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Submitted by
Brad
a Weekend Warrior
from Toronto
Date Reviewed: May 6, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$90.00 | | Purchased At: | Bike show | | Strengths: | Looks cool, Light, super stiff with little flex. Absorbs road shock very nicely | | Weaknesses: | None so far | | Bottom Line: | Not sure what the others are complaining about, with breaking and such. Bad batch I guess.
The fact is this, I weigh 225 lbs and this bar has been through hell and high tide the past 3 yrs with me on them, and still look as new as the day got them. Also I ride mostly XC, some down hill stuff.
| Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
James Rai
a Cross Country Rider
from Bristol/Peterborough U.K.
Date Reviewed: February 10, 2007 | | Favoriate Trail: | Brsitol-hey its round the corner | | Duration Product Used: | Tested or demo'ed only | | Price Paid: |
$88.00 | | Purchased At: | Wiggle | | Strengths: | Weight-I should I say the lack of it!
Afetersales by Easton is very good.
Light Xc use only. | | Weaknesses: | Maybe it was me and most mountain bike magazines who managed to get hold of a dodgy bar-tons of stress fractures and finish was aweful.
I guess if you managed to get a good one then you'd obviously give this 5/5.
I think quality control and shops etc should check before sending out.
Also magazines have stated for lightness you have sacrifriced strength.
Stick to xc with these and you're fine.
Its up to you and what riding you do. Light xc and you won't look back and anything heavier-stay away which I guess what these are not for anyway! | | Similar Products Used: | Race Face 'Next'xc 1" rise is on my shopping list today, it is 30g heavier but for that I get a quality finish and strength to go heavy xc/singletrack. It cheaper too. | | Bike Setup: | Rebuilt 6061 U.S Gt Zaskar, xt/xtr and other bling bits. | | Bottom Line: | Use these for light xc and you'll be and impressed.
Use it for anything else and it'll snap but you shouldn't be jumping with these.
For 30g more and cheaper I'd shop around if you ride hard.
Similar to Sid V's Reba arguement.
We'll see how the race face Next does... | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
muzza
a Weekend Warrior
from Dallas, Busharagua
Date Reviewed: November 13, 2006 | | Favoriate Trail: | Classified Means and Methods | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Purchased At: | girlie men in lycra road bike boutique | | Strengths: | damping really truly works | | Weaknesses: | price on these things keeps going north, or so Nigel at the boutique fibbed to me. He has a certain disdain for the intelligence of straight people. | | Similar Products Used: | factory alums | | Bike Setup: | 06 Santa Cruz Superlight D, mostly stock. Threw a Thudbuster on it two weeks ago, just to experiment. Can't convince myself to take it off yet. I'm sure I'll see the stupidity of this idea, someday.Maybe. | | Bottom Line: | Could it be most of the people who broke their Monkey Lites also sawed off an inch on each end? Reason to buy these bars is flex. Cut an inch off each end, and you stiffen up what's left. Size matters. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Billy Livesay
a Cross Country Rider
from Laguna Beach
Date Reviewed: September 29, 2006 | | Favoriate Trail: | Laguna | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$90.00 | | Purchased At: | local shop | | Strengths: | Nice and Light. Should be used stricly for touring and no aggressive uses. | | Weaknesses: | Snapped after 4 months of riding pulling a wheelie to go UP a rock?!?! I weigh 165 lb's so it wasn't as if there was excess stress on those babies. | | Similar Products Used: | salsa bars | | Bike Setup: | 5spot, talas, wtb wheels, sram/xtr | | Bottom Line: | I was happy that it didn't happen going down something! After reading another guy's review of snapping a couple sets of monkey lites, I'm bummed hearing about the customer service Easton provides on its warranty. Looks like aluminum is up next... | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Matt Sullivan
a Cross Country Rider
from Oskaloosa, Ks USA
Date Reviewed: September 15, 2006 | | Favoriate Trail: | Perry Lake Trail | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$75.00 | | Purchased At: | Beyond Bikes | | Strengths: | Looks PIMP, nice feel | | Weaknesses: | ? | | Similar Products Used: | stock junk | | Bike Setup: | Ironhorse, Fox Vanilla fork, lots o extra's .. .. savin up for a Heckler | | Bottom Line: | I was kinda upset at first, I wanted the race face bars but they were outa stock so I decided to go with the Eastons .. now that I've been riding with them I'm very pleased ... they look good ... feel good ... must be good | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jose Fernando Vazquez-Perez
