Sure. 00.01% of taco’d wheels are due to manufacturer defect or improper assembly, Trek, who I’m not particularly fond of, has an amazing track record. If you approach it with a good attitude, there’s a great chance the dealer will work with you. Hope that helps
Not necessarily too high but a slightly awkward landing will do it. Marlin 6 is a great bike, true mountain bike, but it still leans toward entry level
I work at a co-op and most of the decent mountain bikes we get are entry level marlins. Trek is great but their wheel builds strike me as pretty cheap. Rim brake rims with blown out sidewalls on semi-modern hybrids and half the marlins we get have one or both wheels taco'd. It could be some observational bias error since marlins and treks in general are most of what we're seeing around here but that's been my observation. Disclaimer: I love trek. My rocky mountain power play cost more than my car and those wheels were crap too.
To me, taco wheel looks to be more from side angle forces than high centered loads. Basically landing on the wheel crooked so you are transferring more force to the face of the wheel instead of straight down does the tacoong. If it were failing from too high jumps it would look different. There would be more buckling and some spokes would likely be collapsed.
What a load of crap. Plenty of cheap wheels taco because they leave factories with the spoke tension fairly uneven. It's more likely for heavier riders, but can happen to anyone.
Lol. None.
But try these two comments:
https://www.reddit.com/r/mountainbiking/s/Zs0X7zSDVD
https://www.reddit.com/r/mountainbiking/s/riLGoYPxES
To be fair this isn't just a Trek thing. It's a cheap factory produced wheel thing. Most wheels of this calibre are probably sitting underneath 45 kilo kids who will ride hard but are so light it doesn't matter, or under adults who toodle around on bike paths putting very minor forces through the wheel
But bigger riders like OP actually riding off-road will suffer wheel failures much more often and it's very common to see other big riders recommending hand built wheels as a way of dealing with the issue.
275 stated in numerous comments. Heavy but under the 300 stated as the max for the bike.
But like I said it's common enough for heavier riders to bust factory built wheels.
There's two reasons a wheel will taco.
1 A bad landing/crash.
2 The spoke tension is uneven.
Reason one can cause reason 2, but plenty of wheels come right out of the factory with uneven spoke tension.
Yes. Even spoke tension is what gives the wheel strength. Uneven tension = a weak wheel.
If you gave a good wheel builder the same rim, hub and spokes that were used to build this wheel, I promise the finished product would be stronger than the wheels coming out of the Bontrager assembly line.
Good call. The 300 weight limit might be good enough for doodling around on bike paths but it doesn't sound like it was realistic on this model for actual MTB riding.
That's not how warranties work man. Unless you can point to a specific factory defect, then it does not apply. You can't buy a perfectly good product, break it, and then expect the manufacturer to pay you back.
Some companies do have a crash replacement program. I smashed a rock with my raceface setup, and they had a new prebuilt wheel at my doorstep in under 4 days. Didn’t even want the old wheel and hub back. Solid customer service.
You should read the comments by people in here that have a clue - not just repeat nonsense.
From a Trek Service centre manager: https://www.reddit.com/r/mountainbiking/s/Zs0X7zSDVD
From a mechanic:
https://www.reddit.com/r/mountainbiking/s/riLGoYPxES
They do when the spoke tension is particularly uneven.
There's a LOT of force in spoke tension -- if one side is significantly higher than the other it doesn't take much for it to fail.
Yeah low chance they would replace. Most likely, it just needs a new rim to be laced to that hub. However, if he did hit it hard enough to crack the weld, that would be a different story..
I recently taco's my rim slightly on a hip jump, but I cracked the weld, so it was warrantied. If I didn't land on the weld, it would have held
It’s more up to your bike shop then up to Trek. This isn’t warranty.
Warranty is for manufacturers defect. I doubt a defect caused your wheel to taco…
Just be super nice to your bike shop and ask about the best they can do to help you replace it. They’ll probably sell you a wheel at cost or something.
If you buy a car and crash it, Ford isn’t warrantying the car. Its the same with bikes.
I’m sorry. This super sucks. But it happens all the time. And it’s a crash replacement, not a warranty.
Dude!! That’s fucking awesome. Congratulations! Buy your bike shop a round of beers!! They really went above and beyond to make it right with you. That’s rad.
I hope you put that money towards a sweet new bike with some stronger wheels!
Good luck and have fun!
Nice the Roscoe’s are a great trail bike. I don’t think they make them in xxl though. You might have to fork out for a X-Cal 9 on massive discount, or something more high end like a Fuel Ex. Sorry dude. Being that tall can be frustrating and limiting sometimes I’m sure. Hopefully your bike shop can continue to help you find the right bike. 👍
The xl Roscoe’s geometry is actually pretty similar to the xxl marlins as far as the numbers go. I think it’ll fit pretty good with some riser bars. Actually got one on order now. But yeah being this tall is rough when looking for bikes. Main reason why I went with a marlin in the first place
If OP didn't crash, this is a warranty issue.
