Trek has released its newest version of the Farley fat bike, featuring an all-new carbon fork, multiple mounting points for cargo capacity and slightly refreshed geometry.
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Farley is a legend in fat bike circles, offering great trail tackling capability, a whopping 26×5.0in tyre clearance and now, also tons of cargo-carrying capacity.
The all-new Farley incorporates an offset carbon fork that’s designed to save weight, improve handling, and provide extra real estate for mounting a custom rack or cargo cages. When paired with extra fat 27.5-inch x 4.5in tires, Trek says the Farley “claws through loose terrain with tons of grip and stability”.
Trek has not only updated the componentry but also tweaked Farley’s geometry to have one degree steeper seat tube angle, a half-a-degree slacker head tube angle, a 9mm shorter fork offset and a 20mm longer reach compared to the outgoing models.
The 2023 Farley comes in four different configurations, the Farley 9, Farley 9.6, Farley 7 and Farley 5 – although only the 9 and 5 are available in the UK. All of the Farleys come with SUNRingle Mulefut 80 SL rims with 32 spokes, Bontrager hubs, tyres and saddles.
Let’s take a closer look at what each model offers.
Trek Farley 9.6
Starting off with the only carbon-framed Farley model, the Farley 9.6 is a carry-forward model from last season. It doesn’t have the added mounts of the aluminium frames, which Trek says is because it was easier to make the changes to the alloy frames. The 9.6 still has the new fork with the front rack, mudguard, and fork leg mounts, though.
The 9.6 is made of Trek’s patented OCLV Mountain Carbon and the frame features a tapered head tube, internal derailleur & dropper post routing and 197x12mm adjustable horizontal sliding dropouts. The 9.6 runs with a 12-speed Sram Eagle GX groupset and retails for £3,525.
Trek Farley 9
Trek says the Farley 9 is a fully kitted “bikepacking adventure beast”. It has an Alpha Platinum aluminium frame, tapered head tube and mounts, so many mounts, including top tube bag mounts, strapless full frame bag mounts, downtube mudguard mount, lower downtube accessory mount and seat stay rear rack mounts. There is also an internal rear derailleur and dropper post routing, threaded bottom bracket and universal derailleur hanger (UDH) on this bike.
The groupset is a mix of SRAM, with GX Eagle shifters and rear derailleur and SRAM X1 1000 Eagle cranks. The Farley 9 is not available in the UK but retails for $3,999 across the pond.
Trek Farley 7 and 5
The Farley 7 is also not available for the UK markets, so without getting too much into the details, what sets it apart is the 80mm Manitou Mastodon suspension fork.
Moving on to Farley 5 – Trek says this is “the starting point for building the dream adventure rig”. The Farley 5 features a dropper seat post and the same, copious mounting points as the 9. Shifting is handled by a 10-speed Microshift system, and brakes are Sram’s hydraulic disc brakes. The Farley 5 retails for £2,130.
The new Farley models will be available starting in mid-March 2023 – although, as said above, it looks like only the 9.6 and 5 are available in the UK. For full details, check Trek’s website.
