After install I went for a short 8 mile ride around the neighborhood to test them out. First impressions are awesome, I really like the narrower and slighter more forward position. With the stock bars when I used the bar ends I felt like my arms were spread really wide and it was not very comfortable. Now the bar ends feel way more natural and I see myself using them more often. Finally I suffer from my hands getting numb quick due to a motorcycle accident when I was younger. I've read carbon bars will transfer less vibration to your hands and I think that is the case here. I will know more once I put a 20-30 mile ride on them this weekend.
Originally Posted by
ColonelSanders
So with a carbon handlebar like that, your existing stem was fine to use?
Why would the stem not work? As long as the center diameter of both bars is 31.8mm then the stem will work with them. With that said I'm liking the Easton EC90 carbon bars so much my next purchase is going to be the Easton EC90SL carbon stem.
Originally Posted by
carbon14
Is the Easton bar compatible with bar ends and is it made from a single piece or is it multiple pieces joined together? I recall that a few years back some of Easton's CF bars had problems with breakage because they were made from multiple pieces bonded together and would sometimes come apart at the joint.
The Easton EC90 bar looks to me as one single piece of carbon laid up. You can't find any noticeable seems or joints where carbon is meeting.
Yes as you can see in the photos above I installed the factory Specialized bar ends on the Easton carbon bar. When I was researching carbon bars I noticed some are rated by the manufacture not compatible with bar ends. Then others beef up the area at the end of the tube and will work safety with bar ends. Easton lists this bar as compatible and when tightening them down there was no cracking or noise whatsoever.