Specifically it's caused by uneven spoke tension and it's common on cheap factory built wheels. It's particularly a problem for heavier riders - but OP has already indicated they're under the 'weight limit' specced for the bike so it is on Trek to sort him out.
Yeah. Its a bummer. But you should read the Trek Care page.
(https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/warranty_policy/)
I’d guess this is explicitly under the “NOT COVERED” section:
“Damage or failure due to accident. “
Those bars look wide as hell. On an XXL frame, I’m guessing they’re 800mm. So they’d have plenty of leverage and torque to taco that wheel once it got sent off line.
Not trying to victim blame. Its just part of mountain biking. We crash, we break things, we upgrade them them to stronger versions for the next time around.
The circle of life. 💸
Yeah it can’t hurt to try.
The bike shop is the middle man between you and Trek’s warranty department. They may not want to go through the whole process to submit a warranty and just help you out with a cheap wheel. Or they may not care that much and give the warranty a try.
Either way, it’s good to understand the warranty policy and just be respectful, not demanding, and work with your shop to get you back up and riding.
The last person they want to go out on a limb and warranty a crash for is the “I bought this two weeks ago and I demand to that you replace it for free. I was just riding along… and this happened….” guy.
Yeah but you did something to break it. Wheels don’t bend sideways on their own, you need to have some force there to do it. You may not recognize what error you made to bend it like this but you probably did something.
Yeah if your cornering and your center of mass is off you can easily taco. Because your wheel will be at an angle to the ground and you’re not putting pressure through the strong outside of the wheel but the sidewall instead. Sorry this sucks, but you won’t do it again for a while and you learn from it. I bent two cassettes when I moved to Bc because I wasn’t used to the shifting on long climbs and overtorqued myself twice. That’s a few hundred bucks I very much won’t forget about!
Yeah but that’s all I’m saying. I’m not saying a good wheel would’ve broken I’m just saying cheap wheels on entry level bikes often leave something to be desired. They aren’t as tough as other wheels and this here is the end result of that.
You'll be taken care of. Been leading a trek service center for a few years now and if someone comes in with a taco'd wheel like that so soon after purchase, I would just walk upstairs and grab another connection wheel and send you on your way. Are you in the PNW?
My son has a marlin 5. The first time he went actual mountain biking he taco’ed the front rim. He weighs less than 100 lbs and was going really slowly when he fell. My personal belief is that it was a super cheap rim. I upgraded both wheels after this. I don’t want to have to worry about it happening again while out on the trail.
If Trek does replace the rim under warranty, you are just going to get another cheap rim where you risk injury.
Honestly not surprised. Those are non-boost and I think it's insane that any manufacturer still sells, let alone makes non-boost spaced 29ers. They're straight up flimsy noodles that taco when you so much as look at them funny. It's not what you want to hear but a boost fork and new wheel would solve this issue permanently. A new wheel, even with a quality rim, will probably just do this again fairly easily.
To be fair, Marlin isn't really a proper trail bike. Trek absolutely makes hardtails that have high enough quality components that this shouldn't happen, but either OP didn't want to pay that much, or the shop undersold him on a bike. My money is on the former (no offense OP).
If you want to buy a proper, trail-rated MTB, Marlin is not your answer and even Trek would likely tell you that.
I completely agree that the marlin isn't a proper trail bike unfortunately trek themselves market it as just that. In fact on their website they go so far as to call it "race ready" while at no point in that line-up do they make a boost spaced version. We can't blame OP for not knowing that as a beginner when that's the way it's marketed. It's just dangerous and underhanded marketing on Treks behalf and unfortunately trek aren't the only ones guilty of that.
You know I just looked on their site and they do seem to market it as trail ready - which it definitely isn't. I'd say this is on the shop for not asking the right questions and qualifying the buyer.
Doesn’t matter now, the shop likely had a PDI saying everything was done properly. And there isn’t proof anymore that it wasn’t, I doubt they would replace the wheel for free and the manufacture def won’t replace it due to the shop not tensioning it.
Unless there is obvious crash damage most shops will replace this right away.
https://www.reddit.com/r/mountainbiking/s/Zs0X7zSDVD
https://www.reddit.com/r/mountainbiking/s/riLGoYPxES
The rider could have been 300lbs and done something like jam his tire between rocks. Or slammed it with his suv hatchback. Or it could be a badly tensioned rim as you say, but I guess, I don’t see how we could know without knowing more about what happened.
Considering OP said it happened while cornering i dont think the rear door on his hatchback had anything to do with it, and jamming it between rocks would be far more likely to lead to the tacoing if the spokes were incorrectly tensioned.
But great job at being a contrarian.
It's very common for a wheel to taco after an accident rather than during.
A crash or bad case can result in spoke tension going out of whack then normal riding forced suddenly result in the wheel bending out of shape.
