trek madone bontrager wheels

[teds1969]

looking for some advice. Thinking of buying the above wheels for my trek. They are 2nd hand and the guy tells me the ceramic bearings in the rear wheel might need replaced. My questions are 1. do you need to fit ceramic bearings or can you fit normal bearings, and 2. if not how much are ceramic bearings

 

[smokeysmoo]

Just looking at the FAQ's on Bonty's site, it doesn't appear as though their wheels have ceramic bearings. I could definitely be wrong as you haven't said what wheels they actually are, but the Aeolus Wheels referred to in the faq's are THIS sort of thing. So if they don't have ceramic bearings I doubt the ones you are looking at will have.

My Trek Madone 5.5 had Bontrager Race Lite wheels as standard, and I'd put my neck on the line and say they certainly didn't have ceramic bearings, although it was a 2006 5.5 like this one

 

[teds1969]

they are on ebay and the guy states they have come off his madone 5.2. Bike is two years old according to him

 

[teds1969]

thanks for your reply by the way. Looking at the picture on ebay it says race lite on the wheel.

 

[smokeysmoo]

thanks for your reply by the way. Looking at the picture on ebay it says race lite on the wheel.

No worries. Full techs and specs of the Race Lites are HERE. No mention of ceramic bearings, and a Google search of bontrager race lite bearing pulls up the same standard FAQ sheet, (5th result on page).


So he may well believe they are ceramic, (and indeed I suppose someone could have 'upgraded' them to ceramic), but all the evidence suggests he's been led a merry dance when he bought it


[EDIT] is it THESE ones? [EDIT 2] Ah ok, THESE ones then

 

[teds1969]

not them but look like them. Advertised as "bontrager bicycle wheels" currently sitting at £19 with 3 days to go. So i could put ordinary bearings in them even if they are ceramic. Thank god cos i sh*t myself when i priced replacement ceramic bearings.