I have a pair of Bontrager Race X Lite wheels that my shop convinced me were the way to go when I went in to purchase a pair of Ksyrium SSC SLs. Well, my rear wheel was starting to creak and upon inspection there are a bunch of stress cracks in the rear rim. I have more than 4000 miles on them but they are not abused and I would expect them to hold up better than this.
Anyone out there have any experience like this? My dealer is willing to have them rebuilt but I honestly don't trust this wheelset. I'm just glad they didn't fail at 50 mph downhill last weekend.
Riding pal had the exact same thing happen 2 months ago. It's a known problem with those wheels from a year or so back. He complained to the localTrek dealer (he did NOT buy his bike there) and they ended up getting a new wheel for him in about 10 days no charge.
I had the race lites and had a spoke pull out after about 2500 miles. Repaired under warranty. They needed constant truing compared to the selects I Had on an older bike.
I had a spoke pull through the hub on the Bontrager Race X Lite Tandem wheel, and they replaced it (or rebuilt it) no questions asked. IMO bontrager has OK quality product, but good customer service, so all in all, you could do worse. Get the wheel rebuilt for free and be glad you didn't buy it from a manufacturer that will not warrant their product (like Zipp).
I had my Bontrager race wheels fail due to nipple corrosion after only a little more than a year of riding. The Trek store pushes Bontrager because they probably make more money on them as it is their private label. I'd suggest get what you can out of Trek, but then find a more objective LBS to do business with in the future. I switched to OP's/Ultegra for $200 f/r from Performance and am just as happy.
Are you serious that Zipp will not warranty their new wheels when they now cost $1750 a pair. Then I'll never pay dealer price and will only get them through ebay.
I hate Bontrager stuff. But the Race X Lite Ti is kinda nice. Dealers ask too much for them.
I recently dabbled with some lighter rims (Open Pros and DT RR1.1s), lower spoke count (28), and very light spokes (DT Revolutions), just to see what the fuss was about, but I didn't like them. I've gone back to Mavic CXP30s, Mavic CXP33s, Rigida DP18s with DT Champions, and the heavier combination is SO much better. The stiffness and stability is awesome. I've kept the lighter rims as front wheels, but put Champions in them.
I guess I should add that I'm ~196lbs (89kg)..."at the moment" 🙂
I just had the same rim cracking experience last week on my rear wheel (Race X Lite) - turned out that it was cracked around 3 nipples on the drive side. One of my riding buddies just reported the same problem on every single nipple on the drive side of his race lites. Is this a systemic Bontrager problem, or just coincidence?
I'm waiting for Trek to determine warranty status - in the meantime, I bought a set of Shimanos so I could get back on the road while I wait - haven't decided if they will be my primary or backup wheels after I get the Bontragers repaired.
My guess is that if it happens more than a few times, it's a systematic problem. There could be a few causes, too. The tension on the spokes is too high and exceeds the strength of the rim (rupturing - not enough rim material). Or the rim material is to close to yield at normal spoke tension - this would cause rapid fatigue and cracks to develop. Or maybe there were mterial quality defects in the rim which lead to rapid fatigue.
John Swanson www.bikephysics.com
miketk949 said:
I just had the same rim cracking experience last week on my rear wheel (Race X Lite) - turned out that it was cracked around 3 nipples on the drive side. One of my riding buddies just reported the same problem on every single nipple on the drive side of his race lites. Is this a systemic Bontrager problem, or just coincidence?
I'm waiting for Trek to determine warranty status - in the meantime, I bought a set of Shimanos so I could get back on the road while I wait - haven't decided if they will be my primary or backup wheels after I get the Bontragers repaired.
The answer is yes, I still have them. The LBS replaced the rim, but Trek would no cover them under warranty since they were a couple years old. LBS said they had numerous problems with the rim design. The new rim lasted until this summer, but when I asked about replacing it, was advised to scrap them.......now riding on DA tubeless and loving them!