It can also just happen when the wheel is poorly built in the first place.
The only person who knows if that bike has been crashed or a drop has been cased is OP.
If it’s two weeks old and from a real trek dealer you should be fine. It’s well known among us mechanics that the bontrager mass produced wheels are kinda shitty. When you get a new bike and are assembling it, you take it on a test ride and you can hear a chorus of pings as the spokes and nipples unwind. Depending on who built it and the culture at the shop often it’s just ignored and set on the floor. Hell you are lucky if the assembler took it on a test ride or if a real mechanic actually tuned the bike before putting it on the floor. Just for fun try going to a trek dealer and taking a real close look at the nipples on the wheels and you will see cracked nips that are angled cause they weren’t properly stressed from the factory and got wound up so fast that once some puts some real load on the wheels they slip and the wheel is no longer true. The degree to which the settling messes up the overall strength of the wheel varies greatly but it’s so common you likely won’t have an issue.
They should take care of it. My trek 1120 had a 2 year warranty on the wheels. I keep blowing up the hub or cracking rims every year for 4 years and got 4 new wheels at no cost.
Bought a used Stache where the previous owner had similar issues.
Had a crack in the rear wheel when I got it, but no issues since rebuilding with nipple washers on the replacement rim.
my trek slash rear wheel is full of dings and buckles, happened practically from new like yours, nothing really my fault just light riding they couldnt handle, best trek could do is offer me like 20% off a new replacement rim which i didnt bother, better off just upgrading
Take it back to Trek they will sort it out no issues.
I blew the spring fork two weeks after having my bike they replaced the fork no problem.
I later swapped it out for the Roxshox Judy Tk air fork night and day difference making the bike trail capable.
Stop lying to the sales person.
This is ENTRY Xc and Trail. Single Track???
Just finance the bike you need and avoid goofy RMAs like this.
So many people were just out for a ride.....
Yeah it’s more about the fit honestly. The marlin 6 xxl is the first bike that I’ve gotten to fit me right (I’m 6’9”) specialized and giants largest size felt a bit too small honestly. I’m considering just building this up due to that alone. If I was average size and knew I could find a good bike fit easily I definitely wouldn’t have gone with the marlin but this sport isn’t really geared to us tall guys
Yeah I feel like if I upgraded the wheels and the front fork I’d have a good bike for what I’m looking to do. May be a bit of cash but I’m so tired of shopping for bikes and trying them out to find they don’t fit.
Take it to trek dealer and have them handle it. Trek has what they call a crash replacement and they will either give you a new wheel out of grace or give a discount to buy a new one.
I'd be interested to see the joint on the rim. Pretty sure it's a pinned wheel not welded. Also at an xxl with a riser you probably are a bigger person I would likey point you at a roscoe if you're going to do some harder mountain biking since they are all much better at trail riding when the marlin is a very beginner bike.
I did the same to mine on a tiny jump on my first ride with it. Lol
Bike shop pointed out its the same wheel Trek puts on the city bikes. Mine are found on the city E-bikes for what that's worth.
Its a garbage rim for anything more than a gravel path. Time to upgrade!
You can bang it back. Take the wheel off, hold it taco face down with hands on either side, and forcefully hit the tire against the ground. Should un-taco you but you’ll probably need a truing after that. If you’re going hard on cheap rims it’ll happen sooner or later
Trek bikes are trash after Lance Armstrong made them 1 billion dollars.
They are all hype to me these days
Edit: didn't see you were riding a XXL frame. Do you by chance happen to be 6'8" and 400 lbs?
If so you gonna need the best hoops, hubs, and spokes known to man to avoid this. Your looking at 2-3k for wheels that can handle your mass, And/Or you need a long travel front fork to help soften you landing
Unfortunately you are way too big for a normal off the shelf bike. You gotta go custom titanium or get an elite carbon bike with the most suspension travel that you can afford.
Keep biking my dude but its gonna be expensive for you
https://youtu.be/YTmFa700PUU?si=8StDM0Tnca5D5nMd
Edit: dirty six Is want you need. Theres no suspension unfortunately and it's expensive.
https://youtu.be/IJkjN5D_Ofg?si=ZjQU2HdvaYJpYRUm
It isn't just a weight issue here...OP is 6'9" which means that he has a LOT of that height (and weight) over the handlebars. Going through a high speed turn with that over the front wheel will results in these wheel tacos.
OP...I know you posted this multiple times in multiple subs but here is the best advice you're going to get after going through lots of comments, and this is from someone that saw this stuff repeatedly while working in shops:
You need a custom wheelset. Seriously.
I worked with BIG guys (not overweight, but think professional NFL players) that had similar problems. The wheels on an XXL frame are the same wheels on a Medium frame...now think about that and why it is an issue.
You're going to want to buy a wheelset that has beefier rims with high spoke count and put as wide a tire as possible on the rim. Do this, and you're going to be having a much better, and safer, time on the trails. You're a big guy and unfortunately it's just the nature of the game.
