Bicycle Mechanics - Bontrager rim cracks - glad I caught them

I'm off the bikes for a few days - dog bite of all things - while I heal. I took advantage of the down time to really clean up my 7500FX which I'm using as commuter. About 7000mi. Virtually all of the drive side spoke holes in the rear rim showed a crack on both sides of the spoke hole, extending anywhere from .5 to .7in from the hole on either side, along the long axis of the rim (parallel to sides).

I'm pretty careful about riding, don't ride sidewalks so no curb jumping, good roads, no potholes. I've contacted Bontrager and the LBS, will take the wheel the to LBS, hopefully will be replaced under warranty although I'm not sure I want another Bontrager paired spoke wheel. No spoke ferrules on the Select, not sure from the online pics if the higher level ones have them. I may just try to negotiate part of the cost or spring for it myself a wheel built up with a Deore LX 36h hub and a Mavic rim of some stripe.

2.5 years old/Bontrager warrants wheels for 5 years.

Oh well, I'll be very attentive to the wheels. Nice thing about the silver Ventos on the Bianchi is I think any cracks would show very quickly/obviously in the lighter service.

Ride safely.

Bill

Trek (Bontrager is a Trek house brand) wheels have a history of rim cracks in my experience. I'm familiar with two OEM Trek "Matrix" rims that cracked on late '90's Kleins (also a Trek house brand) just the way you describe. I ascribed these failures to excessive spoke tension.

In my experience, there are very few OEM rims that aren't going to be cracked like this after 7K commuter miles. I'd view it as normal wear/tear although it is great Trek is going to cover it.

- Mark

In my experience, there are very few OEM rims that aren't going to be cracked like this after 7K commuter miles. I'd view it as normal wear/tear although it is great Trek is going to cover it.

- Mark

I'm hoping they'll warranty it. LBS is 45mi away (closest bike shop BTW) from Murray, I've got to find time to take the wheel to them.

FWIW, I have > 10,000 mi on my Campy Ventos, (ferruled spokes) and zip issues (and 150g lighter to boot), similar price to the Selects, too. Unfortunately, not available, as best I can tell with Shimano compat. hub. Issue with O.L.D, too, being different.

Selects aren't Bontragers entry leve OEM wheelset, either, same wheelset was included on several nice road bikes, including the 1500, 1600, and I think one of the 2000 series. That was a selling point on the 7500FX v. 7300 with an Alex wheelset

My commute is 2mi one way on suburban streets. I did use the bike as a flat bar road bike to get into shape, managed to drop from 235 to 165 in 12mos year before last. Still, ridden almost entirely on hot mix asphalt or concrete roads, no curb jumping (first question the LBS tech asked) and very little chip and seal pavement. Never crashed or dropped.

The lack of reinforcing ferrules seems a bit of a cheap decision, IMHO.

Oh well, if it's not warranted, I've spotted several Nexave or Deore XX hub/Mavic rim wheelsets. I'll go 36h if it's on my nickel.

Bill

LBS (Bikeworld of Paducah, KY) called, replacement is on the way under warranty. That's good service.

Bill

I just sent my bike to the shop for the same reason - my Bontrager select disc rear wheel was cracking around the spokes. The mech at the LBS re-iterated the lack of eyelets contributes to the problem, and he had seen plenty of these wheels come back. He happily warrantied them for me - hopefully the new set will last a little longer - enough for me to save up to buy some Phil hubs and Velocity rims.

you only reckon a lifespan of 7,000 commuter miles for wheels?

i have just replaced the rims on my commuter after 23 years, so that's at least 160-200,000 km and they show no signs of damage around any eyelet or valve hole or even the seam (pinned and welded, 36H Ambrosio box section clinchers from 1984). the reason they are finally getting replaced is that the braking surface has worn too thin, and i don't want to pop the side off a rim. still more than 0.6 mm thick at the thinnest part, though. replaced with another set of Ambrosio Montreals.


low spoke wheels are just not as strong, and they can't handle the stresses they need to. I have seen too many problems with Bontrager wheels to ever buy a pair. Now, Phil hubs on aerohead rims is a much better idea.

