Keith Bontrager’s name may not be on production bikes anymore, but that doesn’t mean the folks inside Trek’s Waterloo, Wisconsin, headquarters can’t have a little fun with their project builds now and then. This Bontrager steel disc brake road road bike is thoroughly modern, and one of a kind.
It’s 1x, and pairs a Dura-Ace road crank with an XTR Di2 rear derailleur and cassette.
Thru axles and flat mount brakes, of course.
Ample tire clearance means it could double as a light-duty gravel bike running cyclocross tires. And what about those tires?
They’re 700×28 Bontrager R4 Classics Tubular with a high grip compound. They’re $99.99 each. There’s a 320tpi clincher version, too, if you just want that look, but with a slightly different tread (or lack of) pattern.
Finishing off the build was their 68g full carbon saddle, which is also available for a mere $380.
Bontrager Aeolus Pro 5 Carbon Wheels
And now for things that are really new. Earlier this year, they released the top level X X X Aeolus wheels, and we’ve reviewed them here. Now, there’s a more affordable Pro 5 version that comes with many of the same features, with a new 50mm depth. Our man at Bontrager, Alex Applegate, runs through the details real quick and shows off a few other goodies in this video:
Across the range of regular and X X X models, they have depths from 20mm to 90mm, offering something for everyone from climbers to time trialists. The rims are all OCLV carbon, but the highest end models receive a new brake track treatment (among other upgrades).
Bontrager’s Aeolus carbon road rims are tubeless, and you can set them up with regular tubeless tape, but they include their rim strip inserts that make it easier and quicker, but add a few more grams.
Retail is $1,200 for either rim or disc brake sets.
A few other things worth looking at include their Portal road helmet and Rally mountain bike helmets use their Blendr mounts that attach magnetically. Quick, easy integration that’ll break away if you wreck.
Their Velocis road shoe now comes in a bright orange, day-glow orange color to catch drivers’ eyes.
The Flatline MTB shoe gets a new sole and style updates.
