Interbike is basically like a strip-club where you aren’t allowed to touch any of the dancers. This year I got all worked up seeing the latest from Easton but left the show feeling pretty unsatisfied. After flipping through the catalog hundreds of times and burning up the Easton website I finally got a chance to test the goods for myself.

Easton hooked me up with a component trifecta that’s geared toward all-mountain / freeride / DH rigs. Most of us don’t realize it but handlebars, stems, and seat posts need updating and/or replacing every few years, particularly if they’re abused day in and day out (guilty). Fortunately Easton has just the ticket: the Monkeylite DH bar (now in 750mm width), the 65mm Havoc stem, and the Havoc two bolt seat post. These products alone or together offer the perfect complement to your long travel mountain bike.

First on the block is the MonkeyLite DH bar (MSRP $150). The first thing you’ll notice about the 2010 MonkeyLite DH is the new graphics and flat white center.  More importantly you also now have a choice of either 750mm or a slightly narrower 711mm version. The DH bar weighs around 230 grams which means it’s still lighter than most bars and incredibly strong. You get a very comfortable 9° back sweep which keeps your wrists fairly straight rather than twisted.

You also get a 5° upsweep which I noticed reduces fatigue when turning (that little amount of rise rotated my wrists slightly towards the center of the bike and made me use more triceps). The 40mm rise placed my body in just about the right spot for hitting the slopes, reducing that unsettling “over the wheel” feeling. Since this is a carbon bar you’ll notice reduced sting from taking hits. Carbon allows the bar to flex without transmitting the full force of rocks, logs and drops through the bar.

The Havoc DH stem (MSRP $85) comes in white or black this year and has new graphics as well. There are three lengths to choose from (50mm, 65mm, or 80mm) and each sports a 10°rise. The Havoc stem is made from 6061 aluminum making it durable enough for the demanding rider without worrying about it breaking. I chose the 65mm stem (203 grams) which is not the lightest I’ve seen but I’m definitely willing to trade off a little extra weight for improved durability. The four bolt front cap was made as wide as possible to evenly distribute clamping forces, making it safe for carbon bars as well. The double pinch bolt at the steering tube is really a must for the all-mountain / freerider crowd. This is a very stiff unit that’s a great addition to any front end overhaul.

NOTE: whenever installing stems or bars, always refer to manufacturer info for torque specifications and sequences. Failure to do so may permanently damage the stem and bar.

The double bolt Havoc seat post (MSRP $80) is the third piece of the all-mountain pie. At about 285 grams for the 350mm unit you’re getting an Easton EA70 aluminum tapered wall unit that can take a ton of abuse. Available in four sizes (27.2, 30.0, 30.9, or 31.6mm), the post will fit almost any MTB seat tube out there.  The killer feature here is that you can switch between either 7mm or 8mm rails by orienting the clamp plates. Perfect for those saddles with beefier rails!

The double bolt design allows you to easily set up your seat angle and provides a strong clamping area to prevent saddle movement. I did find the angle of the bolts a little annoying because I couldn’t use a tee-handle Allen key and ended up using a slower L-shaped tool.  On the bike and hitting trails the seat post held up great with no creaking and no slipping of the saddle position – a definite plus.

Overall the fresh new graphics, solid construction, and trouble-free installation of all these components make them a great choice for updating your all-mountain rig. Bring all three into the champagne room with you the next time you’re out!

Thanks to the folks at Easton for providing the components for review.

Swinging by the very impressive Easton / Bell / Giro both I met up with a good friend of mine, Sean Coffey, marketing brand manager for Easton, for a tour of the 2010 goodies. For starters all the bars, stems, and seatposts received face lifts with fresh graphics and hot colors. The new Havoc stems sport wrap around graphics and are offered in white and the EA70 bar and stem now come in white as well. Speaking of bars, here are a few of the Monkey lite carbon series below, now in 750 and 711 mm widths.

