Bontrager SSR Wheels ?????

bunnerscj

Got a pair of these on my recently acquired virtually new 2nd hand road bike, are they any good, they look nice but are they really up to carrying me and kit (16 stone) ?
Any advice would be sweet,
Thanks :roll:

fatfreddy

here you go

Wheels: tough but not light
The Trek's Bontrager SSR wheels provide a decent performance for a £600 bike. With only 20 plain gauge spokes up front and 24 at the rear, and with no eyelets at the spoke holes, we weren't expecting them to stand up to much abuse... but in use they don't flex excessively and they've stayed impressively true throughout testing. The hubs have kept the rain out well on wet rides and the cup and cone bearings are still running smoothly after minimal fettling. All good!

At a shade over three kilos the pair, the SSRs are a reasonable weight for a bike at this price, but we would still advise upgrading to a lighter set in the long run. In the meantime we'd swap the Bontrager Select 25mm tyres for a narrower 23mm set as a quick way of adding extra zip.

Soni

bunnerscj wrote:

Got a pair of these on my recently acquired virtually new 2nd hand road bike, are they any good, they look nice but are they really up to carrying me and kit (16 stone) ?
Any advice would be sweet,
Thanks :roll:

Hi mate, i've got these on my new Trek 1.5 2009 model and haven't had any problems in the last 2 weeks of owning it. (fingers crossed)

I've hit loads of potholes and i'm 18 stone :oops:

996JAT

i'm 100kg and done 600 miles on em with no issues.

Also moving from Bontrager Select 25mm tyres for a narrower 23mm, does it really make a difference in speed?

gkerr4

in my experience they aren't the best

they are pretty to look at

but also pretty weighty to pick up!

they flex on climbs - although I do confess they did the C2C route with luggage on some pretty off-road sections and they didn't go out of true at all.

I changed them for a set of Shimano R561s which were quite a noticable upgrade in terms of weight (loss) and stiffness (increase)

jamieh5463

Pretty poor wheels, i havent even had the wheels for a year (they came on my 08 Trek 1.7) and i have already popped 2 spoken and i only weigh 8 and a half stone.
i will shortly be upgrading to Shimano RS10s

adeyboy

Ride them until they go wrong - there is no reason to suspect they will fail .
Simples

adeyboy

adeyboy wrote:

Ride them until they go wrong - there is no reason to suspect they will fail .
Simples

Or are you looking for the forum contributors to justify some money spending at the LBS?!!

STEFANOS4784

3 Kilos per pair :shock:
I'd expect them to be indestructible at that weight :?

joewhitebaby

i've ridden these wheels for a while, if you're a complete novice they'll do you fine, but if you want to go fast, or race, you need new wheels
just to let you know i upgraded to the very VERY nice looking bontrager race lite wheels and it took a few months to completely write off the rear wheel. they cant really be trued once past a certain point because of the low spoke count.
if you're looking to upgrade look at mavics, nice wheels and can be trued and repaired when needed.
i'm going campag on my next bike anyway, so campag wheels here i come....

k-dog

i'm 100kg and done 600 miles on em with no issues.

I'm just over 100kg and have done about 2000 miles since August - and mine are still perfect. Something lighter and stiffer would be nice but they've been absolutely fine.

peanut1978

Been on my trek 1.7 since december.
Not the fastest but do the job.

Going to upgrade mine soon though

SpinningJenny

adeyboy wrote:

Ride them until they go wrong - there is no reason to suspect they will fail .
Simples

You've been watching that Compare the Meerkat advert, haven't you?!

newborn

Ive just bought my trek 8000/ 09, been out on it a few times. Is there something weak about them as ive hammered them on the first few rides. No probs with the Bontrager SSR wheels. Why should I up grade.

lackofgrip

I recently aquired a 2009 trek 1.5, and am over 18stone 6ft 6" and have been ok so far, my frame is 60 cm and is proper snug love it

lackofgrip

newborn wrote:

Ive just bought my trek 8000/ 09, been out on it a few times. Is there something weak about them as ive hammered them on the first few rides. No probs with the Bontrager SSR wheels. Why should I up grade.

Completely agree. I'm thinking of having mine sprayed, white with green spokes and vice versa for rear

phy2sll2

jamieh5463 wrote:

Pretty poor wheels, i havent even had the wheels for a year (they came on my 08 Trek 1.7) and i have already popped 2 spoken and i only weigh 8 and a half stone.
i will shortly be upgrading to Shimano RS10s

Yup, same story. I'm 10 stone and I've broken three spokes (one front, two rear) in six months on these wheels. They flex like mad, especially noticeable when you have crud road racers on. And they're heavy.

On the plus side, they do look quite nice.