The Dread Easton EC90 99gram Carbon Fiber Handlebar

Against the wise advice of am-b, I bought this bar from my LBS and after one
race it has cracked. Wow! I am surprised that it failed so quickly. I use
a Ritchey WCS stem, no bar-ends, Shimano XT brake levers and XTR shifters.
I was careful not to over tighten anything and I tightened the stem very
evenly. It was not a catastrophic failure and it still seems strong and
reliable, but still...

I don't know what came over me, the bar just kept staring at me and I kept
staring at it and thinking, "It's 60 grams less and $100... It should be
OK... You only weigh 150# plus you are going to cut it down to 20" and you
don't use bar-ends..... Go for it... Just do it and stop thinking about
it. Do it! Go! Now!" Cha-ching.

The race course was very muddy and at the bottom of a descent there was a
semi hard turn with some slick rock which when mixed with my muddy tires
spelt crashing and going into a rock garden. My hydro brake lever got bent
but I was able to bend it back and continue. The pressure against the bar
would be like squeezing the brake lever so hard that it fractured the carbon
where it mounts. It was pressure coming at an angle like this that did it
in. Is this normal?

I'm not really a gram counter but lately I have been a little too obessed w/
having a sub 20# mtn bike. I'm at 21 now and there is really nothing more I
can do. How do people get sub 20 pound mtn bikes anyway?!

So does anyone think that Easton will warranty this bar? I am about 90%
sure that because it was raced they will void the warranty. It seems all
companies in this business have this policy now. The warrant card says it
has a five year against defects, but I thought these had lifetime
warranties. Would it be too dishonest not to admit that I was racing? I
mean $100 and 1.5 hours later, come on... That's pretty poor, isn't it?, or
is it?

Any advice other than don't buy Easton carbon fiber? Should I just stop
whining, cut my losses and buy an EA70 or equivalent bar?? Dang.

Dave

onefred wrote:

Against the wise advice of am-b, I bought this bar from my LBS and after one
race it has cracked. Wow!

Dave


Dumb ass... sorry someone had to say it ;-)

Easton has great customer service and has warrantied countless carbon
bars by now. There's some warranty contact info here
http://makeashorterlink.com/?L21312B97

--
Slacker

"onefred" wrote in message
. ..
Against the wise advice of am-b, I bought this bar from my LBS and after
one
race it has cracked. Wow! I am surprised that it failed so quickly. I
use
a Ritchey WCS stem, no bar-ends, Shimano XT brake levers and XTR shifters.
I was careful not to over tighten anything and I tightened the stem very
evenly. It was not a catastrophic failure and it still seems strong and
reliable, but still...

I don't know what came over me, the bar just kept staring at me and I kept
staring at it and thinking, "It's 60 grams less and $100... It should be
OK... You only weigh 150# plus you are going to cut it down to 20" and you
don't use bar-ends..... Go for it... Just do it and stop thinking about

Here's a thought - maybe you wouldn't have crashed trying to turn a corner
if you hadn't cut your bar down to 20" ...

Steve.

"onefred" wrote in message ...

Any advice other than don't buy Easton carbon fiber? Should I just stop
whining, cut my losses and buy an EA70 or equivalent bar?? Dang.

Dave

The racing clause is baloney. You don't turn into some kind of hulk
like monster because you're in a race, and besides, a handlebar that
weighs less than a toilet roll is hardly something you'd use for
everyday riding and so most of the hyperlight gear is really
specifically targeted at racers, or obsessive compulsives who build
light mountain bikes for some kind of tax loss.
Get your warranty if you can and by a sensible metal bar that wont put
you in a neck brace.

cheers

g

"gazzer" wrote in message
om...
"onefred" wrote in message
...

Any advice other than don't buy Easton carbon fiber? Should I just stop
whining, cut my losses and buy an EA70 or equivalent bar?? Dang.

Dave

The racing clause is baloney. You don't turn into some kind of hulk
like monster because you're in a race, and besides, a handlebar that
weighs less than a toilet roll is hardly something you'd use for
everyday riding and so most of the hyperlight gear is really
specifically targeted at racers, or obsessive compulsives who build
light mountain bikes for some kind of tax loss.
Get your warranty if you can and by a sensible metal bar that wont put
you in a neck brace.

cheers

g

My Easton EC70(?) Riser has been pretty bombproof. Survived the 3' drop
that killed my old frame just fine, and I gave it a thorough going over
before putting it on the new bike. Checked it over after my hard
concussion-causing crash last semester, and again, looked perfect. Then
again, I only weigh like 130 right now

If I was to buy a new carbon bar, it'd probably be a Maxm one.

Jon Bond

"Jon Bond" wrote in message
...

"gazzer" wrote in message
om...
"onefred" wrote in message
...

Any advice other than don't buy Easton carbon fiber? Should I just
stop
whining, cut my losses and buy an EA70 or equivalent bar?? Dang.

