Bontrager

steve23
steve23 Posts: 2,202
edited August 2007 in Workshop
my dad has just bought himself a new trek road bike.

it looks really smart, and was a great price!

anyway, i was wondering what are bontrager wheels and tyres like? i think the tyres are bontrager select, and the wheels Bontrager SSR.

any info is great!

thanks! :D
_______________________________________________________________________________________
If You Can't Cut It With The Big Dogs, Then Don't Pi$$ Up The Tall Trees!

Comments

  • mrushton
    mrushton Posts: 5,182
    steve23 wrote:
    my dad has just bought himself a new trek road bike.

    it looks really smart, and was a great price!

    anyway, i was wondering what are bontrager wheels and tyres like? i think the tyres are bontrager select, and the wheels Bontrager SSR.

    any info is great!

    thanks! :D

    Both wheels and tyres are OK. But what does he want to do? His ride will be improved by better tyres and certainly by better wheels but it depends if he wants to spend more money.
    M.Rushton
  • steve23
    steve23 Posts: 2,202
    he is doing a coast to coast ride with me, other than that just club runs and lesiure riding.

    its just i know nothing about bontrager tyres, and was suggesting to him to upgrade right away! but we shall see!

    thanks!
    _______________________________________________________________________________________
    If You Can't Cut It With The Big Dogs, Then Don't Pi$$ Up The Tall Trees!
  • mrushton
    mrushton Posts: 5,182
    steve23 wrote:
    he is doing a coast to coast ride with me, other than that just club runs and lesiure riding.

    its just i know nothing about bontrager tyres, and was suggesting to him to upgrade right away! but we shall see!

    thanks!

    everyone on here can recommend tyres, the most popular prob. being Michelin pro-Race 2 or Continental GP4000S/Vredestein Fortezza/Viitoria Open Corsa CX and in either a 23 or 25 width. Wheels - he could get the classic Open Pro, repairable and comfortable or upgrade to eg Mavic Ksyrium Elites, more aero, poss.slightly faster.
    M.Rushton
  • steve23
    steve23 Posts: 2,202
    i use gp4000 and was suggesting to him that these would be a good upgrade. however if the bontrager tyres were ok enough, we were going to keep them the same!
    _______________________________________________________________________________________
    If You Can't Cut It With The Big Dogs, Then Don't Pi$$ Up The Tall Trees!
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,576
    Bontrager is Trek's own brand components label. Generally the quality of them is good and the high end stuff is excellent.

    I use Bontrager x-lite hardcase tyres on my commuting bike and they've withstood everything that the streets of London have thrown at them so far.

    If your dad is happy with how the tyres and wheels handle then he should only think about upgrading when he needs to.
  • steve23
    steve23 Posts: 2,202
    sound advice andyp
    _______________________________________________________________________________________
    If You Can't Cut It With The Big Dogs, Then Don't Pi$$ Up The Tall Trees!
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,721
    Bontrager have a much bigger standing in the MTB side....so don't knock it jus cos you ve not heard so much about them..Bonty MTb wheel;s get good reviews quite often

    (They re probably made in the same factory as all thge others either way!!!)
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • aracer
    aracer Posts: 1,649
    Bontrager stuff is fine. I have some Bonty bits on my MTB out of choice - certainly don't change them just for the sake of it.
  • Edwin
    Edwin Posts: 785
    Hardcase tyres seem alright but the bonty select wheels on my Trek were unusable after about 4500 miles, due to the rims cracking around the spokes. Maybe I was unlucky, they were just out of warranty though so I wasn't impressed!
    Depending how much he rides they should be fine for at least a year or so, if he gets bitten by the bug like the rest of us then he'd probably want to upgrade the wheels at some point.
    I've got Mavic Aksiums on there now and I've had no problems with them for 6 months, although I do think the bonty wheels *looked* nicer!
  • wildmoustache
    wildmoustache Posts: 4,010
    yeah, ride them and see what you think. do you have any other tyres or wheels he could try for comparison?

    the bonty stuff is very variable in my experience. as andyp says, their high end stuff is very good indeed and has been tuned over the years by US Postal/Discovery feedback, but they go all the way down to making some crap for their lowest end bikes. Sounds like your Dad's stuff is fairly mid-range and should be pretty good really.
  • Border Cyclist
    Border Cyclist Posts: 1,279
    Edwin wrote:
    Hardcase tyres seem alright but the bonty select wheels on my Trek were unusable after about 4500 miles, due to the rims cracking around the spokes. Maybe I was unlucky, they were just out of warranty though so I wasn't impressed!
    Depending how much he rides they should be fine for at least a year or so, if he gets bitten by the bug like the rest of us then he'd probably want to upgrade the wheels at some point.
    I've got Mavic Aksiums on there now and I've had no problems with them for 6 months, although I do think the bonty wheels *looked* nicer!
    My basic Bontrager wheels are still going strong after 10,000+ kilometres - I'm really pleased with them.

    On the other hand, I very quickly changed out the Bontrager tyres because I wasn't convinced by their grip in the wet.

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