Now while walking around the booth I also came across a truly awesome gem of a product which is the Haven all-mountain wheel set. You really have to see these wheels up close in person to truly appreciate the beauty. First off, the over-sized graphics on the side of the rim along with the bronzed gold color really make these stand out. The Havens also mark the first UST wheel set for mountain biking from Easton. The Haven, like the XC One and the Havoc, also use straight pull spokes to keep uniform tension and increase wheel performance.

When you have a chance, take a visit to the Easton website and check out the products for yourself. If all goes well I should have full reviews of these fine products very soon.

Cheers!

29er mountain bikes are more popular than ever these days but there still aren’t a lot of choices when it comes to components, especially wheels. Fortunately Easton offers 29-inch versions of two of its most popular wheel sets – the XC One and XC Tw0 – and I recently got a chance to try out the former on my Redline d660. The Easton XC One wheels are “designed to inspire the most demanding XC rider,” a claim I definitely needed to verify for myself

If you’ve been following the 29er debate over the past year or two you know one of the big disadvantages of 29er wheels is their weight, specifically when it comes to the rotational energy required to get things rolling. The XC One wheel set weighs in at just 1720 grams for the pair which is 170 grams lighter than the 26″ XC Twos (and only 135 grams heavier than the 26″ XC Ones!). I knocked off nearly a pound (425 grams) replacing the wheels that came with my bike and noticed quicker acceleration and faster climbing right away. I still haven’t found a major MTB wheel company offering a lighter stock wheel set than the Easton XC One 29ers.

By default 29er wheels face another disadvantage in the strength and stiffness department. Because the wheel radius is larger (14.5″ vs. 13″ for standard MTB wheels) spokes are 11.5% longer and are more prone to bending and flexing along their length (believe me, I already destroyed one set of 29er wheels in pretty a minor crash). Wheel manufacturers usually compensate by making the spokes stronger (read: heavier) or adding more spokes (also adding weight) but somehow Easton has avoided both. The 29er XC One wheels use just 24 double butted, cold forged Sapim spokes which are lightweight and high strength. The upshot? Easton XC One 29er wheels are up to 36% stiffer than the competition while remaining 10% lighter.

The Easton XC One 29er wheels use the same high tech hubs found in the original XC One wheels. This means you get the same large diameter axle to reduce wheel flex and the wide diameter rear wheel pawl carrier to improve torque transmission. And just like the original XC Ones, these babies are hand built and as true as George Washington right out of the box.

On the trails these wheels transformed my ride into a brand new bike (no exaggeration). On fast, twisty singletrack the stiff XC Ones helped compensate for the wide 29er turning radius with laser accurate cornering and control. During test rides I noticed responsive acceleration coming out of sharp turns and even dead stops, leaving my legs fresh and begging for more! Climbing on the lightweight 29″ XC Ones was a breeze and made swoopy descents feel a bit undeserved.

The XC One freehubs produce just enough buzzing to let you know they’re working smoothly but not enough to annoy the crap out of everyone around you. While these wheels are meant for epic XC riding and not FR or DH, mine have remained true even after some serious bumps and bruises at high speed. Small jumps (less than a couple feet or so) felt great on these wheels and produced no noticeable flex.

Thanks to Easton, 29er riders don’t have to settle for heavy, poorly designed wheels any longer. The XC One 29er wheels allow you to reap all the benefits of bigger wheels without many of the hassles you’ve come to expect. Looking for a set of lightweight, dependable, and stiff 29er wheels for racing and epic rides? Look no further than the Easton XC Ones.

Just a while back I reviewed the Easton XC-Ones and gave them a great review. But that got me thinking: I wonder what their all-mountain / light free ride wheels can do? Well I made a quick call, and the nice folks at Easton provided me a test set to do my worst. Ohhh boy I love a challenge, especially when it comes to hitting trails hard (with the bike and not my body)!

