Bontrager Race

Price Paid:  $0.00 at Jax

Favorite Ride:
Bontrager Race

Summary:
I bought a Trek Madone in 2007 that came with Bontrager Race. The rear wheel came out of true after about 1 year and perhaps 3,000 miles. I weight about 250 pounds and was worried the wheels wouldn't hold up. Upon inspection, the rims were cracked in several places around the spoke holes. I took them to the dealer who informed me that Bontrager had a bad production run and some wheels were defective. He said Trek put 5 year warranty on these wheels because of it and he would order a replacement at no charge to me. So far, I've been happy with Trek's handling of this. They have taken care of another problem on the frame and now will be replacing the faulty wheel. Hopefully the replacement will last, but it does have a 5 year warranty.

Strengths:
Look great

Weaknesses:
Out of true
Cracks around spokes

Similar Products Used:
Rolf - was extremely happy with these wheels

Price Paid:  $0.00

Favorite Ride:
big climbs

Summary:
I'm a skinny climber (140-145 lbs) and I have used these on and off as training wheels for the past 2 years. They are terrible. All you have to do is breath on them and they get out of true, and they crack around the nipples after about 5000 miles. This cracking can be catastrophic, sometimes occuring at all nipples. What's worse is Bontrager are too cheap to admit their flawed design sucks and replace the wheels with a better design. This WILL come back to bite them in the butt because when these wheels crack in a tight corner and cause someone serious injury, they will sue!

Strengths:
They were basically free.

Weaknesses:
Imposiible to keep from going out of true. Crack with little use. Just aren't good. Bontraher just warranty them with the same flawed wheels....buy Mavic; I heard some guys talking about how they crashed hard on a cheap set of Mavics and the wheels didn't even get out of true.

Similar Products Used:
Nothing this bad.

Price Paid:  $400.00 at Local bike shop

Favorite Ride:
Quiet roads with hills

Bike Setup:
2003 Allez Elite 27, Bontrager Race wheels (sigh), Ultegra cassette, otherwise stock 105.

Summary:
As with so many others, I'm finding that these wheels are under-engineered. My *front* wheel was replaced after a year (about 3000 miles) after developing cracks around the spoke nipples, and a year later, the replacement is even worse (and will be RMA'd shortly).

The rear wheel will not stay true. I found a defective spoke or nipple (not sure which yet) that prevents me from getting enough tension (I got tired of taking the wheel to the shop all the time, so I learned to true it myself). I can get it perfectly true, but then the spokes are so loose that it comes out of true in less then 20 miles. If I leave a slight wobble, I can get it to stay true for a little bit longer, but sheesh!

I weigh 75kg (not really a Clydesdale), and I ride on Western PA backroads. Trek customer service claims that these are suitable for daily riding, but that's crap. They are a weak, overpriced wheel that looks flashy, and I'm not happy that my LBS talked me into them, rather than something sensible like the tried-and-true Open Pro.

These things only get a 2 due to the five-year warranty, otherwise they'd get a 1.

I will never spend my own money on Bontrager wheels again. Ever.

Strengths:
None that I can think of.

Weaknesses:
Front rim fatigues quickly and cracks around spoke nipples. Rear wheel will not stay true.

Similar Products Used:
Alex LX330 (utter crap rear wheel--won't stay true either, but at least the front wheel never cracked).

Price Paid:  $0.00 at LBS

Favorite Ride:
Smooth and free of dogs, rednecks and headwinds

Bike Setup:
Lemond Sarthe

Summary:
I just finished a tour from Portland, ME to Key West, FL on my Lemond Sarthe with these wheels. I pulled a BOB trailer so the rear wheel saw a little more strain then it received the previous year (pulling 50 lbs, I weight about 180).

First of all, I was very happy with the wheels before touring. Ride quality was good, hubs and aerodynamics of the wheel seemed great for the class of the wheel and the wheel stayed true for the first couple thousand miles.

After the rear wheel came out of true once it started happening more frequently. During the tour I had it trued up three times (all in the last 1000 miles) and the rim started cracking around every spoke on the drive side. I thought it may be due to the trailer (which probably didn't help), but it seems as though a lot of people have this problem. I'm very lucky that I made it the last 500 miles because when I arrived in Key West and cleaned off the rim I saw 1 inch cracks that were starting to run parallel to the rim instead of the starburst cracks propogating from the spokes.

In all fairness, I did not true these wheels and I'm not an expert wheelbuilder so it is possible that the spokes where over tensioned by one of the bikeshops. I have not had this happen with other rims though.

Even though I was pulling the trailer, I do not think I put excessive torque on the wheel. I was in a couple climbing situations that required some mashing but I've mashed on the pedals harder without the trailer on 30 mile rides here in the NE. Most of the riding was low gear spinning through varied to flat terrain.

Strengths:
Smooth rolling, some aerodynamic traits.

Weaknesses:
Poor rim quality around spokes.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Bike Setup:
Stock Trek Pilot 5.0

Summary:
I am on my 3rd set of Bontrager rims. The first rim cracked, the remaining 2 have the spokes loosen in 300-500 miles of riding. Appears all Trek did to stop the rims from cracking was to loosen the tension on the spokes. Trek needs to be honest and admit this wheel was not designed correctly.

Strengths:
None

Weaknesses:
Bad design