Bontrager  R3 Hard-Case Lite TLR Tire

This review is for the Bontrager R3 (700 x 28) Hard Case Lite, Tubeless ready that was used as a rear tire. The tire was performing well until the sidewall blowout. I had about 350 miles on it. It suffered a sidewall blowout on smooth pavement without hitting or rolling over any objects. The tire was ridden on rougher chip seal pavement as well. Being stranded and the waste of tire sealant does not make for a good ride experience. The tire was inflated to just over 80 psi before every ride. The quality and durability of the tire is disappointing. I expected many more miles of riding than I got on it.

I have run the 32 in the past and it was an excellent, durable, fast, grippy, and comfortable tire. It’s fast and smooth on pavement, can take a few gravel sections, and will even get you through dry and smooth dirt (harder clay) if you drop the pressure a little but I wouldn’t say it’s a gravel tire… just a slightly more capable road tire. I just got some new set after wearing through the tread at over 3000 miles. The 32 is 120tpi, while the 28 has the “TR speed 170tpi casing.” I’m glad the smaller sizes are finally tubeless!

This has been my best 700x28 Tyre Ever. Light, solid and fast. I have had to pull out thorns and glass, and just continued riding. I am usually super shy about going fast downhill but I found confidence in the stability and grip of this tyre to the point were I achieved a descent of over 32m/hr of this tyre. All good over the first 200+ miles on it! I'll be buying another as a spare.

This expensive R3 tyre lasts only a few hundreds of miles in less a year before multiple spots of rubber layer loss are seen with the fabrics underneath exposed. So it no longer can be used.

I use these on zipp rims that were tubeless ready. Replaced the rim tape with tubeless tape.Tire bead is very loose for a tubeless tire. Therefore it makes it difficult to seat these tires on the rim even though it was lipped. I am used to mountain bike tubeless tires which are much more difficult to mount onto the rims and seem to see it much easier. Would not recommend them. I have switched over to continental. We’ll see how that goes.

I'm enjoying my new tubeless setup on my road bike - the 10 psi lower tire pressure minimum does seem to make a difference. After a month or two, no problem so far with this on my Shimano Ultegra wheelset and Muc-Off sealant.

I purchased a set of these tires in March. I have since ridden around 700 miles, and rotated them. I have had 5 flats in the last 1.5 weeks, and the tires are completely shot. They do not last long.