a
from San Juan, Puerto Rico
Date Reviewed: August 9, 2006 | | Favoriate Trail: | Parque Monagas, Bayamon | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$85.00 | | Purchased At: | Cyclomundo Torrimar | | Strengths: | Probably the lightest mountain bike handlebar available. | | Weaknesses: | The product itself seems rather well built, until you use it as intended for a while... This bar is constructed for light XC only, and WILL FAIL at when stressed. I've had two of them, and both have suffered sudden deaths which fortunately haven't caused me any major injury. I guess I ride on the "All Moutain" side of MTBing which means I do some aggressive riding every other time. Yet I haven't had any major falls or accidents. The bars have fallen apart from regular use, in both cases around the 6-month-old mark. And don't even think of redeeming that "lifetime warranty" offered by Easton. You'll first have to find a soul to get back to you, after getting the run-around from Easton. This jerky will ask you for pictures which he'll "evaluate" for a couple of weeks, and later use them to dismiss your claim by telling you that it's all somehow you fault. Too much tightening of the handlebar, or the brake levers, or shifters, or some other thing, which of course, was not the case, as I saw my mechanic use a torque-limited key when tightening the parts to the handlebar. Listen, I understand perfectly that MTBing is a sport that's hard on the equipent, but I take the manufacturers at their word. When they say "lifetime warranty" it should mean exactly that, and their customer service should be handled as if they really want your business, not as if they already made their profit... Which means that their o-called warranty is a marketing ploy, rather than a serious offer. Compare that to Cane Creek who takes care of their customers. I guess I won't be riding on a third bar from Easton. | | Similar Products Used: | Many other models from Titec, Answer, Race Face, Azonic, etc. | | Bike Setup: | 2005 Ellsworth Moment, Fox Talas, Cane Creek Zonos wheels, XTR transmission and components... | | Bottom Line: | If you love your teeth, and care for your crotch get a titanium or an aluminum handlebar that won't achieve sudden catastrophic failure. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Adam
a Racer
from North Tustin, CA
Date Reviewed: December 6, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Strong, lite, comfortable, good looking | | Weaknesses: | none | | Similar Products Used: | first carbon bars | | Bike Setup: | Santa Cruz Blur | | Bottom Line: | These work great, at first I was hesitant to get carbon bars afraid they would break. Well I weigh 205 pounds and they haven't broke yet. I have put them through some good punishment, too. I thought they were a little to wide when I put them on too, but cut off about an inch off both ends. I wouldn't hesitate on buying these. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Chaz
a Cross Country Rider
from Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Date Reviewed: August 13, 2005 | | Favoriate Trail: | Hardwood Hills | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$100.00 | | Purchased At: | Kamikaze Collingwood | | Strengths: | Light weight, looks cool, dampens vibrations | | Weaknesses: | Bar is coated by a plastic 'skin' that wears off whenever grips/stems are changed, or a crash. Looks like a bad case of peeling skin after a sunburn. Decals have almost worn off. | | Similar Products Used: | Bontrager, Answer Hyperlite | | Bike Setup: | '04 Specialized Stumpjumper stock except for: Monkey Lite XC bars, EC70 carbon post, XT cassette, Race Face Deus cranks, Mavic Cross Max XL wheels. 25.6 lbs. | | Bottom Line: | A great bar for the price. No qualms about durability. The bar in stock form is MUCH too wide for XC riding. I took an inch off both ends of the bar and now it's perfect. The bike steers and climbs better, and I don't have to worry about the front tire wandering all over the place. Other than the cheap cosmetics, this thing is great. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
SGT. ROCK
a Racer
from Grande Cache, AB
Date Reviewed: June 20, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$40.00 | | Purchased At: | Nashbar | | Strengths: | Lightweight
Supple
Well finished | | Weaknesses: | Not enough rise
Too wide | | Bike Setup: | Ventana Pantera, Marzocchi Marathon S 120mm | | Bottom Line: | As a climbing junkie, all my XC bikes have flat bars & bar ends. My freeride bike has a big, fat Funn riser on it, and it definitely helps screaming down the steeps. I wanted to try a riser on my Ventana trail bike to see if it would help the same way, without killing my climbing position.