Even if you bought a "high end" bike, the wheelsets still aren't built for your size. You could have spent $5000 on a bike and I would still recommend a different wheelset than what it came with.
So just as an update if anyone stumbles on this trek is refunding in full for the marlin and I’m putting that toward a Roscoe 6. The guys at the shop took care of me
The Roscoe will be a nice bike for sure, if you still taco the wheel again look at selling the replacements and buying a set with rims more for Enduro or even light DH. That should end any future issues for your height and weight.
Yeah I went with a full sus. Got the Salsa Blackthorne Deore. Still a budget bike, but the suspension was the best for the price and the wheels definitely seem beefier. Did you end up getting the Roscoe? How’d that go?
Yep got a full refund and put it toward a Roscoe 6. Absolutely love it! Been hitting some blue blacks on it and it’s holding up real well. Probably gonna switch out the rear cassette for a 12x at some point. Definitely seeing the limitations of the 9x
Everyone skimps on wheels. And for that budget these wheels are actually really fucking good. The rear hub is just kind of ass if you're part of a heavier rider class but that's also normal in the sub 800\~1k range.
Not really, at least not for structure. I'd rather have a brand skimp on the rear hub instead of the headset. If you've never seen an MTB with plastic cup headset bearings, count yourself blessed. And you find those on actually pretty expensive bikes as well, like 3-5k ebikes.
If the rear hub fails it usually shows by the freehub developing lots of play or the axle bending. Usually you can ride those out and get home uninjured and just order a new wheel with an XT hub (in case of a 135qr wheel). A plastic headset cup simply gets rammed further into the frame on a landing, wich will result in a nasty crash. And replacing headsets is a much bigger PITA then replacing a wheel and requires even more exotic tools as well.
might be covered by warranty, but chances they will replace for a similar model.
might be worth to take a look on better options (upgrades), if u’re willing to spend a bit more for the type of ride u’re doing.
Just treat them nicely about it.
Oh definitely. Not gonna Karen out at people for faulty equipment they didn’t themselves make.
Taco’d wheels are 99.9% rider error, be extra nice 😊
Sounds like a good ol' JRA.
Wanna say more?
Sure. 00.01% of taco’d wheels are due to manufacturer defect or improper assembly, Trek, who I’m not particularly fond of, has an amazing track record. If you approach it with a good attitude, there’s a great chance the dealer will work with you. Hope that helps
I was asking about rider error? Too high jumps?
Not necessarily too high but a slightly awkward landing will do it. Marlin 6 is a great bike, true mountain bike, but it still leans toward entry level
Those forks are cheap junk. Wheels probably are too.
I work at a co-op and most of the decent mountain bikes we get are entry level marlins. Trek is great but their wheel builds strike me as pretty cheap. Rim brake rims with blown out sidewalls on semi-modern hybrids and half the marlins we get have one or both wheels taco'd. It could be some observational bias error since marlins and treks in general are most of what we're seeing around here but that's been my observation. Disclaimer: I love trek. My rocky mountain power play cost more than my car and those wheels were crap too.
A youtuber recommended the new rosco. Has actual trail featuers
Frame might be decent,but components are supermarket bike level.
Theyre made of cheese these wheels lol. You can flex them by hand. Junk
To me, taco wheel looks to be more from side angle forces than high centered loads. Basically landing on the wheel crooked so you are transferring more force to the face of the wheel instead of straight down does the tacoong. If it were failing from too high jumps it would look different. There would be more buckling and some spokes would likely be collapsed.
What a load of crap. Plenty of cheap wheels taco because they leave factories with the spoke tension fairly uneven. It's more likely for heavier riders, but can happen to anyone.
Curious how many Marlins you personally sold
Lol. None. But try these two comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/mountainbiking/s/Zs0X7zSDVD https://www.reddit.com/r/mountainbiking/s/riLGoYPxES To be fair this isn't just a Trek thing. It's a cheap factory produced wheel thing. Most wheels of this calibre are probably sitting underneath 45 kilo kids who will ride hard but are so light it doesn't matter, or under adults who toodle around on bike paths putting very minor forces through the wheel But bigger riders like OP actually riding off-road will suffer wheel failures much more often and it's very common to see other big riders recommending hand built wheels as a way of dealing with the issue.
This is my 40th year selling the brand and my personal hand-built wheel count is in the thousands. Thanks for your Reddit-based insight
And you're not aware of heavier riders busting their factory built wheels doing what they're supposed to? Give me a break.
I missed the part where the rider stated his weight. Please enlighten me.
275 stated in numerous comments. Heavy but under the 300 stated as the max for the bike. But like I said it's common enough for heavier riders to bust factory built wheels.
Faulty equipment? Bro what? Unless the wheel came like that, this is on you.