Easton’s Havoc all mountain wheelset (MSRP $799.00 USD, $1220.00 CDN), are a ground up design incorporating over-sized bearings and a slick, no tool changing front hub. You can switch between a 9mm QR and 20mm through axle in seconds plus there’s even  a 15mm QR option sold separately. All these options make this wheel set a great investment since you can adapt the wheels to fit whatever bike you ride in the future.

The Havoc wheel set is designed to take abuse while staying light enough to trek around without tiring the rider out. At 1930 grams (170 grams heavier than the 2009 Mavic Crossmax SX set) these are not the lightest on the block but by no means will they slow you down. With a 28mm rim and 24 triple butted steel spokes, these wheels are strong and will stay true for a very long time. Just like the XC One wheels, these babies are hand built using the same sonic truing methods to keep a uniform spoke tension.

So the Easton Havocs finally arrived and I was stoked to see what the big difference was between the Havocs and the XC Ones. The photo on the right shows an XC one front hub followed by the Havoc’s front hub. Side by side you can quickly see the size of the hub on the Havoc is nearly twice in diameter to accommodate the larger bearing set. You’ll also notice that with the design of the Havoc wheels the engineers concentrated on making a very stable and strong structure. These units are meant for some seriously gnarly trails!

Surrounding these wheels with a set of WTB Prowler MX tires (26 x 2.30) and heavy duty tubes took no time at all with very little use of tire irons thanks to the proprietary, extra-wide 28 mm rims. Kelso and Blue Mountain were my trails of choice for putting these wheels through their paces.

Just like its little XC brother, the Havoc wheels were super responsive and nearly silent smooth running, thanks to a good set of bearings and a buttery smooth cassette body. The 24 straight pull spokes under high tension also kept these wheels tracking precisely along the rooted trails. On the tight and twisty trails of Kelso’s Extreme trail, these wheels kept pointing and rolling in whatever direction I commanded without giving a millimeter. Coming off some 6 foot drops I didn’t hear a single complaint from the wheels – no creaking or groaning whatsoever, even after some not-so-perfect landings on a few large rocks.

After putting in several miles I found the Havoc wheels kept rolling along without the annoying munching noises that I typically expect from tired bearings. Even after all this abuse, the wheels stayed true which meant riding skinnies and rock gardens was still as satisfying as when the wheels came out of the box. I even found myself styling when going off jumps and drops, something I don’t normally want to do but I just couldn’t resist with these wheels!

To make a long story short, when it comes time for me to select the best wheel set of 2009, I am going to have a very hard time, especially after testing the Easton AM Havoc wheels. You can find these at most good retailers and if you look, you can get these at a great price. For your hard-earned dollar I would have to say go buy a pair of Easton AM Havocs and you won’t be disappointed.

Specifications from Easton:
Size 26 inch
Weight 1930 Grams
Hub F-AMH, R-AMH
Spokes DT Triple-Butted black (24F  3-Cross, 24R  3-Cross)
Nipples F: Alloy Black, RNDS : Alloy Black, RDS: Alloy Black

Once again a big thank you out to the folks at Easton for sending out the Havoc wheelset for testing.

Quick: What’s painted black, made of aluminum and steel, whisper quiet, and capable of traveling at hyper speeds? If you said the B-2 Stealth Bomber you’re technically correct but it turns out the Easton XC One wheel set is a pretty good answer too.

When you take the Easton XC One wheels out of the box you can’t help but admire the fine machine work that makes up these babies. Easton’s attention to detail really sets the tone: finely machined hubs for weight savings, an alloy cassette body, straight pull spokes for consistent spoke tension, alloy nipples on the non-drive spokes, and 24 double butted spokes for lighter weight. All these features culminate to make a lighter, faster rolling wheel that is stiffer and stays truer longer.  Speaking of tone, these wheels are all hand built and tone tensioned using a sonic testing unit!