Well, everything is a trade off. The Easton is a beautiful bar, and it actually saves a noticeable amount of weigh over the flat bar/ends set up. Downhill control was improved, but not as much as I'd hoped because of the low (3/4 inch) rise. Climbing performance was reduced, as expected. The carbon fiber dampens a lot of the shock on rough trails compared to the old bar, a very good reason to pay the extra money over the aluminum version (for XC use, anyway). At 26" wide, this bar is about an inch too wide for XC, but I wasn't going to take a chance cutting a measly half-inch off each side, either.
Conclusion? If you're converting from flat to riser, don't compromise - commit and get a bar with at least 1" of rise to take full advantage of the benefits. You won't save your climbing geometry by going to a low rise. Unless it's for DH/freeride, seriously consider carbon firber. At the price I paid for this bar from Nashbar, I have no basis for complaint. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Fred
a Weekend Warrior
from Cumming, Ga
Date Reviewed: June 7, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$60.00 | | Purchased At: | pricepoint | | Strengths: | Light, strong, damping quality | | Weaknesses: | ???????????? | | Similar Products Used: | none | | Bike Setup: | 98'K2 5000 LT, minute 1, raceface stem&cranks, hayes, sram rocket shifters, | | Bottom Line: | these bars are super strong!!! I twisted a race face system yes twisted aprox 12 to 15 deg. the bars cracked at the stem interface but they did not break.
oh did I fail to mention that I weigh 270# .these bars are strong. Buy them You wont be sorry. the bars are being returned to easton for replacement. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
cory
a
from Phoenix, AZ, US
Date Reviewed: May 8, 2005 | | Favoriate Trail: | National | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Strengths: | Super stif, super strong, looks really nice | | Weaknesses: | price, but i got mine free when i built up my bike | | Bike Setup: | Heckler, 5th air, vanilla 125, xtr stuff | | Bottom Line: | Buy this if you want all around performance. i do dj's, freeride, dh, xc, and urban all on these bars and they absolutely ROCK. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Local Guy
a Cross Country Rider
from Oakland
Date Reviewed: April 19, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$120.00 | | Purchased At: | Summit Bikes (Berkeley) | | Strengths: | looks sexy and is lightweight | | Weaknesses: | that's just it: the weakness of the product is this product's biggest weakness. mine broke within 3 months. easton rep completely dissed me and I'll never buy an easton product again. | | Similar Products Used: | titec hellbent, various flat bars | | Bike Setup: | schwinn homegrown hardtail (1998 vintage); xtr drivetrain, avid ultimate vbrakes. | | Bottom Line: | I broke a pair of monkey lites within 3 months of installation. Luckily they broke at the bottom of a rocky section of trail right where it flattens out, and incredibly I did not crash and I still have all my teeth. The bar snapped right where the left (front) brake lever was clamped on. I read and followed the instructions that came with the bar when I installed them- even went out and bought a nice craftsman torque wrench for the job. What the instructions do not tell you though is that if you happen to be using shimano levers (mine are XTR pods) then you need to use a dremmel to file down the lips on both sides of the inside of the clamp. If you look closely, you can see that the inside of these clamps are not perfectly parallel to the bar they are supposed to clamp onto- instead they are somewhat concave, so only the edges of the clamp actually touch the bar. not a good thing with carbon, because it focuses the riding stresses on a very small surface area of the bar. over time (again, less than 3 months), it actually scored the bar at the right and left sides of the clamp, and this eventually led to catastrophic failure of the bar.
