obie

Crack & chunk missing on face near spoke. 5 month old wheel. Warranty is 5 yrs.

E-mailed picture of rim to LBS (70 mi. down the freeway from me).

They reply: don't ride wheel, bring in to shop and they'll start the warranty process w. manuf.(Bontrager).

My question: is it unreasonable for me to ask the LBS to replace the wheel same day I bring the cracked one to them? I'm trying to save myself a second trip down the pike to p/u the new wheel.

EatMyA**

not if you buy it. You know, just in case it happens again

Bob Dopolina 

In many instances the LBS is not authorized to determine what is a warranty and what isn't. Their role is to facilitate the process.

This means they act as shippers and pass on your info the the manufacturer and the manufacturers response to you. In many cases the LBS gets stuck in the middle and, even though they feel it may be a warranty, they have to be the ones to pass on the bad news and face the customer's wrath.

When I worked in retail this was my least favourite thing to do. Even if a warranty was given it rarely happened fast enough for the customer.

I would contact your LBS and work out as many details as possible before making the first trip. Just don't get angry when they tell you there's not much they can do until they either see the wheel or send it back to Trek.

Good luck.

Pictures?

ridethecliche

They might be able to sell you an equivalent wheel and credit you back when the replacement comes in. So they'll keep the new one of the same wheel, and you can have what they have if they have one. Maybe they'll do this?

carlfreddy

They won't do that.

Mr. Beanz

I don't think you need to go to the same dealer that sold the bike if it's a Lemond warranty issue. When my Lemond frame broke, they said I colud take it to any authorized Lemond dealer. Pretty sure Trek is handling the Lemond issues now. Either way, Bonti is Trek's equipment.

Email Trek, find out. That's what I did!

Frunkin

Bring the wheel in, they will let their rep take a look at it to determine if it really is warranty-able.
A good shop should set you up with a loaner wheel while yours is in the warranty process.

obie

Now here's a good idea.

Thanks Fred!

urbanknight

My friend's shop loaned him a wheel while his was being repaired. See if your shop has a loaner.

Psimet2001 

+1 - many shops will have a loaner wheel you can use in the interim. Not a definite, but many do.

BTW - this is a service they provide. They don't have to. Thank them for it.

robdac

What model of Bonti wheel is it?

I've now gone thru 4 Bonti Race wheels due to the rim crack issue. I live about 45 minutes from the bike shop. They have always just swapped the wheels no charge while I waited if I call ahead.

Last time they upgraded me to the "new imporved" 2008 rim which was supposed to fix the problem. It did, for about 800 miles! My bike is currently in the shop with the 5th cracked wheel and this time I'm paying the difference to upgrade to the Race Lite. If this doesn't fix the problem, the shop says it will but I have serious doubts, I'm done with Bontrager wheels forever.

If you're a clyde or able to poduce any significant amount of power do not buy/use these wheels. I'm surprised somebody hasn't taken a serious fall due to a wheel failure and sued the pants off Trek.

Given that it's well known by Trek/Lemond that these wheels are literaly crap you should expect that they will swap it out while you wait for free with no questions. I think they should even buy the wheels back for full MSRP so you can go buy a descent set.

snoboard2

if they keep cracking, why do you keep riding them?

If it happened twice, i'd be riding open pros the next week. 12k+ miles with some racing and lots of training and some serious bunny hopping and I've trued them once since i've owned them.

I've never owned any bonty stuff, but from what I hear, I never will.

rule

You might get a loaner if you ask for one. My LBS didn't offer until I did, but had no problem fixing me up until my wheel came back.

riversiderider

I just experienced the same problem with Bontrager Select wheels, both front and back, that came on my 2006 LeMond Versailles.

I took it to the closest LBS, not where I had bought the bike, and since they were an authorized Bontrager dealer they took care of the warranty.

The LBS had to send the wheels back to Bontrager and I had to wait 2 weeks for new wheels.

My LBS was willing to loan wheels to me but I was ready to upgrade anyway so I just bought a new pair.

Ride safe.

robdac

Basically because I'm an IDIOT and a sucker for a story. Here's the story as told by the bike shop which by the way I'm very happy with except for this issue.

