# Bontrager Race Lite 2008 front wheel spoke failure



## icerunner (Jan 26, 2010)

In January 2008 my father and I bought new Trek Madone 5.5's. They came equipped with Bontrager Race Lite wheels. He's ridden about 8,000 miles on his bike. He weighs about 190#. 

Yesterday, while on the flat after a long descent, at about 35 mph, he crashed. We believe that a front spoke blew out at the nipple (the snapped nipple is clear), and caused him to crash. It was a very serious accident and I am thankful that he's alive (after being unconscious for several minutes). There's a discrete chunk taken out of the backside of the front fork where the spoke must have hit, providing more evidence of spoke failure causing the crash. The road was otherwise clear and it was a wacky fall, as the bike quickly pulled to the left before he went head over heels.

His local bike shop was aware of a "weakness" in these wheels, and in fact they replaced the nipples in the rear wheel with stainless steel, but didn't change the front.

I'm a noob, and just looking for information. Has anyone heard of this problem? I'm afraid to get back on my bike without fixing the problem. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.


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## Export A (Mar 18, 2007)

get it replaced, most likely it's still under warranty. I had the same problem....free replacement.


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

*Some thoughts.*



icerunner said:


> Has anyone heard of this problem? I'm afraid to get back on my bike without fixing the problem. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.


Not sure what "weakness" the bike shop was referring to, but the inherent "weakness" of all wheels with few (and often paired) spokes is the large span of unsupported rim between spokes. When one spoke breaks, that unsupported rim span often goes out of true badly. Another potential issue with these type of wheels comes from the very high spoke tension needed to keep them true, which imparts large stresses to the rim in the area of the spoke holes.

I do have to say that a serious crash because of a broken spoke is very rare. A rim going out of true, even significantly, generally does not result in loss of control. The only way I can envision the spoke being the cause (rather than the consequence) of the crash is for the spoke wedging itself momentarily between the tire and the fork crown, blocking or rapidly decelerating the front wheel for a fraction of a second. 

Last thought: you're sure about those stainless steel spoke nipples? I've only come across brass or aluminum nipples, with brass being stronger. Stainless steel would be a poor material for spoke nipples—it's generally weaker than non-stainless steels and, despite its moniker, would be prone to corrosion in that application. But hey, I'm old and no longer up-to-date on the latest stuff, so maybe there are stainless steel nipples now. 


/w


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## icerunner (Jan 26, 2010)

*A few more details*

Thanks Wim.

The weakness I was referring to in the original post was that three spokes had busted in the rear wheel, and the LBS noticed cracks in several other alloy nipples. After the third spoke break, the shop replaced the nipples with a stronger metal (my father called it steel, I took him at his word :blush2: ).

Regarding a broken front spoke causing the crash, your description is pretty accurate. As my father was riding on clear, flat ground--he all of sudden jerked left in a strange way. There were no objects or holes in the road. The wheel did not warp or wobble. When examining the back of the front fork, there was a chunk taken out, down to the carbon fiber, where the spoke must have momentarily jammed and pulled him.

I examined my bike and brought it to the shop. Several alloy nipples in both the front and back wheels of MY bike are cracked or even broken (cracks on both sides, then alloy chipped off). This is after only 1200 miles or so!


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

Replacing alloy nipples with brass ones is a good idea, especially on wheels with very high spoke tension like your Bontragers. You also may want to check the rim around the spoke holes for small cracks—something that's happened to more than one Bontrager rim. On the positive side, Trek's been good with replacing defective wheels under warranty.

The cracked (corroded?) alloy nipples are a bit of a puzzle to me because you don't see them that often. Do you ride on salted roads or in salt-air a lot? Keep in mind that any liquid left on down-side spokes will run down into the nipple when you stop riding. Another thing that can put micro-cracks on nipples is an ill-fitting spoke wrench during factory assembly or subsequent trueing. But all that's just speculation.