OK, so the bars broke- no biggie since I didn't get hurt, but it did suck having to ride 10 miles back to the car with only half a bar. Next day I went back to Summit Bikes with the bars, to see about getting them warrantied. The guys at the shop were cool about it and gave me a set of loaner bars. they said they had seen the exact same problem before and so they always file down the edges on shimano clamps. they also said they expected that Easton would take care of it and would be able to set me up with a new set of (non-carbon) bars. A few weeks went by and I finally got a call back from the shop manager, saying that the Easton rep had gotten back to him, and was not going to warranty the bars because they had been "installed incorrectly". I wanted to speak to the rep about it directly, so I got his number and called him up. The guy was actually rude to me on the phone and wasn't willing to so much as give me a discount on another set of bars.
So the bottom line is that I will never buy an Easton product again, and I hope you won't either. The easton rep had an opportunity to keep a customer and he blew it. I recently bought a new blur, which comes spec'ed with a lot of easton stuff, including monkey lites. I had the shop I bought it from replace all the easton stuff when they built it up. I got titec hellbents instead of the monkey lites, and thomson stem and seatpost replaced the stock easton stuff.
After reading some of these reviews, it seems that broken bars are a recurring theme when it comes to monkey lites. It sounds like some of the reviewers were badly injured when their bars failed. Luckily I was not hurt, but I was spooked enough to stay away from carbon in the cockpit. Id be interested to hear some more stories about people's experiences with easton support and sales reps. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
wayne sherman
a Cross Country Rider
from all ove rthe world
Date Reviewed: March 27, 2005 | | Favoriate Trail: | anything pisgah | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$20.00 | | Purchased At: | bought 2nd hand from non-riding buddy | | Strengths: | Light, Strong, Great dimensions - comfortable and wide. | | Weaknesses: | Price - unless you can find a deal like I did! Need to take special care not to gouge or crack them when installing/removing/adjusting. | | Similar Products Used: | Easton and lots of other alloy risers, lots of flat bars. | | Bike Setup: | Loaded DS XC/FR | | Bottom Line: | I love these bars! They are super light, and the dimensions are awesome. This is important to me because I use gripshifts with full-length grips. That way you can hold the grips only when really pulling on the bars or jumping/dropping and you don't have to worry about accidental shifting. A lot of others have complained about cracking, which makes me believe I either got a bar from a good batch or all the people with cracks are over tightening them. I have hit some decent drops, and really put these bars to the test on some good crashes, and they are holding STRONG. It might help that I use a 4-bolt stem faceplate. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Peter
a
from Houston, TX
Date Reviewed: February 19, 2005 | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Strengths: | Light, strong | | Weaknesses: | N/A | | Similar Products Used: | Aluminum | | Bike Setup: | Bullit | | Bottom Line: | Been pounding these things (200lbs) for over three years. No signs of fatigue. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Fred
a Cross Country Rider
from Cumming, Ga
Date Reviewed: December 17, 2004 | | Favoriate Trail: | Bear Creek | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$110.00 | | Strengths: | Light weight Vibration damping LOOKS GOOD!! | | Weaknesses: | None | | Similar Products Used: | Race face air alloy | | Bike Setup: | 98 K2 5000 LT 2000 Z1cr King head set Raceface cranks & rings Xt disc hubs 317 rims WTB Mutano raptor 2.4 Stans no tubes. | | Bottom Line: | I have been riding these bars since july of 2000. I weigh 240# so any one saying if you weigh over 200# dont buy these, look at your installation procedure. I ride agressive xc (Bear creek is 8 miles up and 8 miles down of rocky, rooty, water bar infested fun). I may not be the hardest on my EQ. I do maintain my EQ. very well. SO if your hand keeps getting numb, you want to drop some weight off your bike. GET THESE follow the installation instructions AND ENJOY!!!! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Chris Price