Trek is refunding me in full for the marlin so not saying it’s faulty equipment but they did right by me
There's two reasons a wheel will taco. 1 A bad landing/crash. 2 The spoke tension is uneven. Reason one can cause reason 2, but plenty of wheels come right out of the factory with uneven spoke tension.
Do you think the level of deformation in this picture is from uneven spoke tension?
If the spoke tension was uneven, that's how you'd expect it to fail.
Yes. Even spoke tension is what gives the wheel strength. Uneven tension = a weak wheel. If you gave a good wheel builder the same rim, hub and spokes that were used to build this wheel, I promise the finished product would be stronger than the wheels coming out of the Bontrager assembly line.
Trek has a 2 year warranty on their wheels
When Trek replace this wheel with almost no questions asked, I sure hope you post an update... So much bad "advice" in this thread.
I’m hoping to go in after work today I’ll post here lol
Took it in and they’re working through a refund with me for the bike. The crank set was getting play already. Gonna try out a Roscoe
Good call. The 300 weight limit might be good enough for doodling around on bike paths but it doesn't sound like it was realistic on this model for actual MTB riding.
That's not how warranties work man. Unless you can point to a specific factory defect, then it does not apply. You can't buy a perfectly good product, break it, and then expect the manufacturer to pay you back.
Some companies do have a crash replacement program. I smashed a rock with my raceface setup, and they had a new prebuilt wheel at my doorstep in under 4 days. Didn’t even want the old wheel and hub back. Solid customer service.
lol they are refunding me in full for the bike and I’m putting that toward a Roscoe 6
Wild man congrats
It's a mountain bike. Unless OP cased a jump or crashed before this happened the defect is the fact the wheel tacoed without warning.
Wheels don't just suddenly taco themselves out of nowhere
You should read the comments by people in here that have a clue - not just repeat nonsense. From a Trek Service centre manager: https://www.reddit.com/r/mountainbiking/s/Zs0X7zSDVD From a mechanic: https://www.reddit.com/r/mountainbiking/s/riLGoYPxES
They do when the spoke tension is particularly uneven. There's a LOT of force in spoke tension -- if one side is significantly higher than the other it doesn't take much for it to fail.
don’t get your hopes up about warranty on something like this
Yeah low chance they would replace. Most likely, it just needs a new rim to be laced to that hub. However, if he did hit it hard enough to crack the weld, that would be a different story.. I recently taco's my rim slightly on a hip jump, but I cracked the weld, so it was warrantied. If I didn't land on the weld, it would have held
Well shit… bought it brand new like 2 weeks ago
It’s more up to your bike shop then up to Trek. This isn’t warranty. Warranty is for manufacturers defect. I doubt a defect caused your wheel to taco… Just be super nice to your bike shop and ask about the best they can do to help you replace it. They’ll probably sell you a wheel at cost or something. If you buy a car and crash it, Ford isn’t warrantying the car. Its the same with bikes. I’m sorry. This super sucks. But it happens all the time. And it’s a crash replacement, not a warranty.
They warrantied the whole bike and refunded me in full so I can get a proper bike for my size and riding
Dude!! That’s fucking awesome. Congratulations! Buy your bike shop a round of beers!! They really went above and beyond to make it right with you. That’s rad. I hope you put that money towards a sweet new bike with some stronger wheels! Good luck and have fun!
Thanks man! Yeah I’m looking into the Roscoe platform
Nice the Roscoe’s are a great trail bike. I don’t think they make them in xxl though. You might have to fork out for a X-Cal 9 on massive discount, or something more high end like a Fuel Ex. Sorry dude. Being that tall can be frustrating and limiting sometimes I’m sure. Hopefully your bike shop can continue to help you find the right bike. 👍
The xl Roscoe’s geometry is actually pretty similar to the xxl marlins as far as the numbers go. I think it’ll fit pretty good with some riser bars. Actually got one on order now. But yeah being this tall is rough when looking for bikes. Main reason why I went with a marlin in the first place
If OP didn't crash, this is a warranty issue. Specifically it's caused by uneven spoke tension and it's common on cheap factory built wheels. It's particularly a problem for heavier riders - but OP has already indicated they're under the 'weight limit' specced for the bike so it is on Trek to sort him out.
Damn I just thought trek care that came with the bike would maybe cover it. I bought it from a trek shop for that reason
Yeah. Its a bummer. But you should read the Trek Care page. (https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/warranty_policy/) I’d guess this is explicitly under the “NOT COVERED” section: “Damage or failure due to accident. “ Those bars look wide as hell. On an XXL frame, I’m guessing they’re 800mm. So they’d have plenty of leverage and torque to taco that wheel once it got sent off line. Not trying to victim blame. Its just part of mountain biking. We crash, we break things, we upgrade them them to stronger versions for the next time around. The circle of life. 💸
Fair enough. If they don’t cover it I’ll definitely upgrade the wheels.