The earliest rim failure I've ever experienced was with a Mavic Open 4CD (the predecessor rim to the Open Pro) that failed by cracking through the brake track at 12,000 miles. I've had Mavic CXP-33 rims (no eyelets) last 25,000 miles before being voluntarily retired when I thought the brake track was getting a bit thin for reliability. I even had a '92 vintage Trek Matrix rim last almost 20,000 miles before the brake track cracked. So, all of my rim failures have been due to abrasive wear, not spoke hole fatigue.

The spoke hole failures I reported above were with Trek Matrix rims but newer (late 90's) ones that actually had eyelets so eyelets alone aren't a guarantee of durability.

People drive cars for 500K miles too, but that doesn't mean it's typical.

If there is any wear item on a bicycle that is wildly variable due to literally tens of factors (roads, weight, spoke tension, # of spokes, wheel maintenance, eyelets or not, mfg, alloy, riding style, weather, etc. etc. etc.) it is rim life. My point was that once you've got 7K miles out of set in a commuter role, you're probably doing Okay - that doesn't mean you don't hope for more, but alum is alum and any alum part put under cyclic stress eventually fails.

If the mfg warranties it, all the better.

- Mark

I noticed cracks in my bontrager race light wheel coming from the eyelettes on several spokes, just as you decribe. I took it back into the shop where I bought the bike today and they're sending it back to Trek for me. They're small, hairline cracks really, but I'm all about preventative maintenance. Now all I have to do is sit around in agony waiting for the new wheel to show up so I can ride again.

I had these rims, or some variant thereof, on my Trek 520 from a few years back. I had the whole rear rim crack to hell after barely a few hundred km on the damn thing....and it was spec'd to be a touring bike. Trek covered a new rim for me, but I had to pay for labour. At a Swiss bike shop. Ridiculous....one of the many reasons I won't buy a 520, or any mass-produced touring velo again.

7000 miles is pretty good for a commuting bike. I braked much of the way through my first set in about 4000 miles. They were still true as well. I replaced them with Mavic 319s married to Deore hubs with DT spokes, and they have been excellent. One got stolen, so I am actually using Vuelta Typhoons on Shimano RM-40. The hubs are good, but the wheel build was lousy.

The spoke hole failures I reported above were with Trek Matrix rims but newer (late 90's) ones that actually had eyelets so eyelets alone aren't a guarantee of durability.

Eyelets don't tell you anything about the rim, at all.

Why is it you never read about these things beforehand..... I just bought a set of Bontrager race wheels off Ebay. One was new, probably warrantied and he sold the set to get rid of them. oh well just keep my eye on them. Will they warrant them for the second owner?

Will they warrant them for the second owner?
Probably not. Trek's "lifetime" warranty on their bike frames is limited to the original owner and you better be able to prove you bought it new and from where.

Selects aren't Bontragers entry level OEM wheelset

Bontrager Selects are Bontrager's lowest entry level wheelset. The rim cracking problem seems to be the worst with the Selects and gets progressively less frequent as you move up the line imho. They all have an industry leading five year warranty though---for original purchasers.

http://store.trekbikes.com/shopping/browse/directorymain.jsp?ruleID=3&itemID=457&itemType=CATEGORY&bShopOnline=1&path=1%2C2%2C442%2C457&itemType=CATEGORY&itemID=457&path=1%2C2%2C442%2C457&bShopOnline=1&viewXviewAll=18


I'm familiar with two OEM Trek "Matrix" rims that cracked on late '90's Kleins (also a Trek house brand) just the way you describe.

I always heard the opposite about the durability of 32 hole Matrix Aurora rims found on late nineties Kleins, and I am still running an eleven year old set on an old Klein bike today. I have never heard anything good about Bontrager Selects, but I have had good luck with Bontrager Race X Lite wheels. I only weigh about 150 pounds though.