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## rock mafia (Aug 1, 2009)

Read the reviews

http://www.roadbikereview.com/cat/wheels/wheelsets/bontrager/PRD_104396_2490crx.aspx

Lots of problems with these wheels. Trek seems to be pretty good about replacing them. Talk to your LBS about replacing them, if they don't want to help you, talk to trek or the local trek rep.


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## JimF22003 (Apr 30, 2009)

I have an '08 5.5 and had tons of troubles with the wheels. Rear wouldn't stay in true, got a warrantly replacement. Then had to get that replaced because of a cracked rim.

I switched to Ksyrium SL Premiums.


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## icerunner (Jan 26, 2010)

*Photo of 2 nipples*

I took this photo of two nipples on my fron wheel the day after the crash. Note the overt corrosion in one nipple and the crack in the other. This was the case in 7 or so spokes in of the front wheel, and two spokes of the rear wheel. I said I was a noob and didn't know to look that closely at the nipples. I do, in fact, clean the bike and lube the chain, etc, regularly.

Trek warrantied the wheels and replaced them with 2010 Race Lite, same nipples. Now I will pay closer attention to them. By the way, I live on the coast in California so I am sure the humidity and salinity add to the corrosive factors.


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## tubeman (Feb 12, 2010)

those wheels are junk. Get another brand.


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## Kuma601 (Jan 22, 2004)

Ouch...from my view, warranty the wheels and sell those off for some traditional 3x or 2x types.


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## roadboy (Apr 1, 2003)

In the shop i work at we have seen about 12 pairs of bonty wheels (paired spoke) with the disinigrating alloy nipples in the last few years. We are not a Trek dealer so we send everyone of them down the street to the local trek dealer. I know one of the mechanics over there and he said they have probably warrantied 100 pairs of wheels over the last few years because of nipple issues and flange issues. Trek is supposed to have fixed these problems, but thats alot of wheels and thats just our town. I would find another wheelset plenty of good options out there so why keep riding bonty's


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## coastsidecyclist (Jul 8, 2010)

*Also have disintegrating alloy nipples*

I have the same problem with my Race Lite wheels!!!! Unfortunately I did not discover this until after the 5 year warranty period was over. Brought in my bike 2 weeks ago for a tune up at the LBS where I purchased it. I have had it 5.5 years but only put on ~4000 miles on it. They identified that the front nipples were very corroded and starting to crack. I have not been inspecting my wheels closely. I live on the CA coast so they said it was because of the salt air (I also sweat a lot). I purchased a new wheel with brass nipples for the front.

Went back and inspected the rear myself and saw cracks in the nipples also although they were barely corroded, not nearly as much as the front!!!! Brought it back to the LBS and was told it is out of warranty and weather is not covered anyway. Yes I live on the coast but I don't ride in the surf. My Rolf Vector Pros that have 2x the miles on them and are 6 years older than my Bontragers do not have any cracked alloy nipples (they are corroded though).

This is a safety issue that Bontrager should be correcting or at lease warning people about.


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## GotDibbs (Jul 5, 2012)

icerunner said:


> In January 2008 my father and I bought new Trek Madone 5.5's. They came equipped with Bontrager Race Lite wheels. He's ridden about 8,000 miles on his bike. He weighs about 190#.
> 
> Yesterday, while on the flat after a long descent, at about 35 mph, he crashed. We believe that a front spoke blew out at the nipple (the snapped nipple is clear), and caused him to crash. It was a very serious accident and I am thankful that he's alive (after being unconscious for several minutes). There's a discrete chunk taken out of the backside of the front fork where the spoke must have hit, providing more evidence of spoke failure causing the crash. The road was otherwise clear and it was a wacky fall, as the bike quickly pulled to the left before he went head over heels.
> 
> ...