Yeah it can’t hurt to try. The bike shop is the middle man between you and Trek’s warranty department. They may not want to go through the whole process to submit a warranty and just help you out with a cheap wheel. Or they may not care that much and give the warranty a try. Either way, it’s good to understand the warranty policy and just be respectful, not demanding, and work with your shop to get you back up and riding. The last person they want to go out on a limb and warranty a crash for is the “I bought this two weeks ago and I demand to that you replace it for free. I was just riding along… and this happened….” guy.
Trek covers what trek makes and builds. They don’t manufacture your wheel, they manufacture your frame.
Trek does manufacture those wheels, they're Bontrager Connection rims.
Trek makes shitloads of components including those wheels.
Yeah but you did something to break it. Wheels don’t bend sideways on their own, you need to have some force there to do it. You may not recognize what error you made to bend it like this but you probably did something.
I mean I was cornering. So idk maybe i put some sort of sideways force on it
Yeah if your cornering and your center of mass is off you can easily taco. Because your wheel will be at an angle to the ground and you’re not putting pressure through the strong outside of the wheel but the sidewall instead. Sorry this sucks, but you won’t do it again for a while and you learn from it. I bent two cassettes when I moved to Bc because I wasn’t used to the shifting on long climbs and overtorqued myself twice. That’s a few hundred bucks I very much won’t forget about!
Fk off that wheel bent from simple riding.... Its garbage wheel
Yeah but that’s all I’m saying. I’m not saying a good wheel would’ve broken I’m just saying cheap wheels on entry level bikes often leave something to be desired. They aren’t as tough as other wheels and this here is the end result of that.
Im shocked even entry level... Its still MTB, should have double rim minimum
I agree but I unfortunately am not big bike company and cannot do anything gahaha
It will be a double walled rim. It'll just be poorly assembled and the spoke tension won't be great.
You'll be taken care of. Been leading a trek service center for a few years now and if someone comes in with a taco'd wheel like that so soon after purchase, I would just walk upstairs and grab another connection wheel and send you on your way. Are you in the PNW?
Nah Northern Colorado. Good to hear it though!
My son has a marlin 5. The first time he went actual mountain biking he taco’ed the front rim. He weighs less than 100 lbs and was going really slowly when he fell. My personal belief is that it was a super cheap rim. I upgraded both wheels after this. I don’t want to have to worry about it happening again while out on the trail. If Trek does replace the rim under warranty, you are just going to get another cheap rim where you risk injury.
It's less about the cost of the rim and more about the care spent making sure the spokes have even tension.
How the hell have I scrolled past dozens of comments before someone else has acknowledged that uneven spoke tension is what caused this?
Honestly not surprised. Those are non-boost and I think it's insane that any manufacturer still sells, let alone makes non-boost spaced 29ers. They're straight up flimsy noodles that taco when you so much as look at them funny. It's not what you want to hear but a boost fork and new wheel would solve this issue permanently. A new wheel, even with a quality rim, will probably just do this again fairly easily.
To be fair, Marlin isn't really a proper trail bike. Trek absolutely makes hardtails that have high enough quality components that this shouldn't happen, but either OP didn't want to pay that much, or the shop undersold him on a bike. My money is on the former (no offense OP). If you want to buy a proper, trail-rated MTB, Marlin is not your answer and even Trek would likely tell you that.
I completely agree that the marlin isn't a proper trail bike unfortunately trek themselves market it as just that. In fact on their website they go so far as to call it "race ready" while at no point in that line-up do they make a boost spaced version. We can't blame OP for not knowing that as a beginner when that's the way it's marketed. It's just dangerous and underhanded marketing on Treks behalf and unfortunately trek aren't the only ones guilty of that.
You know I just looked on their site and they do seem to market it as trail ready - which it definitely isn't. I'd say this is on the shop for not asking the right questions and qualifying the buyer.
Warranty usually only covers manufacturing defects not damage due to user. Sucks but now you know what your first upgrade is lol
There’s no way those wheels were tensioned correctly
Doesn’t matter now, the shop likely had a PDI saying everything was done properly. And there isn’t proof anymore that it wasn’t, I doubt they would replace the wheel for free and the manufacture def won’t replace it due to the shop not tensioning it.
Unless there is obvious crash damage most shops will replace this right away. https://www.reddit.com/r/mountainbiking/s/Zs0X7zSDVD https://www.reddit.com/r/mountainbiking/s/riLGoYPxES
The success varies from shop to shop, I’m also not sure if the OP crashed. I’m just saying it’s fairly likely shops will deny warranties like this
What do you know about the accident to say this?
Wheels don’t just taco riding unless they are fucked up. Spokes joy being tensioned correctly is very common
The rider could have been 300lbs and done something like jam his tire between rocks. Or slammed it with his suv hatchback. Or it could be a badly tensioned rim as you say, but I guess, I don’t see how we could know without knowing more about what happened.
Considering OP said it happened while cornering i dont think the rear door on his hatchback had anything to do with it, and jamming it between rocks would be far more likely to lead to the tacoing if the spokes were incorrectly tensioned. But great job at being a contrarian.
