Easton EA series wheels

el tel

Have read a fair few people extolling the virtues of Easton EA90 wheels here and was interested in getting a EA50 SLs for one bike and EA 90 SLXs for another however have read that it it a total bitch in removing tyres and tubes from them. Although I don't use them, tales of broken plastic tyre levers are not encouraging.

Can anyone shed light on this?
Is the problem major or is it just something that wimps can't handle?

Cheers:)

DirkVoodoo

I think sy has a set.

I also heard reports of breaking spokes easily, freehub body damaged (or damaging?) by cassette.

Good wheelset aside from that though, if you are a light rider.

Check out shimano 7850 CL also.

Lumen

I have looked at these wheels and read the "steel cassette biting into alloy freehub body" thing too.

However, whilst replacing the DA cassette on my Powertap hub with a SRAM one last night, I discovered the same thing (damage to the freehub) although ISTR freehub bodies are replacable on this hub.

I guess my question is "is this cassette/freehub munching issue a normal problem with light hubs?", in which case the "Easton problem" is not specific to those wheels.

Second question would be "can the Easton freehub body be replaced?".

Quigs Snr

Its fairly common. Freehubs are considered a consumable part so yes, replacements will be available. I have American Classic 420'S which eat freehubs, so do the Planet X wheels. Mavic and Shimano are pretty tough, but I have also heard that the eastons are soft. Pity, they sure are pretty.

trek climber

el tel wrote: »

Have read a fair few people extolling the virtues of Easton EA90 wheels here and was interested in getting a EA50 SLs for one bike and EA 90 SLXs for another however have read that it it a total bitch in removing tyres and tubes from them. Although I don't use them, tales of broken plastic tyre levers are not encouraging.

Can anyone shed light on this?
Is the problem major or is it just something that wimps can't handle?

Cheers:)

I have a pair of Easton EA 90 SLX's since early last year and I have never had a problem changing either tyres or tubes. My problem with them has been with damage to the freehub from the cassette and also had to replace the bearings. I bought them from CRC and the back wheel is currently with them at the moment for the second time with a freewheel problem. In fairness to them they have kept me informed of what they were doing with it as there is a two year warranty with them. I have also had to repalce a broken spoke in the front wheel but that was on an admitedly terrible road.
All in all, I had been very impressed with them up to two months ago but now I'm not so sure, maybe it is the rougher roads up this part of the country - I dont know.

el tel

Thanks guys, good to know what I might be letting myself into. First hand experience is much more useful than magazine reviews which seem to be lab-based and/or regurgitated press releases.

blorg

I've also had my freehub munched on DT240s hubs- these are hubs with a generally excellent reputation so it does seem to be a common enough issue.

Murph100

I have a pair of EA 50 SLs for nearly a year now, and no problems with them eating anything. Yeah its a bit if a b1tch to get my Mich PR 3s on, but its not impossible by any means, I can only imagine the pathetic twit who said he had to bring them into his LBS to get the tyres on, wimp !!! ( I aint Arnie either BTW )

I have only broken cheap crappy tyres levers, the Top Peak ones are holding up just fine. The wheels are taken tons of crap roads without any complaints, and when I took them into my LBS to get checked over before the ROK this year, he said they were still almost perfectly true.

They roll really well and have a decent enough aero profile to them as well, my buddy with his Mavic Carbone SL appears to have little if any advantage, plus the Eastons are actually lighter ! Really good value for the money.

PS If yas can hold on I'll be selling mine when my American Classics arrive in the first week of Sept. They'd better be as durable !!!

Murph100

BTW Quigs, how do you rate your AC 420s ?

Quigs Snr

Loved them. I got them with a low spoke count so they are flexy compared to my Cosmics/Zipps/Kysriums but fine all the same. They are super light and the only bad thing I can say about them apart from a very short brake surface which makes fitting the brakes a little tricky at times is that the bearings in the hubs are absolutely brutal. They roll great but do not last and the freehubs are also soft. I think its because the micro hubs have just got such small bearings.

So in short they are cheap, light and perform superbly. I rode the Etape on them and was thrilled with them. They requiremd more maintenance though for me than the other wheels I have.

My front one has been in a bike shop for a year getting new bearings and I just keep forgetting to pick it up whilst the rear is currently in use on the turbo trainer.

Murph100

Sh!t Quigs, sounds like I'll still be needing me Eastons during the repairs !!
Its gas 'cos most reviews wax lyrical about Biil Shooks legendary hubs. You weren't tempted to put Record or DT Swiss hubs in instead? I'm getting a lil' bit tetchy about the Mag Clinchers now, or maybe they've sorted it out. Feck maybe should have gone for the Shamals afterall ....

