# Wheels / Tires for New Trek Madone 5.2



## ericusta (Jul 20, 2012)

I will picking up my Madone 5.2 and was looking to upgrade my wheels and tires.

Anyone have any good recommendation.

thanks


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## Bulldozer (Jul 31, 2003)

What wheels are on it now?


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## vautrain (Mar 1, 2012)

I think it has Bontrager Race wheels stock. No opinion on what wheels you should buy, though in my experience, almost any wheel would be better than the Bontragers.

Personally, though I love Trek bikes in general, I think Bontrager components suck. I'm in the process of replacing all the Bontrager-branded components on my Trek.


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## dmaciel (Oct 10, 2012)

All the Madones I've looked at have Bontrager rims, sure there are better rims but Bontrager makes very good rims


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

what would you like to accomplish w/ the upgrade? nice training wheels? race wheels? fancy carbon wheels? how much do you weigh? it's pretty hard to recommend things when we know nothing about you and what you consider to be an 'upgrade'. 
the wheels that come on the current 5.2 are the Bontrager Race TLR. we built a guy some custom wheels and i'm running the wheels that came off his 5.2 on my 6.9SSL right now. great everyday wheel.


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## MPov (Oct 22, 2010)

I have a Madone 5.2 also. Had it for a few months now and am thinking about upgrading wheels in the Spring. The stock Bontrager are OK to start out with, and they do make some nice higher-end ones. Why not just ride with the stock wheels for a while to get a feel for the bike?

I already upgraded the tires to Conti GP4000s. I figured this would be the most cost effective upgrade and the difference is quite noticeable over the stock Bontrager tires. You can find them on sale for around $70 per pair. I went with 23s but next time may try the 25s.


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

vautrain said:


> I think it has Bontrager Race wheels stock. No opinion on what wheels you should buy, though in my experience, almost any wheel would be better than the Bontragers.
> 
> Personally, though I love Trek bikes in general, I think Bontrager components suck. I'm in the process of replacing all the Bontrager-branded components on my Trek.


could you explain why? i'd be interested in knowing why your experience has been so different from mine.


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## Srode (Aug 19, 2012)

Maybe something with a power tap hub? I upgraded the wheels on my Domane 5.2 to Zipp 101s with a G3 power tap hub. No worries about carbon and riding while wet. The set is about the same weight as the Bontrager race but with a 30mm deep rim and CXray Sapim spokes. Love the powertap hub, very helpful pacing and training. I'm running Gatorskins in a 25mm on them - no flats yet in 2000 miles (knock on wood)


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## ericusta (Jul 20, 2012)

cxwrench said:


> what would you like to accomplish w/ the upgrade? nice training wheels? race wheels? fancy carbon wheels? how much do you weigh? it's pretty hard to recommend things when we know nothing about you and what you consider to be an 'upgrade'.
> the wheels that come on the current 5.2 are the Bontrager Race TLR. we built a guy some custom wheels and i'm running the wheels that came off his 5.2 on my 6.9SSL right now. great everyday wheel.


i ride about 150 miles a week during season April - Oct. This year i plan on doing some races, including couple of Tri's.
The bike comes with Bontrager Race wheels which i currently have on my trek 2.3, not a big fan. I was expecting better wheels on the madone 5.2. My buddy upgraded his bike to Mavic ksyrium sls from bontrager race and he loves them.


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## mariomal99 (Mar 4, 2012)

I thought the 5.2 comes with Race Lite wheels?

Nothing wrong with mine.....I have 2 sets of Race Lites and 1 set of Race XLite


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

here's where a lot of people differ...i don't consider stock mavic wheels like the Ksyrium to be an upgrade from anything. they use proprietary spokes that you can't find just anywhere. they have possibly the most poorly engineered freehub in history. they're not heavy, but overall wheel weight is not the whole story. the rims are fairly heavy and that's what matters. the rims have a tendency to crack around the huge, threaded holes they put in them for the proprietary spokes. 
Mavic is about as involved w/ racing as you can get, and have leveraged that into a huge OEM presence. the wheels are really not any better (imo not as good as) than anything else. 
how big are you? what's your budget? if you're going to do some racing i'd use the stock wheels as training wheels (i do...first pair of 'normal' wheels on any of my bikes that i haven't built myself in years...they're fine) and buy some 'race' wheels. my recommendation on which to look at depends on your weight and budget mainly.


