Originally Posted by
DubT
I will be getting a set of the Bontrager Tandem Wheels for our new tandem. I am gathering parts and will place our order for a new Calfee Tandem late summer/early fall.
Bontragers have proven to be pretty durable from all first hand user accounts. On those occassions where original owners had problems with them, Trek/Bontrager has replaced them from their warranty stock.
All that said, I guess I'd really be interested in knowing what you find attractive about the Bontragers vs. going with a lighter-weight, conventional wheelset or is it purely the allure of getting the racy-looking wheels for about 1/2 the cost of Rolfs and other similar go-fast wheels?
As others have noted, the Bontragers are not a lightweight wheelset, tipping the scales at 2,245, about 3/4 of lb heavier than Rolf's or the ligher-weight 36h conventional wheels built up with White Ind hubs + Velocity Fusion rims.
While original owners have always received good support from Trek/Bontrager when warranty issues came up, these wheels have been out of production for some time now so it might be instructional to find out how Trek/Bontrager are satisfying warranty issues, i.e., do they still have warranty stock?
I know I sound like a broken record on this, but I'm still hard-pressed to come up with a good reason for fitting anything other than a quality set of hand-built conventional wheels as the primary wheelset for a tandem. If you have some mad-money sitting around and would like to throw on a set of go-fast wheels, go for it. But, even then, make sure you're really getting go-fast wheels that will deliver the most bang for your buck in terms of what type of performance advantage over conventional wheels you're looking to leverage from those go-fast wheels. Note that I use the term go-fast as a generic term for wheels that are marketed as being more efficient in some way as compared to conventional wheels.
Yes, you will catch us riding on our Topolino wheels this year after riding our conventional wheels exclusively since Oct '09. However, it's only because:
a. I bought them on a lark to satisfy some curiosities (cost wasn't a major consideration, which is why we also own a set of Rolf's that we don't use very much),
b. I've finally got around to buying a 5.5mm nipple driver so I could true them after they went out of true back in Oct '09,
c. I'm interested in seeing how they'll hold up for an entire season of our use (they're beyond warranty at this point), and
d. they look good on the Calfee.
Beyond that, and similar to the Rolf's, they don't have any magical powers that lift our performance and the Calfee does such a nice job of delivering a plush ride that the vibration dampening characteristics of the Topolino's is lost... although they do a great job of plushing up the ride qualities of our steel Erickson tandem.
Anyway, just something to think about. Again, we know a lot of folks who ride the Bontrager wheels who have never had a lick of trouble and really enjoy the way they look and perform. Those who have had issues with them in the past seemed to be able to get taken care of by Trek / Bontrager either directly or via their tandem dealer. So, I'm confident they will work just fine and look nice... but the question remains, is that your best option for what you're trying to achieve?