Lumen

Murph100 wrote: »

Its gas 'cos most reviews wax lyrical about Biil Shooks legendary hubs. You weren't tempted to put Record or DT Swiss hubs in instead? I'm getting a lil' bit tetchy about the Mag Clinchers now, or maybe they've sorted it out. Feck maybe should have gone for the Shamals afterall ....

Hmmm. After you posted up about them I did a bit of googling and came up with a few complaints about the hubs. Not mechanical enough myself to separate the wheat from the chaff though.

Hubs are consumable parts, right? And the spokes. And the rims.

Murph100

Ah Jaaaaaaaaaysus Lumen !!!

I can only imagine how you would react if one spoke on each wheel was red !:D

Lumen

Murph100 wrote: »

Ah Jaaaaaaaaaysus Lumen !!!

I can only imagine how you would react if one spoke on each wheel was red !:D

Hey, I'd love a set of magnesium wheels. I'm jealous, magnesium is cool. Fortunately I don't have to buy them, 'cos you are. Then you can tell us whether they're complete crud or not. Worst case scenario, they'll be incredibly light magnesium crud.

At least you didn't buy Zipps. That'd just be boring.

Murph100

Hmmmmmmm ..... I've a feeling I could well be peeling off the 'OS' from me Assos kit

Raam

Murph100 wrote: »

Ah Jaaaaaaaaaysus Lumen !!!

I can only imagine how you would react if one spoke on each wheel was red !:D

Hey that's the speed spoke.

Quigs Snr

If they are the same hubs as the ones in my wheels they will be a bit soft but American Classic themselves have excellent customer service. I emailed them in the US and for about 20 dollars they sent me 2 sets of bearings to cover both wheels. That was a couple of years ago so prices may vary, but they sent them fast and impressed me a great deal with how good they were the deal with. Was tempted to go for the DTSwiss hubs but in the end with a complete rebuild it was going to cost a fair wedge of cash so I put the money towards secondhand Zipp 404's instead. Which I am not overly fond of. I have a wheel fetish but always seem to end up coming back to Mavic.

Murph100

Raam, I reckon you'd hit 50kmph going up the Conor Pass on them .... before the hub broke down.

Lumen

I think in fairness that we all know what wheels we should be lusting after. Open Pros on Ultegra hubs with triple-cross 36h DB spokes and brass nipples.

The thing is, no-one really wants to roll around on an 1800+g wheelset, so it's just a question of choosing the amount of pain to inflict on oneself.

The wheel industry seems to flip from one crazy idea to the next. I can't believe that companies are still persisting with Titanium spokes. Maybe they've worked out a way for them to last more than 100km before snapping. Or not.

Magnesium rims look, on the face of it, to be the most magnificently bad idea ever. ISTR that magnesium corrodes if you look at it the wrong way and burns in air with a bit of heat provided that the particle size is small enough, so I can't believe the actual braking surface is made of the stuff. Anyway, bravo for the choice. If the hubs feck up before the rims you can just stick some DT Swiss in there, it's not like you've lashed €3k on the wheelset.

Murph100

That wasn't too bad in fairness, also Quigs your mileage and wattage are on a different planet to mine, so I might be ok.

I was really tempted to have a set of Edge 38 Clinchers built up and be done with it for good, but that would be doing a real Alan Sugar on it But in my case No Talent AND No Money !!:D

Quigs Snr wrote: »

If they are the same hubs as the ones in my wheels they will be a bit soft but American Classic themselves have excellent customer service. I emailed them in the US and for about 20 dollars they sent me 2 sets of bearings to cover both wheels. That was a couple of years ago so prices may vary, but they sent them fast and impressed me a great deal with how good they were the deal with. Was tempted to go for the DTSwiss hubs but in the end with a complete rebuild it was going to cost a fair wedge of cash so I put the money towards secondhand Zipp 404's instead. Which I am not overly fond of. I have a wheel fetish but always seem to end up coming back to Mavic.

Lumen

Murph100 wrote: »

I was really tempted to have a set of Edge 38 Clinchers built up and be done with it for good, but that would be doing a real Alan Sugar on it

The Edges are really nice. Apparently the company was formed by escapees from Reynolds, who have since hired Paul Lew as director of fancy stuff. Let the carbon rim wars commence. Apparently the Edges have "formed" spoke holes rather than drilled, which is apparently stronger and means they can take higher spoke tension. Only problem (apart from the price) is the crap decals. I'd be inclined to peel the standard ones off and get some FRED decals made up in the same typeface as HED.

