Bontrager - Is it any good?

I've always written Bontrager off as being rubbish, but after looking for cheap carbon wheels, stem, seatposts etc on the bay there's loads of it, and it's cheap. Is this a company that deserves more respect?

any experiences of there higher end stuff?

It's Treks in house component brand.

I'd go so far as to say it's Bontrageous

It was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Bontrager wot said...

Strong, light, cheap... pick two.

Trek stick that name on everything from entry level to prototype pro stuff.

C'est Bon (trager)

Grrrrrrrr(eat?)

As miro_o says, it gets plastered over everything that Trek do so naturally some of it'll be alright, some of it utter shit.

I got one of the Race XXXLite carbon stems at a steal a few years ago (I work in a Trek dealership) and other than a rather low quality look and feel to the faceplate - it did it's job but on a stem with an rrp of around £150, I'd expect something, nicer - I had very little to complain about.

On the other hand, we had a £7k Project One Madone that had a set of the carbon wheels (can't remember what ones exactly but suffice to say, they were high high end) and they were shocking. The wheel had zero stiffness to it, you could wobble the rim probably a full inch side to side and the spokes were properly tensioned.

I tend to think that most of the stuff that comes out of Trek/Bontrager is a) a bit dull and b) doesn't really live up to the image of quality and innovation/great design that a lot of people seem to have for the brand so it's not a brand I lust after myself but what I will say of them is that they seem pretty good at honouring warranty claims (I'm sure the P1 Madone owner ended up with a set of very nice third party wheels when Trek couldn't sort the Bonty ones).

I tend to think that most of the stuff that comes out of Trek/Bontrager is a) a bit dull and b) doesn't really live up to the image of quality and innovation/great design that a lot of people seem to have for the brand so it's not a brand I lust after myself.
Yeah, you're really in an individual exclusive elite there.

I have a bonty seat post. they cant fuck that up. so its alright.

I'm currently using some Bontrager grips that I thought were ugly at first but have now grown on me.
Pretty good quality and they were in a parts bin that I bought for a tenner, no idea how much they would have been in the first place.

I've got a bontrager saddle and a set of racelite 26" wheels, they're fine. It's not a shitty brand so far as I can see.

Think i spotted Bontrager bar end plugs on GB track bikes at the Olympics