Beachgrad05

I have been riding quite a bit this year so far. I got my Trek Madone 4.5 last June in a crash replacement after damaging my first bike (3.1 Madone). I have put 3400 miles on the 4.5 since its first ride on 6/9/12 as of yesterday (6/18). My hubs were starting to make noise and showing wear. Was told I could rebuild hub for $ or when they fail...new thru Red Shield. Well, being currently unemployed...I went the wait til they fail route.

I rode in the Great Western Bike Rally metric in late May...popped a spoke on rear wheel.

My LBS replaced spoke and re-tensioned spokes and other than hub getting steadily worse...things seemed ok. So Sat 6/15 I rode to Vntgdrms shop (The Unlikely Cyclist) to help out with SAG stop she was hosting. I got home from the 48 mile ride and was sitting at my computer when I heard a loud "TWANG" ... And thought to myself "that sounded like a spoke!" So I looked at wheels but didn't see or feel one being broken...tho I was feeling near the rim (which is where the spoke broke on the GWBR ride). So now I'm puzzled.

No ride Sunday...legs were tired from my Sat ride where I achieved 16.1 mph avg for the nearly 48 mile ride which was .5 mph better than previous best!

Best avg on my ride to shop:
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/328286008

Previous best:
https://connect.garmin.com/activity/279041375

Monday no ride as had dental emergency to deal with (cap came off of a front tooth )

So yesterday I saddle up and head to the shop as I want to get as many miles in as I possibly can before I leave for Seattle area on Friday and can't ride for 6 days when I rolled bike out to leave I noted rear wheel seemed out of true. Vntgdrms has a truing stand so figured have her check it out.

Get to shop and avg speed to shop was about 13.7 or so. Not very fast but there was some wind and was not trying to kill myself trying to push on a not so true wheel. Vntgdrms gets wheel on stand and we discover the spoke that broke...it broke at the hub rather than wheel. So figured I'd ride it home "as is" considering I rode 40 miles on it with broken spoke at GWBR and take bike to my Trek LBS for Red Shield work.

This is when the hub issues really made themselves apparent. Wheel just didn't want to roll...

So Vntgdrms took my tire, tube and cassette and put them on a wheel she had in shop that she used on trainer. So left my rear wheel there and rode home on the loaner. Ride home I was faster and raised the avg for the ride to 14.9 mph"...

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/329968182

So drove down today to get my wheel, give Vntgdrms back her wheel...and put the wheels from my crashed 3.1 on the 4.5 after swapping the cassette (3.1 had SRAM Apex and 4.5 has Shimano 105 and cassettes were not same - 3.1 had 11-32 and 4.5 has 12-30).

After all that drove back to my area to go to Trek LBS and let the Red Shield take it from there.

So am upgrading from plain Bontrager "approved" alloy wheels to Bontrager Race TLR wheels.
https://bontrager.com/model/11063

I paid $138 for Red Shield...these wheels are $550 for set and I get them at no cost. They may not be fancy wheels but I don't care....for now all I care about is being able to continue riding. Maybe someday I can get fancy wheels once employed again.

bbeasley

Glad that worked out for you. I've got a Trek 2.3 that came with the upgraded Bontrager race wheels. I've put ~6500 miles on them and they've never been touched with a spoke wrench. I've gone from 252 to 193 so they've seen some weight.

I bet you're glad you went with the Stages instead of a hub based PM, it would have been just that much more hassle. Please keep us updated on your Stages. I read DCR's latest review and it sounds like the smart choice now.

bigfred 

I think you should sell the new wheels. Take that cash, buy the components and build your own. They'll last better than any factory built wheels and you'll gain a whole bunch of knowledge about your wheels, how they work and how to maintain them.

I suspect Beanz would agree with this approach.

Beachgrad05

This may be the right approach for you (or even Beanz) but not mine. I have zero desire to build my own wheels at this point. I have coverage on the parts on my bike for another two years. If these new wheels wear out...I will use the Red Shield for new ones.

In a few years as I gain experience wrenching on my bike etc I may delve into building a wheel but honestly I would not trust any wheels I built to ride them down GMR at speed at this point...rather have something I can trust to a degree.