Bontrager Race X Lite Aero hub breaks, check yours for cracks!

Triathlon Forum
1

I have a set of Bontrager Race X Lite Aero on my road bike and after I just came back from a 75 mile ride I put the bike on my hitch mount bike rack like always and drove home. I took the bike off the rack and set the bike down and saw the rear hub was broken. I hit nothing on the road and could not understand what could have happen since these have very few miles on them. I called my local shop and was told he has heard about these hubs cracking and doing this. Anyone else ever hear of this? If this is true I am glad it did not happen on the ride! Here is a picture.

http://www.hiperform.com/bicycle/brokenhub.jpg

2

I took the wheel into the dealer and they called trek. There is a know problem with this wheel that they had the spokes torqued too high causing the hub to break. We looked at my hub closer and saw many places that it is cracked. They are shipping a brand new wheel out to me now for no charge. If you have this wheel please look for cracks. I would hate to hear about a bad crash on one of these!!!

3

Normally nipples fail first from high spoke load. That looks like an issue with the hub and not the spoke tension.

4

I was just passing on what they said. Ether way it is not a good thing. I am interested to see if the new hub looks any different than this one.

5

I had the EXACT same thing happen. Looks identical to yours.

EDIT: I should’ve also stated that Bontrager did not hesitate to warranty the wheel even though it was 3 years old. And, mine was the Race Lite, not the Race X Lite, but the hubs look identical.

6

Do you think the new hub/wheel you got was any different than the old one?

7

good point. I was told by my shop that they’d never seen it happen before, so I wasn’t worried. After your post, I now wonder if there is a flaw in their manufacturing process that will show itself in the new wheel as well.