Fitting a set of 26 x 2.1 tires onto these rims and placing a SRAM PG-990 cassette (11-34) on the rear, the XC Ones were ready to go. One quick note: don’t use any tools other than proper tire irons and especially avoid metal objects when installing tires because metal tools may damage your rims. Remember to always follow the installation instructions and quick release information provided.

On the trails the Easton XC Ones produce great acceleration from a stop. Putting down the power I really noticed improved forward thrust, which is great for racing. The reduced rotational mass and low wheel flex made these wheels almost feel like they were powering themselves. The low overall weight of this wheel set (about 10% less than competing wheels) also translates into improved quickness in steering. It took me a little while to get used to the ultra-responsiveness and I really had to pay attention to the amount of steering input I placed at the handlebars in the beginning. Easton claims these wheels are 36% stiffer than competing wheel sets and I could certainly feel the difference on the trail.

The only down side to high spoke tension shows up when hitting rocks. I felt every bump the wheels rolled over all the way up to my bars (changing to a carbon bar helped reduce the effect). But I did mention these are Easton’s top shelf racing wheel sets didn’t I? If you’re competing or wanting to go really fast for a long time you’ll have to give up a little on the comfort side of the equation – and for most that’s a tradeoff that’s easy to make.

Another thing I noticed about the XC Ones is how quiet these wheels run which is thanks to super smooth bearings and a virtually silent free hub. These wheels are so quiet that while testing on the trails I actually startled a few wild turkeys. The free hub is suspended by two bearings with 3 pawl fingers which grab the hub, allowing smooth positive engagement of the wheel.

Overall I have to say these are a great set of wheels that will put a smile on your face. I would almost dare to say these wheels will even help you crest most hills faster but then again it’s up to you to pedal. At the very least the XC One wheel set will help reduce the amount of force it takes to get you there.

Specs from Easton:

This week I came across a couple MTB news items that, although unrelated, point to interesting trends affecting the mountain bike world…

Image from cnano-rhone-alpes.org.

James Easton donates $2M to UCLA for Carbon Nanotube Research: Remember the early days of mountain biking when guys could just modify old Schwinn bikes into badass off road machines? Or even the days when anyone who knew a thing or two about welding could throw together a bike frame? Those days are coming to a close as carbon fiber and now, carbon nanotubes become the mountain bike frame and component materials of choice.

Easton actually makes a number of products beyond mountain bike handlebars and wheels including golf clubs, tents, bows and arrows, baseball bats, helmets, and every hockey sticks. While there’s no direct link between the carbon nanotube research funding and any upcoming MTB products (that we know of), it just goes to show the technology involved in building mountain bikes is becoming more and more complex. Is there a 5-pound rig in the future for mountain bikers? Time will tell…

Unemployed Australians Build Mountain Bike Trails: The world economy has hit a bit of a rough spot but in Queensland, Australia the government is paying unemployed workers to build downhill and cross country MTB trails at Amamoor in the Mary Valley. Workers receive training in chainsaw operation and trail building and will even get a chance to build trail features and obstacles.

It’s interesting to think about how many of the trails we ride today were actually built for hiking during the New Deal in the 1930s. These days it’s mostly volunteers who are adapting old trails to new uses but building trails AND getting paid – now that’s a trend I’m on board with!

As the 29er movement starts to take hold bike manufacturers are starting to realize that every part of the bike needs to be re-engineered to meet the challenges posed by larger wheels. The obvious kinks have been worked out (like needing taller wheel clearances on forks and rear triangles) but there’s still a long way to go. Easton recognized the need for wider handlebars to maneuver 29-inch wheels and recently introduced the EA 70 Wide based on the popular original EA 70 design.

Based on folks we’ve spoken with at the show this year it sounds like the 29er is really gaining traction in the MTB market. At WTB the rep estimated as much as 25-30% of their tire sales were 29ers; Mavic says they’re having a hard time keeping up with demand for 29er wheel sets.  In the coming year I predict we’ll see even more MTB components tweaked to work with the beefier 29er geometry – stay tuned here for the latest!