Bontrager.com has the Race X Lite wheels as $649 list and the Race Lite as $499. Yet every bike shop I call has the Race Lite for somewhere between $400 and $425 and the Race X Lite as $700 to $800. I finally asked the guy at one shop about the difference and he said he would ask his Trek rep, then he remembered and said something about Mavic suing Bontrager for some patent involving "cutouts" (I don't know what he was talking about) and so Bontrager removed these and lowered the price on the wheels. Does anyone know anything about this? Are there any online places that sell Bontrager or any places that knows about the price change so I can get these wheels for a decent price?
Here are the details of the law suit:
http://www.bicycleretailer.com/bicycleretailer/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1809031
Mavic And Trek Settle Rim Patent Dispute
FEBRUARY 05, 2003 -- ANNECY, France (BRAIN)--Mavic and Trek settled a patent dispute concerning Mavic's Inter-Spoke Milling process. Details of the settlement are confidential.
"There is nothing I can say about the settlement except that Trek has agreed to stop making and promoting its Radial Ridge wheels and rims. The milling technology allows us to save about 40 grams per rim, which is substantial," said Chris Zigmont, Mavic's marketing manager.
The U.S. patent under dispute, 6,402,256, covers the technique of milling material out of the rim between the spoke eyelets. Mavic calls the technique Inter-Spoke Milling or ISM.
Trek started using a similar milling process on some of its Bontrager wheels this summer. When Mavic objected, Trek changed the way it removed the material slightly, leaving a web of material down the center of the cutout. According to the settlement, however, Trek will stop making and promoting these Radial Ridge rims, as well as its first flat-milled rims.