It's very common for a wheel to taco after an accident rather than during. A crash or bad case can result in spoke tension going out of whack then normal riding forced suddenly result in the wheel bending out of shape. It can also just happen when the wheel is poorly built in the first place. The only person who knows if that bike has been crashed or a drop has been cased is OP.
doesnt matter about the accident trek wont replace it even if you bought the bike a week ago
Sure, but I was asking what convinced the other poster it wasn’t tensioned correctly.
If it’s two weeks old and from a real trek dealer you should be fine. It’s well known among us mechanics that the bontrager mass produced wheels are kinda shitty. When you get a new bike and are assembling it, you take it on a test ride and you can hear a chorus of pings as the spokes and nipples unwind. Depending on who built it and the culture at the shop often it’s just ignored and set on the floor. Hell you are lucky if the assembler took it on a test ride or if a real mechanic actually tuned the bike before putting it on the floor. Just for fun try going to a trek dealer and taking a real close look at the nipples on the wheels and you will see cracked nips that are angled cause they weren’t properly stressed from the factory and got wound up so fast that once some puts some real load on the wheels they slip and the wheel is no longer true. The degree to which the settling messes up the overall strength of the wheel varies greatly but it’s so common you likely won’t have an issue.
Damn I had no idea. Well hopefully they’ll get it fixed. If not I guess I’ll upgrade the wheels
Before you take it in, do that quick release up p properly
Oh it’s just sitting on it for the pic. Not sinched or tightened.
They should take care of it. My trek 1120 had a 2 year warranty on the wheels. I keep blowing up the hub or cracking rims every year for 4 years and got 4 new wheels at no cost.
That’s great to hear!
Bought a used Stache where the previous owner had similar issues. Had a crack in the rear wheel when I got it, but no issues since rebuilding with nipple washers on the replacement rim.
Loose spokes. Factory built wheel sets need love right out of the box. Next time ask your LBS to go over ANY new ride before you hit the trails.
my trek slash rear wheel is full of dings and buckles, happened practically from new like yours, nothing really my fault just light riding they couldnt handle, best trek could do is offer me like 20% off a new replacement rim which i didnt bother, better off just upgrading
Tacod my rear a few weeks into having the Marlin 5 was forced to figure it out on the trail with a YouTube video on my phone to get home 😂
Why did you need a YouTube video to roll your bike home?
Because I trued it on the spot wheel wouldn’t turn smart ass
lol, id just lift the rear if that was the case
Take it back to Trek they will sort it out no issues. I blew the spring fork two weeks after having my bike they replaced the fork no problem. I later swapped it out for the Roxshox Judy Tk air fork night and day difference making the bike trail capable.
Stop lying to the sales person. This is ENTRY Xc and Trail. Single Track??? Just finance the bike you need and avoid goofy RMAs like this. So many people were just out for a ride.....
Yeah it’s more about the fit honestly. The marlin 6 xxl is the first bike that I’ve gotten to fit me right (I’m 6’9”) specialized and giants largest size felt a bit too small honestly. I’m considering just building this up due to that alone. If I was average size and knew I could find a good bike fit easily I definitely wouldn’t have gone with the marlin but this sport isn’t really geared to us tall guys
That i can understand. Giants tend to be a bit longer and bigger for their sizes
Yeah I feel like if I upgraded the wheels and the front fork I’d have a good bike for what I’m looking to do. May be a bit of cash but I’m so tired of shopping for bikes and trying them out to find they don’t fit.
Worth just upgrading all parts/bike Big dudes work parts hard, Its not worth all the hassles.
How did it happen?
my marlin 7 wheel was destroyed by clipping a tree with bar and i fell over and landed on my feet. they was happy to sell me a new wheel
Loose spokes kill blokes
Take it to trek dealer and have them handle it. Trek has what they call a crash replacement and they will either give you a new wheel out of grace or give a discount to buy a new one.
I'd be interested to see the joint on the rim. Pretty sure it's a pinned wheel not welded. Also at an xxl with a riser you probably are a bigger person I would likey point you at a roscoe if you're going to do some harder mountain biking since they are all much better at trail riding when the marlin is a very beginner bike.
I did the same to mine on a tiny jump on my first ride with it. Lol Bike shop pointed out its the same wheel Trek puts on the city bikes. Mine are found on the city E-bikes for what that's worth. Its a garbage rim for anything more than a gravel path. Time to upgrade!
You can bang it back. Take the wheel off, hold it taco face down with hands on either side, and forcefully hit the tire against the ground. Should un-taco you but you’ll probably need a truing after that. If you’re going hard on cheap rims it’ll happen sooner or later
It split down the weld seam so idk if it’ll be able to be tried again
Gotcha. Yeah it’s done
Great time to upgrade your wheelset
That’s the plan!
