Bontrager tire blisters ???
10-09-23, 09:08 AM
#1
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Bontrager tire blisters ???
Someone I ride with bought a new Trek road bike this spring with tubeless tires. With less than 1700 miles on the bike his tires got six large blisters in them the size of a dime to the size of a nickel. Anyone else run across this?
10-10-23, 04:09 PM
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Unless there is visible damage to the casing, this suggests defective tires. Have your friend take it back to the shop where he bought the bike.
10-10-23, 04:54 PM
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That is a whole different story. He bought the bike out of town and it is not practical to take it back there. So he took it to a local dealer of the brand. They replaced the tires with different ones that were not "TR" and one of them came off quickly when he tried going for a ride. Luckily he was not hurt and he took the bike back again and they put TR tires on it but he insisted on having tubes after that scare from the shop's mechanic. Bad luck all around. The shop would not let him keep the blistered tires either, they said they had to send them to the manufacturer. It seems unlikely that he is the only one who had his Bontrager tires blister, so I thought I would poke around and see if there is any others out there, but it does not seem like there is a lot of talk about it.
10-10-23, 06:23 PM
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I got the blisters with Hutchinson Fusion 5 Galactic and Endurance tubeless tires. I’ve never tried Bontrager tubeless tires.
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10-10-23, 07:30 PM
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example: Hutchinsen manufactured Pirelli bicycle tires until recently
Last edited by alcjphil; 10-10-23 at 08:01 PM.
10-11-23, 08:29 AM
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I’ve seen this kind of blistering with early tubeless set ups. It is probably due to poor bonding of the tread to the casing which allows the sealant to get under the tread and lifting it up. In the absence of sealant, the air isn’t capable of keeping the tread away from the casing so it doesn’t blister. The sealant could also be breaking down the bond between the tread and casing which makes blistering worse. TL/DR version: It’s a production problem.
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10-11-23, 11:33 AM
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Lots of talk of this in Trek circles, especially with the R3. Best solution is to consider them disposable and buy better tires from the outset.
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10-17-23, 07:05 AM
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I am not convinced that a lot of the changes to cycling equipment in the last decade or so are the way to go, all you can do is vote with your wallet and maybe there is a chance your favorite type of equipment will not be dropped from production. One thing I hate is that all of the new "improved" equipment is always more expensive and the huge increase in cost is not reflected in huge performance gains unless you are talking about an e-bike, which I will not need for many years if ever if I have my way.
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10-17-23, 02:34 PM
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Originally Posted by Pratt;[url=tel:23044986
23044986[/url]]Not tires, but I once bought a couple of Bontrager tubes that didn't have valve stems in them.
10-18-23, 03:14 PM
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I bought a pair of Bontragers from REI awhile back. One of the tires had a flat spot on the centerline of the tire that caused it to feel out of balance.