I am VERY interested in this, Icerunner. A week ago this past Saturday (June 23, 2012) I was leisurely riding through wine country in Santa Ynez, California with a group of friends. I was riding my 2008 Trek 2.3 series and replaced my clips with regular pedals for the occasion. I was in the bike lane, coming off of a very very slight downhill, reaching the flat going about 17-20 mph (I'm estimating?) when my bike locked up suddenly and came to a screeching halt. I went straight over and down from the handlebars, punching my fists into the asphalt and landing mouth-first on the asphalt, cracking my helmet down the middle, and completing a full frontward flip to land on my backside. I've suffered skin deformities above and below my lips, 30+ stitches inside and outside my mouth, and severe dental damage. Several spokes are broken at the nipple and Trek wants to tell me I hit something or a squirrel ran through the spokes. We scanned the road and there was NOTHING in the road that could have caused this kind of damage, nor was there fur or blood or any roadkill from a small creature getting caught up in the spokes. I am convinced this was malfunction. Any thoughts from anyone????


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## samh (May 5, 2004)

Can you guys sue them? You must have big medical bills.


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## velocanman (Jul 15, 2011)

I had issues with two sets of Bontrager wheels, one X-Lite and the other Race Lites. My issues were cracking the rear rims at the drive side spokes. This was after a year with each wheel set. I replaced the rim once and then the alloy nipples started deteriorating.

I replaced the Race X Lites with Mavic SSC SLs and have had no issues. BTW, I cycle between 210-240.


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## GotDibbs (Jul 5, 2012)

I'm not sure.. I'm researching to find out if there were enough incidents like mine and icerunner's to determine if I even have a case to make a claim. I'm just starting out in my research, but I have hope. If you have any information or leads on how I might find more incidents like this one I would be so grateful.


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## billthecougarnut (Jan 29, 2013)

I have a set of racelites with at least 6 corroded and broken nipples and another 5 or 6 cracked. Bike has been in dry storage for 5 years. The issue is not clydesdale riders, the issue is a poor alloy. My only quandry is that I bought bike from original owner. I'm going to try to replace the nipples, as my rims are near perfect with no cracks, but it still is a bummer they never recalled them.


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## testpilot (Aug 20, 2010)

For the US, safety related issues should be reported to the Consumer Products Safety Commission: CPSC - Home. If no one reports it, there's little chance of responsible corrective action by the manufacturer such as a safety recall.

The Bontrager XXL rear rim cracked around several spoke holes on my 2009 Madone 6.5. I caught it before catastrophic failure. Trek replaced the rear wheel with an unmatching, redesigned version. I'm happy I caught it and Trek replaced it. I'm not happy that there could be spoke nipple issues and cracks that emerge on my front wheel. They should have replaced both wheels. Also not happy about the mismatch on my $5,000 bike.


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## mythbuster (May 22, 2009)

icerunner said:


> In January 2008 my father and I bought new Trek Madone 5.5's. They came equipped with Bontrager Race Lite wheels. He's ridden about 8,000 miles on his bike. He weighs about 190#.
> 
> Yesterday, while on the flat after a long descent, at about 35 mph, he crashed. We believe that a front spoke blew out at the nipple (the snapped nipple is clear), and caused him to crash. It was a very serious accident and I am thankful that he's alive (after being unconscious for several minutes). There's a discrete chunk taken out of the backside of the front fork where the spoke must have hit, providing more evidence of spoke failure causing the crash. The road was otherwise clear and it was a wacky fall, as the bike quickly pulled to the left before he went head over heels.
> 
> ...


My 2008 Madone 5.2 had race light wheels and on the rear wheel the spokes began to pull out of the rim. This was around 2011 after very moderate use, say 3 to 5 K miles in 3 years with all of my 205lbs. There were cracks in the rim, some cracks were so bad that light could pass from one side of the rim to the other. Unbelievable! I cut them up and tossed them in the trash. Bad wheel set! 

I was so upset that anybody would put those wheels on a bike.

Your fears are justified. Be sure to inspect your wheels and tires before you ride. if you can, before a high speed descent, also check your air pressure. Just stop for few seconds and press your thumb on the tires. They should be hard. 

I now ride about 300 miles a week on tubeless tires (Hutchinson Fusion tubeless) on custom built wheels (Stans No Tubes rims, DT spokes, Chris King hubs w 2oz of sealant) 

Sorry about your dad. That was a bad crash. Were you behind him?


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