Anyone here put some serious mileage on these? I’m looking at upgrading my roady training wheels and there is a set of these on CL locally…nice price. Just want to hear the pros/cons of durability…not aero issues, just if they are tough. Thanks all
Anyone here put some serious mileage on these? I’m looking at upgrading my roady training wheels and there is a set of these on CL locally…nice price. Just want to hear the pros/cons of durability…not aero issues, just if they are tough. Thanks all
Mind if I ask . . . .why?? Wheels used for training just need to be bomb-proof. Especially if you’re poor like me, where training and racing wheels are one and the same. 
Not so much an upgrade, but a replacement. My mid 1990’s O4CD’s are so out of true it’s crazy. They are not worth spending more money on…over 100K miles on them. Follow this progression: Litespeed Tachyon, Litespeed Ultimate, Trek 5200, Trek 5500, Madone 5.2 SL>>>>>>and finally they are dead. I have ridden them well beyond the useful life.
Not so much an upgrade, but a replacement. My mid 1990’s O4CD’s are so out of true it’s crazy. They are not worth spending more money on…over 100K miles on them. Follow this progression: Litespeed Tachyon, Litespeed Ultimate, Trek 5200, Trek 5500, Madone 5.2 SL>>>>>>and finally they are dead. I have ridden them well beyond the useful life.
Wowsers, yea, I’d say those are dead. I picked up a cheap set of Shimano wheels on ST classifieds for about $150. I hear the Titan Forte, Neuvation, etc wheels are decent for training as well. Sorry, I don’t have any direct input on the Bontragers. Good luck!
How old are they? These are generally well-built wheels, but there have been some issues with flanges on the rear hub cracking and breaking. Mine did. I got a warranty replacement and it was a newer design. I’ve had no problems with it. The wheels I had that had the problem would have been about 5 years old now.
It seems there was some discussion of the hub flange problem on the forum within the last couple of weeks. You might try a search on it.
The Race X Lites I have now are 2008 vintage and they’re fabulous wheels. Not all that light, but they’re solid and have been dependable so far.
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Okay thanks…looks like there are not too many people out there riding them, but at least I know a little more.
So no problems with the rims per se, more with the hubs? Maybe I will get some power tap hubs and slap them on some type of Bontrager rims to alleviate the hub flange issue?
I have a set on my road bike… rather impressed really. Pretty nice for just trainers! Mine need trued now but they did take quite a beating this year!
Love 'em. Probably 30k miles on mine with no issues. Starting to think about replacing them, but will replace them with another set.
Okay thanks…looks like there are not too many people out there riding them
On the contrary, I’ll bet there are MANY people riding them. It’s just that they’re standard issue on many of Trek’s mid-range to upper mid-range road bikes … not typically seen on tri bikes, so not all that many people on Slowtwitch would know about them, necessarily. Plus, it’s the holidays. Posting volume seems to be down.
When I wrote about the hub flange problems, the number of incidents relative to the number of these wheelsets that are probably floating around out there is likely to be miniscule. Even though I experienced the hub flange problem, I rate the wheels as excellent because the Bontrager warranty is excellent and I got a free replacement wheel. Of course, if you’re buying used, you probably won’t have that as an available option.
i’ve ridden the race lites, x lites, xxx lites and aeolus 5.0 and had no problems with any of them. Most people will tell you their wheels are top notch. those who don’t well at least tell you the warranty is great.