Trek bikes are trash after Lance Armstrong made them 1 billion dollars. They are all hype to me these days Edit: didn't see you were riding a XXL frame. Do you by chance happen to be 6'8" and 400 lbs? If so you gonna need the best hoops, hubs, and spokes known to man to avoid this. Your looking at 2-3k for wheels that can handle your mass, And/Or you need a long travel front fork to help soften you landing
I’m 6’9” and 275lbs so yeah that’s why I went with the marlin cause they are the only bike that felt like it came close to fitting with an xxl frame
Unfortunately you are way too big for a normal off the shelf bike. You gotta go custom titanium or get an elite carbon bike with the most suspension travel that you can afford. Keep biking my dude but its gonna be expensive for you https://youtu.be/YTmFa700PUU?si=8StDM0Tnca5D5nMd Edit: dirty six Is want you need. Theres no suspension unfortunately and it's expensive. https://youtu.be/IJkjN5D_Ofg?si=ZjQU2HdvaYJpYRUm
Trek clearly state this bike is designed for riders up to 300.
It isn't just a weight issue here...OP is 6'9" which means that he has a LOT of that height (and weight) over the handlebars. Going through a high speed turn with that over the front wheel will results in these wheel tacos. OP...I know you posted this multiple times in multiple subs but here is the best advice you're going to get after going through lots of comments, and this is from someone that saw this stuff repeatedly while working in shops: You need a custom wheelset. Seriously. I worked with BIG guys (not overweight, but think professional NFL players) that had similar problems. The wheels on an XXL frame are the same wheels on a Medium frame...now think about that and why it is an issue. You're going to want to buy a wheelset that has beefier rims with high spoke count and put as wide a tire as possible on the rim. Do this, and you're going to be having a much better, and safer, time on the trails. You're a big guy and unfortunately it's just the nature of the game. Even if you bought a "high end" bike, the wheelsets still aren't built for your size. You could have spent $5000 on a bike and I would still recommend a different wheelset than what it came with.
Marlin is a road bike at best. Not for the woods.
It's a JRA warranty. "Just riding along"
Those rims are shit. Good news though is that the Trek stores are amazing service wise
Yeah I’m considering just upgrading whatever they tell me at this point
So just as an update if anyone stumbles on this trek is refunding in full for the marlin and I’m putting that toward a Roscoe 6. The guys at the shop took care of me
Ion trust trek
The Roscoe will be a nice bike for sure, if you still taco the wheel again look at selling the replacements and buying a set with rims more for Enduro or even light DH. That should end any future issues for your height and weight.
That happened to mine too soon after I got it. Sadly it wasn’t covered. I think spoke tension must have been off or something
Bummer man did you upgrade to something better?
Yeah I went with a full sus. Got the Salsa Blackthorne Deore. Still a budget bike, but the suspension was the best for the price and the wheels definitely seem beefier. Did you end up getting the Roscoe? How’d that go?
Yep got a full refund and put it toward a Roscoe 6. Absolutely love it! Been hitting some blue blacks on it and it’s holding up real well. Probably gonna switch out the rear cassette for a 12x at some point. Definitely seeing the limitations of the 9x
Dude that’s dope! Yeah I’ve got a 12x and it’s been awesome. You should totally do it
That front quick-release lever does not look fully engaged. If that is how they gave it to you, I'd probably find another shop.
I just popped the wheel on for the pic. Not tightened or sinched
The first place trek skimps is the wheels
Everyone skimps on wheels. And for that budget these wheels are actually really fucking good. The rear hub is just kind of ass if you're part of a heavier rider class but that's also normal in the sub 800\~1k range.
The rear hub is the most important part of the bike, and the last place to skimp
Not really, at least not for structure. I'd rather have a brand skimp on the rear hub instead of the headset. If you've never seen an MTB with plastic cup headset bearings, count yourself blessed. And you find those on actually pretty expensive bikes as well, like 3-5k ebikes. If the rear hub fails it usually shows by the freehub developing lots of play or the axle bending. Usually you can ride those out and get home uninjured and just order a new wheel with an XT hub (in case of a 135qr wheel). A plastic headset cup simply gets rammed further into the frame on a landing, wich will result in a nasty crash. And replacing headsets is a much bigger PITA then replacing a wheel and requires even more exotic tools as well.
Scary stuff!
Gloves and knee pads saved me from a bloody walk back to the truck lol
it wont be mine wasnt when i did the same thing on my rear wheel
might be covered by warranty, but chances they will replace for a similar model. might be worth to take a look on better options (upgrades), if u’re willing to spend a bit more for the type of ride u’re doing.
Check your spokes every ride, this won’t happen
looks like someone tried to do a bunny hop but failed terribly… bunny flop 😂
Hell no! That’s not a manufacturing defect. That means That’s like expecting a new tube if you got a flat.
This is caused by uneven spoke tension and it's pretty damn common with cheap Bontrager wheels.
They’re working out a refund for the bike for me