Bontrager: a most undervalued brand?

Bontrager makes some outstanding bike parts and clothing — especially when you factor in price.

I find myself continuously noticing great value from Bontrager bike parts and clothing. Nearly everything they make is of great quality AND has a far better price than the competition. There are exceptions of course, but I’ve found some real gems and my impression is that they don’t get the respect they should. Further, if you’re at all price conscious, which I think we all should be, then it’s really hard to ignore. Unless you’re a pro or someone who needs every fraction of possible gain at any cost, it’s worth factoring in.

Local Bend sights on the gravel bike

I’m aiming to do a series of posts on various Bontrager products that I use or have tried, and compare them to various others I’ve used. Note, there are some cases where I chose otherwise, so as I said, it’s not all perfect, but I think folks might like to know. Some examples (I’ll add links as I publish articles on these):

• MTB tires (and maybe gravel tires)
• Carbon wheels (road and mtb)
• MTB shoes
• Bib shorts
• MTB helmets (both “regular” and the new WaveCel helmets)

One suspicion I have is that because Bontrager is owned by Trek, and is essentially Trek’s “house brand” of components, that many folks just won’t look at their products because they assume it’s not as high end of a brand. Additionally, I suspect many don’t think it’s boutique enough or that it’s too mainstream, not cool, etc. Comparing this to outdoor clothing brands, they’d see it in the same light as say REI brand clothes, vs. Arc’teryx. I wouldn’t equate it to Arc’teryx (their products are definitely expensive, but I also find them truly outstanding and own many Arc’teryx items that hold up to the cost; but I also own a few REI items too :)

For somewhat of reference, I am primarily a mountain biker, but have spent my share of time on road bikes, racing cyclocross, and now am getting into the gravel world. My primary bikes these days, for which much of this is evaluated against, are:

• Santa Cruz Hightower (2018): SRAM GX, XT brakes, Crank Bros Synthesis E11 carbon wheels (29er). I also have the 27.5+ wheels that came with the bike, which are great for bike packing, or the winter time.
• Santa Cruz Megatower (2019): XTR, Santa Cruz carbon wheels
• Trek Checkpoint SL 7 (2021) gravel bike: SRAM AXS, Bontrager carbon wheels

Additionally, for size related aspects, I’m 165lbs/75kg and a bit over 6'1"/186cm tall.

My primary riding environment is Bend, OR, where I ride the trails and the bike park at Mt. Bachelor. I love Whistler and Tahoe, and spent many years riding and racing in Colorado. I’m known to race on occasion. Here’s a shot from the bike park:

The 7' wooden drop at Mt. Bachelor on my Megatower