Raam

The only premium set of wheels I've ever had are Mavic Ksyrium SL, even they are on the lower end of the premium scale. They have lasted me very well and I'm extremely happy with them. If and when I go for something with a deep section, I think I'm going to stick with what I know and get some Cosmic Carbones.


Quigs: what do you reckon about the carbones?

el tel

Murph100 wrote: »

I have a pair of EA 50 SLs for nearly a year now, and no problems with them eating anything. Yeah its a bit if a b1tch to get my Mich PR 3s on, but its not impossible by any means, I can only imagine the pathetic twit who said he had to bring them into his LBS to get the tyres on, wimp !!! ( I aint Arnie either BTW )

I have only broken cheap crappy tyres levers, the Top Peak ones are holding up just fine. The wheels are taken tons of crap roads without any complaints, and when I took them into my LBS to get checked over before the ROK this year, he said they were still almost perfectly true.

They roll really well and have a decent enough aero profile to them as well, my buddy with his Mavic Carbone SL appears to have little if any advantage, plus the Eastons are actually lighter ! Really good value for the money.

PS If yas can hold on I'll be selling mine when my American Classics arrive in the first week of Sept. They'd better be as durable !!!

Cheers, give me a shout when when you are moving them on

sy

Have a pair of Easton EA 90 SLX's and no probs (yet!) with about 3000k on them. No problem removing tyres either and they do look great;). I am 65kgs so probably helps. As far as I know all alloy hubs, as has already been stated by Lumen and QuigsSnr, are prone to some damage from steel blocks. Have to say I really like them.

Quigs Snr

Raam wrote: »

Quigs: what do you reckon about the carbones?

Love them. Heavy, fill up with water when you wash them with too much water or ride through a puddle etc... but they make a fantastic noise, look great and are really stiff. Seriously everyone faffs on about stiffness in bike parts and 999 times out of 1000 I cannot tell the difference, but these wheels are noticeably stiffer than most.

I feel faster on them for flatish courses, they are not all that bad on a hill either. Your bike will be noticeably heavier with them on, but not enough that it will hold you back much. You should take them for a spin if you are around for the Sean Kelly, see what you think.

Put it another way, of all the wheels I have I am considering selling my Zipps at the moment but would not part with the Cosmics at any price.


By the way Murph100 my wattage and certainley my mileage is no great shakes, and even less so when I was riding the American Classics a couple of years ago. The hubs went after approx 3000km. The rear one went first followed by the front about 500km later. I wasn't racing at the time, actually thats a lie I scored my first ever win on them and the hub problems occured about 3 weeks later, but most of the riding, 95% of it anyway on those wheels was easy rides at between 25-30kph

Raam

Quigs Snr wrote: »

You should take them for a spin if you are around for the Sean Kelly, see what you think.

Thank you very much for the offer, but unfortunately I'll be at the other end of the country that weekend.

Murph100

Crap !! I guess 3000km aint the worst either though, curiously enough I've seen very little complaints about the actual Mag rims themselves, all problems seem to be with the hubs and spokes, so maybe a rebuild with Record / Sapim when the hubs do pack in, might be the best solution, providing the rims dont go up in flames ( There, said it for ya Lumen !! ).

Quigs Snr wrote: »

By the way Murph100 my wattage and certainley my mileage is no great shakes, and even less so when I was riding the American Classics a couple of years ago. The hubs went after approx 3000km. The rear one went first followed by the front about 500km later. I wasn't racing at the time, actually thats a lie I scored my first ever win on them and the hub problems occured about 3 weeks later, but most of the riding, 95% of it anyway on those wheels was easy rides at between 25-30kph

Lumen

Reynolds Attack hub (not mine) after 750 miles of racing use.

blorg

@Quigs- I might take you up on that offer of a trial if it is open, are you not using them for the SK yourself or do you mean spin outside of the event? Have R-SYS currently which are also very nice, you would be welcome to give them a go (wear a helmet )

@Lumen- my DT freehub is substantially more eaten than that Reynolds, I would not consider that bad at all.

Lumen

blorg wrote: »

@Lumen- my DT freehub is substantially more eaten than that Reynolds, I would not consider that bad at all.

No indeed, my PT is also worse than that. I think Reynolds use DT hubs anyway, was just giving further evidence that even the "best" hubs suffer this issue.

penexpers

Quigs Snr wrote: »

but they make a fantastic noise,

I can attest to this - lovely whoosh whoosh noise.