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## [email protected] (Feb 1, 2009)

I just put the bontrager x lites with r3 tubeless tires and love them. There 1480grams with dt Swiss hubs. Had dura ace 1380 and Bontrager rolled about 20 sec. Longer in the rack Then the DA.


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## Maxpilot (Jul 18, 2010)

vautrain said:


> I think it has Bontrager Race wheels stock. No opinion on what wheels you should buy, though in my experience, almost any wheel would be better than the Bontragers.
> 
> Personally, though I love Trek bikes in general, I think Bontrager components suck. I'm in the process of replacing all the Bontrager-branded components on my Trek.


Why do you say this? My 5.2 Domane came with Bontrager Race wheels with R3 tires and I think they are fantastic. These wheels are much lighter than the ones on my old Specialized bike. Without spending hundreds more I don't see how you could get much better. 

I'm very impressed with Bontrager stuff. I will probably try other tires when my R3's wear out, but I like the R3's and would definitely buy replacements when the time comes.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

ericusta said:


> I will picking up my Madone 5.2 and was looking to upgrade my wheels and tires.
> 
> Anyone have any good recommendation.


Maybe too late to ask this question but why did you buy a new bike with a plan to immediately spend several $100 on a new wheel set? Wouldn't it have made much more sense to buy a bike that cost that same several $100 more?


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## ericusta (Jul 20, 2012)

cxwrench said:


> here's where a lot of people differ...i don't consider stock mavic wheels like the Ksyrium to be an upgrade from anything. they use proprietary spokes that you can't find just anywhere. they have possibly the most poorly engineered freehub in history. they're not heavy, but overall wheel weight is not the whole story. the rims are fairly heavy and that's what matters. the rims have a tendency to crack around the huge, threaded holes they put in them for the proprietary spokes.
> Mavic is about as involved w/ racing as you can get, and have leveraged that into a huge OEM presence. the wheels are really not any better (imo not as good as) than anything else.
> how big are you? what's your budget? if you're going to do some racing i'd use the stock wheels as training wheels (i do...first pair of 'normal' wheels on any of my bikes that i haven't built myself in years...they're fine) and buy some 'race' wheels. my recommendation on which to look at depends on your weight and budget mainly.


i'm 6'1" 198lbs, budget $1600.

thanks for the quick replies


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

ericusta said:


> i'm 6'1" 198lbs, budget $1600.
> 
> thanks for the quick replies


ok, so carbon wheels are out unless
1) you can buy a really nice pair used
2) you're ok w/ something other than Zipp/Enve/Reynolds

you mentioned you're planning on doing some racing, so weight and possibly aerodynamics are a concern. you could look at the Bontrager Aura 5...they're a bunch more aero than the Race, fall well under your budget limit and should be plenty strong enough for your size. the aero shape would be great for your tri's, not as important for road/crit racing. 
you could also have some pretty damn fine wheels built custom, and have money left over for tires/tubes/cassette. i'm sure some of the other wheel builders could chime in w/ suggestions, there are a lot of options. i'd probably recommend some nice hubs laced to Velocity A23 rims w/ either a light, bladed spoke like the DT Aerolite or Sapim CX Ray. we use White Industries hubs a lot, Chris King is obviously great as well. you can save some money by going to round butted spokes and less expensive hubs, but that should give you an idea. i'd recommend a 25mm tire for your weight. bear in mind that a Michelin ProRace 4 23 will end up being 25/26mm wide on that rim. 
you've got a great bike and you're on the right track about upgrading the wheels first. 



[email protected] said:


> I just put the bontrager x lites with r3 tubeless tires and love them. There 1480grams with dt Swiss hubs. Had dura ace 1380 and Bontrager rolled about 20 sec. Longer in the rack Then the DA.


they're really nice wheels, but what on earth is the 'spin the wheel in the rack' test supposed to prove?


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## [email protected] (Feb 1, 2009)

Just to see how smooth the hubs are. DA hubs seem to drag alot. I can feel the difference when I ride?


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## vautrain (Mar 1, 2012)

I had the rear wheel (Race Light Aero) on my 2010 Trek District Carbon go out of whack so suddenly, and so badly that it actually damaged the hub flanges. The spokes were all torqued out of whack. I was lucky enough that the wheel was able to be fixed without major expense, and then I dumped the wheelset. The wheel had fewer than 500 miles.

