Road Cycling - Easton EC90

Anyone have or have used the Easton EC90 carbon handlebars?
Would appreciate any feedback. Thanks in advance.

Originally posted by avivino
Anyone have or have used the Easton EC90 carbon handlebars?
Would appreciate any feedback. Thanks in advance.

I have them. I like them. A couple of caveats though.

[1] You have to be careful when installing them. You will need a stem with a removable-face clamp. Be careful not to overtighten the bolts so as not to crush the bar. You may need to install the paper insert to keep the bar from slipping. Magnesium stems wil hold better so I'm told.

[2] Biggest drawback: you only get one position for your brake levers. Fortunately, it ended up working fine for me. YMMV.

[3] Be prepared for some creaking. This is simply something you'll have to live with when using carbon bars... or at least that's what everyone tells me. I've seen some recommendations for decreaking of carbon components however.

[4] As with all carbon components, be careful when tightening clamps and keep a lookout for scratches.

[5] Some people like the straight more angular/straight rather than curved transition from the tops to the hoods... others don't. If you prefer a more traditional shape, this is probably not the bar for you. I specifically went with the EC90 because of the profile. This shape also puts the hoods a little further forwards than with a traditional bar so you may need to go with a shorter stem.

[6] There are no grooves for cable routing so you'll end up with a bulge from the cables at the leading edge or trailing edge (or both) depending on how you run your cables and what kind of levers/brifters you'll be using.

I think that about covers it. It seems that Deda has a similarly shaped carbon bar in an oversized clamp diameter (which of course requires an oversized clamp). Both the Deda bar and associated clamp cost almost three times as much as what I was prepared to spend however.

Boy those carbon bars make life comfortable! I like the shock absorbing feel of them. I agree with Khoun about all the features because I don't like the extra bend in the Easton bar. He pointed out everything I can think of about them :)

I would like to try the Deda or SA carbon bars eventually. I noticed they had the cable grooves molded into the bar.

I originally fitted my bike with the EC90 bars and used them for about five months. They were destroyed in a car accident and I opted to replace them with a Deda Newton oversized bar. The two main reasons I went with a different bar were that I would like to use an aero-bar attachment for certain events, and this is not recommended with the Ec90 bar. Also the reach for the shifters was to extreme for me. I use Shimano shifters, and may have shorter than average fingers, so if you use Campy or have long fingers this may not be an issue for you. The Deda bars are stiffer, but I think the Easton bars were stiff enough. They were certainly light enough, may have provided additional road dampening and looked very cool. I didn’t like the fact that they snapped like a twig when I lifted the bike up after the crash. They were the only thing damaged on the bike. However I can’t say with any certainty that Aluminum bars would have faired any better. Finally the price was significantly higher than my current bars.

I own the EC-90 handlebars and use the Easton EM-90(I think that is the right number), magnesium stem. My bar has never slipped at all, and I get no creaking. Atleast for my comfort, they work really well. Absorb vibrations very well and plenty stiff for me.

I did alot of looking at carbon bars and the oversized bars jump up in weight accross the board. Unless you have a problem with regular stiff bars I don't see the need unless it's the cool factor. I was looking for the leightest bars I could find within reason.

Originally posted by jayhop
Unless you have a problem with regular stiff bars I don't see the need unless it's the cool factor.

I've noticed a lot of new stems are coming out as oversized only. I hope this trend doesn't spell the end of 26mm bars. I don't think it would be advisable to shim down from 31.7mm.

Yea, some of the changes in bicycles and components seem to be just for the coolfactor or the latest thing with no improvement in performance. I've fallen into that before and probably wiil again.

"I did alot of looking at carbon bars and the oversized bars jump up in weight across the board. Unless you have a problem with regular stiff bars I don't see the need unless it's the cool factor."

Jay,
For me Cool Factor was not an issue. The main reason I bought the Deda Newton oversized aluminum bar is because they advertise that their anatomical bar has a shorter reach than any bar on the market. This may be hype, but the reach is significantly shorter to the shifters than the Easton bar I replaced.
You are correct that oversized bars are not as light as standard ones, however the stems are generally lighter. For example, my original set up was the Easton EC90 bar 180gr, and matching EM90 stem160gr. Combined weight 340gr. I replaced them with Deda Newton 31.7bars 208gr and 31.7 stem 125gr combined weight 333gr. The Easton bar and stem may have been better at dampening road vibration, but the Deda is noticeably stiffer especially on sprints and when climbing out of the saddle. Also as I mentioned in my first post not being able to attach Aero-bars was something I didn’t consider when I bought the carbon bars. At around$160 I dindn't like the idea of having to buy a second set of bars for time trials or double centuries where I like to use aero-bars.As for"Cool Factor", I think you could make an argument that carbon bars are more about cool factor than oversized bars.