Murph100

Quick question for you on that. My training buddy got a PT Cosmic Carbone set recently, and either the powertap or the fairing on the Cosmics is seriously amplifying the sound of gear changes. I can hear him a mile away when he decides to attack, end result is a LOT of failed attacks .

Is this a 'feature' of the Mavics ?

Quigs Snr wrote: »

but they make a fantastic noise

keogh777

penexpers wrote: »

I can attest to this - lovely whoosh whoosh noise.

Hi,

Looking for a bit of advice, I was thinking of upgrading from Ksyrium Equipe to either
Cosmic Carbone SL - look great
Campag Eurus - two way fit for tubeless tires (getting good reviews)
Fulcrums Ones - Again good reviews
Easton EA90 SLX - Value for money
I mainly will use them as a good set of wheels for sportives and club races. Any recommendations appricaited

Quigs Snr

Murph100 wrote: »

Is this a 'feature' of the Mavics ?

Yep, the fairing is hollow and does tend to amplify things. I know that one of our sprinters had to get rid of them because people could hear him before he passed them whilst putting in an attack. No chance of a sneak attack, he may as well have been wearing bells on his feet.

Keogh, Carbones look great, last and will be fine for you. The Eurus and Fulcrum one would be more versatile, less problematic on windy days etc.. (Although the cosmics are not that bad - worse than a standard wheel though for sure). The Eastons are good value but talking to other riders they appear a little weaker on average than campag / mavic. Up to you really.. they are all good wheels.

keogh777

Cheers Quigs,

Do you think there would be notable difference going from Equipes to any of these wheels, say Carbones

Quigs Snr

keogh777 wrote: »

Cheers Quigs,

Do you think there would be notable difference going from Equipes to any of these wheels, say Carbones

Nope. But your bike will look cooler and you will feel quicker for a while (placebo effect). They might make you a fraction quicker in certain circumstances but unless you are already at your physical maximum, I would imagine that real performance increases over the Equipes would be negligible. Now if you were to tell me that you would be racing TT's at 50kph then the Cosmics might help a little, or if you were going to be doing hillclimb races on a set of LEW's or Zipp 202's then you might notice it. But for what you will be doing the difference between the Carbones and the Equipes will mostly just be that your bike will be prettier (and sound fast). But hey, nothing wrong with that. Its a good enough reason for me.

Blorg. We should be able to arrange something around the SK.

keogh777

Quigs Snr wrote: »

Nope. But your bike will look cooler and you will feel quicker for a while (placebo effect). They might make you a fraction quicker in certain circumstances but unless you are already at your physical maximum, I would imagine that real performance increases over the Equipes would be negligible. Now if you were to tell me that you would be racing TT's at 50kph then the Cosmics might help a little, or if you were going to be doing hillclimb races on a set of LEW's or Zipp 202's then you might notice it. But for what you will be doing the difference between the Carbones and the Equipes will mostly just be that your bike will be prettier (and sound fast). But hey, nothing wrong with that. Its a good enough reason for me.


some super performance enhancing excuse would have been nice to justify the spend to myself but i guess deep down it is just about me wanting my bike to look better and better - is there ever an end to bike upgrades

thanks for the info

Murph100

Are ya looking for Campag fit or d'udder one ?

el tel wrote: »

Cheers, give me a shout when when you are moving them on

Lumen

keogh777 wrote: »

some super performance enhancing excuse would have been nice to justify the spend to myself

You need only ask.

According to Zipp (and I found some research to back this up) aero improvements expressed as additional speed are the same regardless of how fast you are. Now, because the faster you are the more power you must to produce to go faster, slower riders get more benefit relatively speaking from aero wheels, compared to (say) EPO injections, than would faster riders. As a happy coincidence for Zipp, there is a strong correlation between slowness, large wheel budgets and equipment fetishism, particularly (as stereotyped in the US) from members of the dentistry profession.

In other words, buying fancy wheels means you don't have to dope. Or something.

Murph100

BTW Lumen, I've cracked .... despite the fact that I sooo desperately wanted self combusting wheels, I was told today that the delivery date might now be a week or two later. I can see this becoming a reoccurring phrase every fortnight until we hit Christmas so I'm getting the Campy Shamals, should be here this Friday. I'll let someone else be the magnesium guinea pig for now

BUT so as not to totally cave in to conformity, I'm gonna fit tubeless Hutch's on them !!