I also had spoke issues on some older Bontrager wheels (don't recall the model, paired spokes) on my 2008 LeMond Sarthe. I dumped the wheelset. Maybe I'm hard on wheels, but I weigh less than 200 lbs and try my best to avoid road hazards.

Aside from those issues, I've been less than impressed with Bontrager components. The training tires I've used have been relatively heavy, and not very puncture resistant. The presta valves seem cheap. Maybe the high-end stuff is really good.

I also have an issue with a Bontrager XXX stem, though I'm starting to suspect it's a Chinese knock-off (it came on a bike I purchased used), so I won't hold Trek responsible for that one. Needless to say, it's getting replaced and, if I can verify it's a fake, thrown in the garbage.


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

[email protected] said:


> Just to see how smooth the hubs are. DA hubs seem to drag alot. I can feel the difference when I ride?


no, you absolutely cannot feel the difference on the road. not a chance. the difference you felt in the rack was most likely due to the fact that the Shimano hubs actually had the proper amount of grease around the bearings. the Bontrager hubs use cartridge bearings which are not filled 100% w/ grease, the Shimano hubs use loose balls which roll through more grease. there is zero difference on the road.


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## leadout_kv (Feb 7, 2011)

Kerry Irons said:


> Maybe too late to ask this question but why did you buy a new bike with a plan to immediately spend several $100 on a new wheel set? Wouldn't it have made much more sense to buy a bike that cost that same several $100 more?


I had a similar question. The OP should have upgraded the wheels as the purchase was being made. That would have saved him a significant amount.

I bought a Madone 6.2 that came with the Race Lites. I asked my LBS to upgrade them to the Race X Lites and only paid the difference rather than basically buying two sets of wheels which is what the OP is doing.

OP - I'd ask you LBS when you pick up your bike if you could trade your stock wheels for whatever upgrade you pick and only pay the difference.


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

ericusta said:


> i'm 6'1" 198lbs, budget $1600.
> 
> thanks for the quick replies





[email protected] said:


> I just put the bontrager x lites with r3 tubeless tires and love them. There 1480grams with dt Swiss hubs. Had dura ace 1380 and Bontrager rolled about 20 sec. Longer in the rack Then the DA.





LubbersLine said:


> I had a similar question. The OP should have upgraded the wheels as the purchase was being made. That would have saved him a significant amount.
> 
> I bought a Madone 6.2 that came with the Race Lites. I asked my LBS to upgrade them to the Race X Lites and only paid the difference rather than basically buying two sets of wheels which is what the OP is doing.
> 
> OP - I'd ask you LBS when you pick up your bike if you could trade your stock wheels for whatever upgrade you pick and only pay the difference.


it could just be that the OP, like many racers, wants to have both training and racing wheels. makes perfectly good sense to me. remember, not everyone wants to ride their bike the way you do.


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## leadout_kv (Feb 7, 2011)

cxwrench said:


> it could just be that the OP, like many racers, wants to have both training and racing wheels. makes perfectly good sense to me. remember, not everyone wants to ride their bike the way you do.


Yep, good point. The OP is certainly entitled to own two sets of wheels. I guess I was assuming since the OP said he wanted to "upgrade" I assumed he really was focused on one set and not two. Plus my goal was to try and save the OP some money. Once the OP leaves the store with his shiny new bike it will make it much more difficult to upgrade the one set that he has vs being forced to own two sets.


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## ericusta (Jul 20, 2012)

LubbersLine said:


> Yep, good point. The OP is certainly entitled to own two sets of wheels. I guess I was assuming since the OP said he wanted to "upgrade" I assumed he really was focused on one set and not two. Plus my goal was to try and save the OP some money. Once the OP leaves the store with his shiny new bike it will make it much more difficult to upgrade the one set that he has vs being forced to own two sets.


Thanks for all the replies. I should have made it clear that i was looking to own two sets of wheels. One for training and the other for racing and tri's.

thanks again.


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## F45 (Nov 25, 2010)

ericusta said:


> Thanks for all the replies. I should have made it clear that i was looking to own two sets of wheels. One for training and the other for racing and tri's.
> 
> thanks again.


Dura Ace C24's are my recommendation. Light, no weight limit, aluminum braking surface, good road feel. There is no radial spoke silliness on the rear wheel.


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