Rim #1 "Huh.. I've never seen that before..."
Rim #2 "We've seen this before with "big" guys but the new rim design for '08 fixed the problem we'll give you a call when we get a set in. In the meantime here's another set."
Rim #3 No problems with rim #3 but at 500 miles it was replaced at no charge for an "upgraded" race '08 rim
Rim #4 "Here, try another this time we'll replace both the front and back this must have just been a bad one"
Rim #5 "If you upgrade to the Race Lite it has reinforced spoke holes and this will stop the problem"

I'm never purposely been hard on these wheel. In fact, I baby them because I know I'm big and they're weak. I'm very careful to avoid anything on the road, I never ride them over curbs, I always slow to a walk over RR tracks etc. But I'm 6'3" and weight 210 and I'm not afraid to climb up fairly steep hills out of the saddle on a standard double chainring setup.

If Bontrager doesn't want to build a wheel for clydes that's fine but the bike shop and Bontrager should have told me up front that the wheel wasn't suitable for larger riders. I would have understood and bought something more suitable. In fact, as a newbie, I took one look at the wheels when I bought my bike and asked several questions about how they would hold up for a guy of my "girth". My answer was ... "no problem."

I have a feeling I'll be riding hand built 32 hole CXP's by spring but if Bontrager won't buy these wheels back I'll keep going through rims until I get my pound of flesh! Honestly, if the bike shop was only 15 minutes away I 'd go through a rim a month without abusing a single one.


To the OP, my sincere apology for sidetracking your thread. Many folks have had problems with this wheel and you should have no problem getting an immediate replacement from any descent bike shop.

noisebeam

My LBS replaced (twice) rear Bontrager Select wheels on a Lemond bike under Trek/Lemond warranty without any wait (other than 1 day shop time wait). Perhaps a crack propagating from the spoke nipple hole was clear enough to the LBS to be a warranty issue without having to confirm with Trek.

Al

jccaclimber

If the LBS has the same wheel in stock they may be willing to swap it out for you, especially if you mention the 70 mile drive. If they don't have one then they may have to bring you back in a couple of days. Honestly though, given the price of gas it might be worth your while to pay them to mail the new wheel to you when it comes in and have you throw it on your bike.

carlfreddy

Words of wisdom when dealing with a situation like this; you catch more bees with honey.

Despite the fact that the warranty claim is to be processed by the manufacturer, the LBS has to file the claim. If you bust in the shop all "I want this! I want that! This is bull****!" that same attitude will be noted during the warranty process, and your claim will probably get shuffled to the bottom of the queue. I can personally vouch for the fact that the Trek warranty claims processors job sucks ass, and if they get any hint of attitude they just say "piss off!" and will process the claim whenever they get to it.

That said, we've never had a warranty claim refused (this doesn't take into account the countless mountain bikes we've had come in that are clearly victims of crash damage whose owners claim they were JRA and boom! their bikes detonated).

Mr. Beanz

That's a good point. I di have one shop swap aout a bad BB. I was thinking he had to ok it with the mfgr first, he said it was definitely a warranty issue and swapped it on the spot.

If I were Obie, I'd call a few local shops, explain the situation. One might be willing to swap a wheel before getting the ok. Usually the shop guys know if the Trek rep is going to say yes or no!

Cyclist01012

Most times they don't have to even send the wheel in.

My LBS calls Trek talks to whoever they get in the warranty dept. The person in the warranty dept says "send us some pics of it" LBS wrench snaps so pics emails them. Trek person says "yep bad wheel and sends out a new one.

Wheel arrives in about 5 days.

Now for all of you people out there who are bashing Bontrager wheels (you know who you are) I need a front select. No its not a warranty issue, but an issue of sticking it in between a set of rail road tracks. SO I know you wont be cought dear rideing them so you can just send them to me and I will save you the shame of using a factory wheel.

BHBiker

Maybe the assembly line in Taiwan or China for Bontragger have got a problem with QC if there are too many problems with their wheels.....

Bob Dopolina 

This isn't a QC issue. This is a design issue.

This problem is an American one, not a Chinese or Taiwanese one. Nice try.

Val23708

lesson - stay away from bonti.

Avalanche325

Demand a loaner wheel, gas money, lunch, and 15 minutes in the back room with the pretty girl that works behind the counter. This is America. You have rights!

biker128pedal

I had the rim crack around every rear wheel drive on a Bonti Race wheel. This happened after my 30 day tune up. The rear spokes were loose so the shop tightened them.

Well other than it took 4 weeks to get the replacement I had no issues. So be patient.

Anyway to get to my point. I think it is a poor design and the wheel was over tensioned. I bought a spoke tension meter (Park) and measured the new wheel before I road it. It does go out every 500 or so miles when I hammer a big gear standing but then I just bring it back in true. I'll ride them until they wear out then upgrade. They have over 5,000 miles on them. Nothing outstanding.