JimF22003

I've had a new Trek Madone 5.5 for about two weeks now, and I'm pretty happy with it overall. Except I've had a bad experience with the rear wheel, a Bontrager Racelite.

I was heading out the door for a planned century ride, when I hear a "twanging" noise from the rear wheel. One of the spokes was completely loose. I tightened the spoke and gave the wheel a spin, but I forgot to note which spoke I tightened. The wheel was way out of true, and I didn't feel confident enough to try to get it straightened out myself, so I missed the century ride, and took the bike back to the LBS the next day.

Today, it happened again. I had a very nice ride at the Gettysburg Battlefield Park, but heard that "twang" again, and had another loose spoke, and only got in about 25 miles. I stopped by the shop again, and they were able to fix it despite a very busy Saturday afternoon. This time the guy said he tightened all the spokes, not just the loose one. (I'm not sure why they didn't do this the first time...)

They said they had been experiencing this a lot with Trek machine-built wheels. It's kind of a drag to have to keep missing rides, or cutting them short, over such a seemingly simple thing. Sounds like Trek needs to improve their quality control.

operator

Sounds more like your LBS was incompetent the first time around with the loose spoke. The LBS should've checked the tension on your wheel before it went out the door.

Want a permanent solution? Learn how to true the wheel yourself and buy a truing stand/tensionmter. How much do you weigh?

koine2002

I actually so this on a display bike in a LBS. I was looking at bikes and spun a wheel and noticed it way out of true. As a wheel builder, I naturally looked at the spokes and noticed one so loose I could spin the nipple by hand. This was on a radially laced front wheel mind you. I pointed it out to the salesman and he mumbled something and took the bike back to the shop. That's a problem with machine built wheels--they don't take into account spoke twist.

doctortalk121

BONT wheels SUCK! take it back and tell them to give you a new one.

operator

I fail to see how not accounting for spoke twist leaves one spoke with zero tension. As a display bike (e.g not going to be ridden), it wouldn't really matter that nothing was adjusted properly.

waterrockets 

When the spokes untwist (ping on first ride), the whole wheel is left under tension. Then you hit a couple bumps, locally slacking spokes, allowing the nipples to turn loose. Then you have a loose wheel.

R900

Not sure about RaceLites, but RaceXLites are great wheels. Sounds like you LBS needs a new wheel guy.

2592

Same thing happened to me. After having my LBS tighten the spoke twice, they added a spoke thead lock stuff on the third time. Haven't a problem since. Wheels are RaceXLites.

zac

Yeah right, no they don't, Bonty's are a pretty decent wheel. But as with anything there are going to be problems, and those are the ones you hear about.

To me it sounds like your LBS's wheelperson is not doing his due diligence. On a high end bike like that, those wheels should have been checked before going out the door. The first time you brought them back, they should have been (both of them) checked for tension and trued as necessary. There is no excuse for not doing this. Heck most LBS have a first 30 day free adjustment tune up. The wheels should have been done as part of this proceedure.

koine2002

I just had to say something about spoke twist. I know that spoke twist won't cause zero tension on one or more spokes. I was using a literary device called hyperbole (overstating my case). Anyway, I know that a display bike might not be ridden, but still, it's supposed to be a model of what the customer is going to get, and I wouldn't touch that model if I saw something like that. I saw that, and that told me that the wheel I might get on that model might be of that poor of workmanship from the factory. What else would be poorly done? Customer view (what the customer sees--organization, display quality, stock volume, etc.) is as much a part of customer focus as is being friendly, return policy, etc. The extremely successful hot caffeinated drink company I work for has this philosophy..

JimF22003

Yeah, I know. In highschool (mid-70's) I had a Campagnolo-equipped bike I could tear down and rebuild myself with no fear. I need to get back into getting my mechanics skills up-to-date. Maybe over the winter.

I'm about 170, hoping to lose another 15 maybe.

operator

I'm with you 100% on this.

stapfam

For the quality they are supposed to Be- I have never found a Bontarger Branded item that I would ever buy. Mediocre quality at High prices. And I do not have Bontrager anything- but Unfortunately- I am the mechanic for my group And they do have a fair amount of it on their Treks.

But as you have the wheels- Get them to a Good wheelbuilder- get him to loosen all the spokes and retension the wheel. Machine built wheels are not the best around but after they have been tweaked by a wheel builder- They are not bad.

biker128pedal

The spokes were not tensioned properly. Take it back to the shop and have them retension the wheel. If you weigh +200 pounds they need to be at the high end of the tension. The tolerance is large for Bontrager wheels.

See the Bontrager wheel or the Park site manual.
https://www.bontrager.com/assets/File...ile325_970.pdf
https://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=51