a Weekend Warrior
from Bridgewater
Date Reviewed: October 25, 2004 | | Favoriate Trail: | Riverport | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$110.00 | | Purchased At: | Bike Barn | | Strengths: | Very comfortble, extreamlly light and amazing ride quality. Looks great and everyone that sees it wants it. | | Weaknesses: | None, I heard lots about them breaking but not in my case. | | Similar Products Used: | Flat alloy bar about 5 years ago, Funn Fatboy Slim on DJ bike. | | Bike Setup: | Klein Attitude, Manitou Mars Elite, Thomson Elite Post, Easton stem, Sram 9.0 | | Bottom Line: | The bottom line is there is nothing better. I have been riding this bar for 5 steady years, atleast 8 hours a week. Thats 2080 hours of riding, lots of pounding, probly 50 races or more, drops, street riding and downhill riding before I got my DJ bike. I have never had a problem. I don't know what company stems others were useing but I have always used easton, maybe thats why mine hasn't broke. I hear that they are made percisly, and they garrenty no bar slippage when you have there bar and stem combo. Very comfortble, extreamlly light and amazing ride quality. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
matt
a Cross Country Rider
from burbank
Date Reviewed: December 14, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$109.00 | | Strengths: | light weight, good feel. | | Weaknesses: | a little flexy, cracks. | | Similar Products Used: | none | | Bike Setup: | racer x, ck, xt, fox, etc. | | Bottom Line: | This bar rode great until I started noticing little white lines around the stem clamp. Then I found a nice crack at the rise bend. Not good. I took extreme care during installation of this bar due to horror stories posted here, no scratches or burrs and careful torqueing(with a calibrated torque wrench) and six months later, crack. Fortunately it did not split in two. That was good. Now I know as a bigger rider I should not have been on a bar this light but I felt it was worth a try. Now I get to see how good Easton product support is...
I did get six months of riding out of it.
My opinion is, if you are 200+, ride aluminum. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Daniel
a
from Fairfax VA USA
Date Reviewed: September 28, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | Looks,light as hell, took bumps well!! ( Note i said took!!!) | | Weaknesses: | They cracked in half during a down hill section of a XC trail which allowed me to become one with my litespeed. I planted my face into a section of roots which tore my Sh!t up. And as for you people who respond saying these are not for downhill riding " I WAS ON A XC TRAIL NOT A DOWNHILL COARSE " they should hold up. I weigh 175lbs and riding a hardtail. | | Similar Products Used: | Bontrager, EC70 | | Bottom Line: | Maybe i am a little aggressive but i was on a hardtail so i wasnt riding all that hard. I will stick to my Crowbars from now on. My legs say save the weight but by broken lip loves the extra strengh. To each his/her own, wear a face mask if you choose to ride down the hills instead of walking. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Chris Stott
a Weekend Warrior
from Surrey, England
Date Reviewed: July 30, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$140.00 | | Strengths: | Light, stiff, look pimpy, nice sweep, width | | Weaknesses: | Only suitable for XC duties - not really a weakness but needs calling out, 0.75" rise is too low, expensive! | | Similar Products Used: | Various alloy risers (Raceface, Azonic, Easton) | | Bike Setup: | Orange Sub 5, Fox supension, XTR transmission, RF finishing kit | | Bottom Line: | I was initialy very happy with these bars. They are light and stiff, and they do seem to help cut out trail buzz. They also seemed strong.... strong enough to survive some serious downhilling in the Alps, at least for the first 4 days anyway. On the 5th day they gave up the ghost, snapping on landing a 4' drop to a smooth grass transition (that I had completed 5 or 6 times already). It was a sudden, critical failure, resulting in me face planting (fortunately I had a full face lid on at the time and was not injured), and having to ride best part of 10km to the nearest bike shop with one bar.
