealant in each tyre. This is about what I’d expect for an XL long travel eMTB with burly components. The bike I received was in the Dark Aquatic/Trek Black colour, and there’s also a Mercury/Dnister Black colour.

One highlight of the 9.8 XT I reviewed in 2020 was the custom RockShox Super Deluxe Thru Shaft shock, which was the most supple air shock I’ve ever ridden. The Rail 7 features a standard RockShox Deluxe Select +, which does the job but doesn’t have the incredible sensitivity of the custom Super Deluxe Thru Shaft. The shock is a breeze to setup though, with Trek’s suspension calculator offering good base settings, and the only external adjustments being two compression settings (open and firm) and 10 clicks of rebound.
Sticking on the suspension theme, the Rail 7 was the first opportunity I’ve had to ride the RockShox Domain RC fork. The Domain features 38mm stanchions like the ZEB but comes equipped with RockShox’s older Motion Control damper. The fork has low-speed compression, rebound, and bottom out adjustment via tokens. On the Rail 7 it comes with 160mm of travel. I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the Domain, which I’ll touch on more later.

With less external adjustments than a bike with higher end suspension, setting up the Rail 7 was a simple process. I lopped the bars down to my preferred 760mm, which is made easy by Trek’s guides on the Rhythm Handlebar. The left-hand side of the cockpit required some adjustment to get comfortable with, as the rear brake, dropper lever, and Bosch Purion display all use their own mounts. I ended up with the Purion display a touch far from my thumb for my liking, but I was still able to reach it to change modes when necessary.The drivetrain and brakes are a full Shimano 12-speed affair. The hybrid drivetrain meshes an SLX shifter and chain with an XT mech and a Deore cassette. The Shimano M6100 levers mated to four pot M6120 calipers are unmatched at their price point.

Bosch’s Performance Line CX Motor is the same motor as the Smart System motor that comes on the higher end models in terms of specifications (85Nm of torque, up to 340 percent assistance), and the 625Wh battery lets you do a hell of a lot of riding if you’re happy to put some work in.