Dave

The racing clause is baloney. You don't turn into some kind of hulk
like monster because you're in a race, and besides, a handlebar that
weighs less than a toilet roll is hardly something you'd use for
everyday riding and so most of the hyperlight gear is really
specifically targeted at racers, or obsessive compulsives who build
light mountain bikes for some kind of tax loss.
Get your warranty if you can and by a sensible metal bar that wont put
you in a neck brace.

cheers

g

My Easton EC70(?) Riser has been pretty bombproof. Survived the 3' drop
that killed my old frame just fine, and I gave it a thorough going over
before putting it on the new bike. Checked it over after my hard
concussion-causing crash last semester, and again, looked perfect. Then
again, I only weigh like 130 right now

If I was to buy a new carbon bar, it'd probably be a Maxm one.

Jon Bond


my flat bar is going just fine too. it's not the superlight version though.
I don't even remember what version it is but it's 3-ish years old.

Michael

"Slacker" wrote in message
...
onefred wrote:

Against the wise advice of am-b, I bought this bar from my LBS and after
one
race it has cracked. Wow!

Dave


Dumb ass... sorry someone had to say it ;-)

You told me so! Know what was the first thing that entered my
head when I saw the crack? "S-L-A-C-K-E-R!" I had to swallow
a bit of my pride to post this ya know.

Easton has great customer service and has warrantied countless carbon
bars by now. There's some warranty contact info here
http://makeashorterlink.com/?L21312B97

Yeah, I'll go to my LBS and admit that it happened during a race and we'll
see what happens. I'm already sure that they will have to call their
corporate office just to figure out how to get their thumbs out 'a their
butts (What ever happened to the small Mom-n-Pop owned local bike shops?).
God only knows how long it will take to even find out if Easton will
warranty the bar. If they don't, Oh well, ya live 'n learn. It bums me out
a little but no big deal.

Dave

"onefred" wrote in message
. ..

snip

The race course was very muddy and at the bottom of a descent there was a
semi hard turn with some slick rock which when mixed with my muddy tires
spelt crashing and going into a rock garden. My hydro brake lever got
bent
but I was able to bend it back and continue. The pressure against the bar
would be like squeezing the brake lever so hard that it fractured the
carbon
where it mounts. It was pressure coming at an angle like this that did it
in. Is this normal?


Hard to say what is normal in a crash. If the impact bent your brake lever
then I would assume that there was some force there. Remember that the lever
impact will have a cantelever affect on the mounting point of the break
(assuming this is where the handle bar broke). Also remember that the impact
on the bar from your hands is distributed over an area many times larger
than the area of the bar used by the brake lever mount...

snip

So does anyone think that Easton will warranty this bar? I am about 90%
sure that because it was raced they will void the warranty. It seems all
companies in this business have this policy now. The warrant card says it
has a five year against defects, but I thought these had lifetime
warranties. Would it be too dishonest not to admit that I was racing? I
mean $100 and 1.5 hours later, come on... That's pretty poor, isn't it?,
or
is it?


Not sure this would fall under racing or crashing... If you had not crashed
would the bar have broke? Its one thing to "I was just riding (racing) along
and it broke" and another to "I was riding (racing) along and crashed and it
broke".

Any advice other than don't buy Easton carbon fiber? Should I just stop
whining, cut my losses and buy an EA70 or equivalent bar?? Dang.

Dave


In my opinion you do not have a claim. If I understand you correctly you
crashed (in a race which really has no bearing on the situation) and broke
your handle bar. Unless Easton has a crash replacement policy I think you
are SOL... I would think that upon inspection they will be able to tell by
what I will assume is a shearing break of the bar that an outside force
caused the failure and not a defect... I'm not saying don't try to get a
replacement just do be dissapointed if you do not get one...

Cheers,

-p

Pippen says:

Also remember that the impact
on the bar from your hands is distributed over an area many times larger
than the area of the bar used by the brake lever mount...

Ummmm..... but at a much larger distance, which results in a higher bending
moment, which results in an easier break. Unless we're talking about karate
here ;-)

Steve

"Stephen Baker" wrote in message
...
Pippen says:

Also remember that the impact
on the bar from your hands is distributed over an area many times larger
than the area of the bar used by the brake lever mount...

Ummmm..... but at a much larger distance, which results in a higher
bending
moment, which results in an easier break. Unless we're talking about
karate
here ;-)

Steve

Steve,

Excellent point... let me explain where I'm going with mine in a little more
detail.

I will refer to the inside edge (closest to the stem) of the brake lever
mount as A, the outside edge (closest to the grip) as B and the edge of the
stem on that side C. When a force on the brake lever is applied initially
the force will be absorbed by the action of the brake lever, at some point
the brake lever will stop (either the caliper pistons or the V-Brakes have
fully "locked"), I'm assuming this is before the brake lever touches the
bar. At this point two things (many more but will not address) are going on.
First there is a "bending moment" from point C to A (which as you stated is
less than from the grip) and second which I think is the most important is
the torsional effect from point A to B. I see at the moment the brake lever
is maxed out before touching the bar there is a force vector going forward
at point A and backwards at point B creating a shearing effect across points
A and B on the handle bar. Add this to the stress from the bending moment
from A to C and I would think that the bar would have damage at point A?

Of course much of what I have commented on is speculative given the
information that I have which I will admit is meager at best... Hopefully we
both agree that it was the crash that broke the bar and not bar defect
caused by normal race/riding wear and tear...

Cheers,

-p