The failure was not on the clamping area, and the bars appear to have delaminated from the inside... they will be going back to Easton.
I still feel able to recommend them for regular XC duties, but anyone looking to do a bit of occassional freeriding should definitely look elsewhere. The consequences of them breaking on some of the super steep rocky/rooty trails I rode in the Alps doesn't bear thinking about. I've switched to a Raceface alloy riser now.
Overall rating reflects using them for the conditions they were designed for!! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Mark Leistritz
a Cross Country Rider
from Austin, Tx
Date Reviewed: June 1, 2003 | | Favoriate Trail: | Rocky Hill, City Park, Flat Rock | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$75.00 | | Purchased At: | Sun and Ski | | Strengths: | Light, good looks, durable | | Weaknesses: | none | | Similar Products Used: | Ti, aluminum | | Bike Setup: | Specialized M5 S works,Full XTR, Crossmax XL, Thompson, Chris King | | Bottom Line: | Heres the scoop. This bar is meant to be an XC bar..... Thats my opinion. This bar is not meant to be a down hill bar or freestyle bar. I believe it is strong enough but you are taking your chances. This is the best bar I've ever owned. The carbon fiber really takes up the vibrations and is a comfort to ride. The flex is a bit wierd to get used to but all in all, it is a great bar. I don't think I would go back to anything else. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Eric Emel
a Cross Country Rider
from Bristol, UK
Date Reviewed: August 26, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$100.00 | | Purchased At: | Bike Bristol | | Strengths: | Great trail absorbsion, ultra light weight, looks damn good | | Weaknesses: | a little flexy, but it is worth it for the absorbsion | | Similar Products Used: | Profile carbon, azonic DH, Club roosts | | Bike Setup: | Kona Unit single speed rigid..... | | Bottom Line: | Great on a rigid bike, though if I were to go suspension I would change then I think, remembering I ride single speed and put alot of strain on bars when climbing. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
John
a Weekend Warrior
from Chicago
Date Reviewed: June 7, 2002 | | Favoriate Trail: | Anything with dirt | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$89.00 | | Purchased At: | online | | Strengths: | Light, strong, responsive, smooth, light, durable. | | Weaknesses: | price... my lungs... | | Similar Products Used: | generic aluminum | | Bike Setup: | Ellsworth Joker (a free-ride bike with a carbon bar?!?!?!) Yup! | | Bottom Line: | As long as you read the instructions and DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN the clamps, your bar will NOT fail. Moutain Bike Action did the same thing to a carbon seatpost they tested and it broke. These are precision components (hence the price) and require proper installation.
Once properly installed, they will last forever. I have been riding mine for two years on a Joker, going off 5-6 ft. drops. My bar is immaculate. An interview with an Easton tech stated that the tested forces required to break the bars would break your arm bones first. That's a strong statement- Easton will stand behind their product.
