A few years ago Trek gave their design team free reign when it came to tire and wheel size, just to see what kind of concepts and gains they could find at the far end of the spectrum. The fact that tires weren't yet really available wasn't a big deal to them - they own Bontrager, after all. What they came up with has served them well, and over the past few years they've seen lots of growth in the fat bike realm.
Then, inspired by the leap from rigid to front suspension and the performance/stability gains that provided a fat bike, Trek began experimenting with full suspension designs. Today they introduced the Farley EX. "With a full suspension bike we can bring some rebound control to the fat bike," said Travis Brown, the head of Trek's test program. That added control makes it more usable year round, broadening its capability, and Trek noted it excels in super loose, gravely terrain.
Two bikes will be available initially - the carbon Farley EX 9.8, and the aluminum Farley EX 8. They use 27.5-inch Bontrager Wampa wheels with a 83mm internal width. Several tech features carry over tech from Trek's current full suspension bikes, including RE:aktiv, EVO link, Full Floater suspension, ABP, tubeless tires, etc.
