casicua

First off, I have changed a ton of tires from BMX to MTB to Road - and never have I had such trouble as on my bontrager race wheels. I think the Rim size is a larger diameter than a traditional 700c wheel. It literally took me 15 minutes just to get the bead back on one side. This is the first time doing a tire change on it, and it pisses me off.
After I finally got the tire on I spun it around I noticed some cracks starting to form around the spoke nipples. I have less than 1000 miles on this wheelset- This is just plain annoying. I hope Bontrager will do the right thing and replace these. TO be honest, I liked the wheels when riding on them, and I hope this doesn't become a big issue.

Were the design engineer and quality control person getting it on in the closet while this wheel was being made? Cause they sure as hell weren't there doing their job.
-10 Points, Bontrager.

DigitalRJH

Just asking, but are you sure it is not the tire, instead of the wheel? What tire is it, new, old?

stapfam

Naaa! its Bontrager- Sorry but if it has bontrager on it- It is not good quality and at a very high price.

As you can tell- I do not like Bontarger and my mates have had too many problems with Bontrager wheels to even bother about them. I am the ride mechanic and Bontrager named parts are my bugbear.

atomship47

fwiw, i have some bontrager race tires that i put on my bontrager camino rims. i have the same problem getting the bead to seat properly. its a real pain in the arse.

haven't had any problems with the rims other than, for an atb wheelset, they sure seem to go out of true really easily.

waterrockets 

Rim cracks

Let's take a 100-year-old failed marketing idea (paired spokes) and use that to create a mythical reason to increase spoke tension so we can use fewer spokes and save weight. Then, we can make the rim thicker to account for the higher spoke tensio... oh wait! That would make the wheel normal weight again! No, let's just let normal thickness rims crack when people train on our race wheels because they're OEM spec'd on bikes.

Brilliant!




I'd recommend you milk the warranty, but buy some decent training wheels for the intermittent spots where Bontis are out for service in the coming years.

tfro

This is a common complaint in the reviews at roadbikereview.com for the bontrager wheel sets.

R900

Which wheels? Blanket statements don't cut it. My RaceXLites are excellent, as are most of the Bontrager higher end stuff and Carbon. I used some RaceLites that were a little flexy, but otherwise fine, no experience with Race or Selects.

Psydotek

Hmm, i should check the wheels on my friend's bike. He's got a LeMond with Bontrager wheels and a spoke on the rear wheel just broke last weekend... He's not light either (around 210).

Shemp

Yeah, no problem with my Race X Lites and tire changes. You're really sure it's not the tire?

biker128pedal

Are the cracks only around the rear drive side spokes? I think they needed washers between the nipple and rim since there were no grommets in the rims like the Race lites or Rae X Lites. If they are still under warranty take them back. But you Will have to wait for replacement while they (Bontrager) figures our what to do. There are no replacements at this time.

acorn_user

High price for the UK. The US prices look alright to me. You need to tell your mates to have some pride and stop buying overpriced Treks Now that Raleigh has reintroduced the Team Pro, there is no excuse!

666

And Trek OEMs them on the Madone.

DigitalRJH

I've had race lites and x lite wheels, plus x lite tires on both, never had any issues.

Yeah yea, Bontrager and Trek are crap, that's why the most succesful pro team in the Tour the past eight years has chosen to use their stuff, but what do they know...

baj32161

I have had my Bontrager Selects for going on 3 years and not a single issue. I was looking to get a new wheelset but as long as these are going strong I see no reason to. I am no racer, just a recreational rider and they have been good to me so far.

Cheers,

Brian

bigd

I have had 1 set of Bont Race and 2 sets Race Lites over the last 25000km. In all cases cracks developed around the spoke nipples on the rear wheel. Being that I weigh 230 lbs, I questioned both the LBS owner and the Trek Rep weather or not if I was to heavy for the wheel. They said that weight had nothing to do with it and that I had defective rims. Each instance they promptly gave me new wheel sets. The solution was a mavic open pro wheel build which also did not cost me a cent. I think that Bontrager, Trek and my LBS did a great job handling my warantee issues.

As far as the tires go, I have never had any issues fitting the tires and the tires seem to last a reasonable 8000km or so which is't bad for the price.

Chicocreole

bontrager wheels and tires both have been great love em last a long time

waterrockets 

another cyclist gets huffy

Paired spoking is a dumb design. It's not a durability issue in the timeframe of a race, when you have a truck full of wheels. Note that the team didn't train on paired spoke wheels.

spunky

Actually, if you read this: https://rolfprima.com/tech/paired_spoke/index.html, you'll see that what you're saying isn't necessarily true. I race and train on my Rolfs and have had far fewer problems than with traditional wheels. And I've talked with mechanics that agree that many of the newer wheelsets are more durable than traditional wheels.

***Butch***

bontrager blows. seriously.

clutchy

my spokes pulled through the rear rim...

waterrockets 

The patent on that page is for an angled (conical) hub flange that Rolf doesn't even make. They claim the patent is for paired spokes, but due to prior art from 100 years ago, the patent has to make at least one claim that is an actual invention (conical flanges). That's enough to get the patent, and since it mentions paired spokes, they can market paired spokes as their patent.

Rolf has technology that makes sense (different sized flanges, for example), but they stick with the paired spoking for brand recognition. People like the wheels for their looks, but the paired spoking is not a good structural design.

If you want to group spokes together in a way that makes sense, Campy/Fulcrum triple rears are engineering genius. The DS/NDS tensions are equalized, and the unspoked spans of rim are shorter.

Turboem1

I have bontrager SSR wheels with the select tires. Tire changes are super easy and no problems with the rims yet and I think its the cheapest model they have.

dirtypete

my bontrager carbon seat post snapped the other day, clean through - i'm 190lbs, not too heavy - luckily i managed to save my arse from the jagged leftovers of the post! i shudder to think... anyway, bontrager - not gonna say everything they do is crap, but seems many people have criticisms...

(btw the seatpost thing ever happen to anyone else?)

giantcfr1

I use bontrager race lites on my commuter. They are the flexiest wheel I've ever used and I'm only 59kg. I agree with the OP, they are crappy when trying to mount tyres.
I have had to resort to metal levers after snapping three plastic levers.

When it's time to replace them, I'll be looking elsewhere.

biker128pedal

My standard 32 spoke wheels have all paired spokes on each side. Just more of them.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/wheelbuild.html