Another strength about this bar is the shape. It is the perfect sweep and rise. Like a fine automobile steering system, it gives excellent feedback from the trail. I'm more nimble with this bar than the aluminum bar. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Evan Lau
a Weekend Warrior
from Mountain View
Date Reviewed: May 29, 2002 | | Favoriate Trail: | Flume trail, Tahoe | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$109.00 | | Purchased At: | Dreamride, Utah | | Strengths: | Very light weight, raied position (vs flat bars) | | Weaknesses: | None I can think of | | Similar Products Used: | Controltech (flatbar), Answer (flatbar), Kona (flatbar) | | Bike Setup: | '97Litespeed Obed, 02'Rockshox Psylo SL, Thomson Stem | | Bottom Line: | I bought this lightweight riser bar from recommendation of Dreamride's owner, while vacationing in Moab. My 3 yr old flatbar was overdue for an upgrade anyway. This handlebar dampens small bumps and even the large ones feel less jarring on my joints. I'd recommend it for X-country. I've taken a few spills on the bike, but no whatsoever damage to the handlebar. The Thomson stem handlebar clamp seems to fit this handlebar perfectly. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Gus Miron
a Weekend Warrior
from NJ
Date Reviewed: May 28, 2002 | | Favoriate Trail: | Skyline/Ringwood | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$89.00 | | Purchased At: | CAMPMORE | | Strengths: | Light-Strong-Sexy | | Weaknesses: | None | | Similar Products Used: | Azonic riser..& some others | | Bike Setup: | Cannondale Suprev700sx XTR-XT-LX-Avid disc-USE alien-WTB rocketV @27pounds | | Bottom Line: | A year ago I would have never bought this expensive product for my bike. But as I started to night ride the battery added about 2 pounds in weight. And I noticed it! This combined with some other well though out mods will drop about 3 pounds off your bike. This is well worth it!! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Brian Nicholson
a Cross Country Rider
from Friendsville, TN
Date Reviewed: April 22, 2002 | | Favoriate Trail: | Lone Mountain | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$110.00 | | Purchased At: | LBS | | Strengths: | Light, good looks, comfort. | | Weaknesses: | Reliability | | Bike Setup: | SC Superlight, CC AD-12, Xfly 100, King, Thompson, Xt / XTR etc... | | Bottom Line: | I have now broken 2 of these bars and am riding on a third. Easton will replace them for $40. I love everything about the bar except its durability. If you ride easy trails and never crash I’m sure it would be fine but then I wouldn’t be having as much fun. I don’t think I will ever buy a carbon bar again | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Dirk Diggler
a Weekend Warrior
from Tumon, Guam
Date Reviewed: April 10, 2002 | | Favoriate Trail: | Anything with Dirt | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$109.00 | | Purchased At: | SpeedGoat | | Strengths: | Lightweight, durability and the pimpin' good looks (like Shakira). The envy of other riders. Surprisingly stiff for a carbon bar. Absorbs the shocks, provides better control on the nasty technical section of the trails. | | Weaknesses: | The envy of other riders, always asking if it's for sale. Easton just introduced a lighter version of the bar, so now I have to get the lighter new model. | | Similar Products Used: | Race Face XC riser, Titec HellBent, Club Roost, LP low rise. All heavy compared to the Easton. | | Bike Setup: | Shimano LX/XT stuff, and yeah it's a mountaing bike. | | Bottom Line: | It's been over a year now since I had this handle bar and so far it's been reliable. Like a Chris King headset, you don't even know it's there until another rider will ask me if it's for sale. With the new, lighter version, I might just sell it but why bother it's so reliable. I purchased this bar with a Race Face XYZ stem thinking the bar will be flexy and could use a stiff stem, but this bar is just as stiff as an Alloy bar. The rise and length is just perfect for my riding (cross country). | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Scott
a Weekend Warrior
from Harker Heights, TX
Date Reviewed: April 4, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$100.00 | | Purchased At: | 123bike.com | | Strengths: | Very light, durable to a point. Easton quality. | | Weaknesses: | Mine broke. Not for everyone. | | Similar Products Used: | Answer, Kore, Coda | | Bike Setup: | Ellsworth Isis with all the goodies. | | Bottom Line: | My bike came to me assembled, without the Easton paperwork. Please read the manufacture's instructions before installing brakes and shifters. I can only assume that the levers or shifters were overtorqued, and that led to the catastrophic material failure I had, which led to a broken bone and a concussion. Easton customer service is great. Their going to inspect the bar and hopefully replace it. I wont get a carbon bar again. If your hard on you bike I would not recommend this bar. I baby my bike and look what happened. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
H20RNE
a Cross Country Rider
from CHATT. Tn.
Date Reviewed: February 4, 2002 | | Favoriate Trail: | razor back | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$89.00 | | Purchased At: | cant remember | | Strengths: | light strong reliable. | | Weaknesses: | none | | Bike Setup: | santa cruz heckler, xt and xtr with hayes hyd. disk brakes
king disko tech wheels thompson stem and seat post. | | Bottom Line: | great set of bars. buildi |
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$ 109.99
