Easton EA70

Price Paid:  $64.00 at Speedgoat

Favorite Ride:
anywhere without traffic

Bike Setup:
'03 Raleigh Professional, Campy Centaur

Summary:
I have the 42cm size, using with a standard ITM Millenium stem. No problem with these two components at the bar clamp, they mate well with no slippage or squeaking.

I don't notice a lot of flexing, just a bit when I'm on the ends of the bar. But that happens with every bar I've owned so I wouldn't say the EA70 is much different than others in that respect.

The bend at the lever position is one of the best I've found for Campy. There's no stretching to reach the brakes or thumbshifters while in the drops. Also has double grooves for Campy cables that not all bars have. It's light too.

Only downside for me is I'd like a tighter bend on the tops (like the Ritchey's), but otherwise this is a great handlebar.

Similar Products Used:
Cinelli Nerve, Deda Newton OS, Ritchey Biomax, Biomax Pro (both w/o flare), & Pro Road, Salsa Bell Lap, TTT Morphe & Prima 199.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Bike Setup:
Surly Pacer, full Ultegra (a double, of course), Easton EA70 bar and stem (soon to be unbent with my bare hands, which would be no great feat of strength, burnt, and then tossed in the trash for the reasons described above), Easton EC70 seat post (which is great, actually), Turbomatic Saddle (which is awesome), Mavic Open Pro Rims (you know all about these already).

Summary:
Limp, limp, limp, limp, limp! Stand to accelerate and it takes the bike ten seconds to catch up with you. I just can't stand without getting the sensation that the poor thing is about to give up the ghost. This is without question the single most flexible handlebar I've ever encountered. Granted, I'm a big guy and I don't waste any time getting up to speed. I live in the city and there's a lot of stop lights and hills between me and the burbs (where I do my recreational riding), but guys, if you've got any kind of power at all, avoid this bar and stem combo. Maybe their OS version is better. If you're a jockey-sized gram-counter who never has to ride in an urban environment, forget I said anything, but I'd speculate that you might not like this bar if you ever try a real climb (like you find in the Green Mountains, the White Maountains, the Smokies, the Rockies, the Cascades, the Adirondacks, etc.)

Strengths:
Well, it's light, but that's not the way to impress me with this particular component. This thing could be a pound all by itself, but if that made it rigid enough to make me feel confident when I accellerate and climb, it would easily be worth it to me.

Weaknesses:
Just absolutely the limpest stem/bar combo I've ever ridden. Rode? Sorry kids, I'm an engineer not a copy editor.

Similar Products Used:
3ttt The Stem / The Bar XL combo (so far it seems way better, but stay tuned while I figure out if it's really any good or not.

Price Paid:  $65.00 at Performance Bike

Favorite Ride:
Gunlock Loop

Bike Setup:
Independent Fabrication Crown Jewel. Dura Ace, Reynolds fork, Speedplay X pedals, Fizik Arione saddle, Thomson Masterpiece post, Syntace C2 aerobars.

Summary:
Good, solid bar. I've had problems with the bar not mating well with the EA-70 stem, but I've switched to a Ritchey 4 bolt faceplate stem and the bar works great with that stem.

Strengths:
Light for an aluminum bar with this product's strength. Profile matches the EC-70 (except the lateral ends of bar tops aren't the same). Works well with aerobars.

Weaknesses:
Didn't mate well with same series stem.

Similar Products Used:
Salsa, TTT, ITM.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Favorite Ride:
Any Century

Bike Setup:
Giant OCR1, carbon seat post with Terry Fly saddle

Summary:
Excellent and various hand positions. No more neck or shoulder pain. Best upgrade on my bike.

Strengths:
Very Light and seems to absorb all road vibrations

Weaknesses:
None yet.

Price Paid:  $80.00 at performance online

Favorite Ride:
I'd settle for anything now

Bike Setup:
small bent peices laying on my living room floor.

Summary:
I crashed at 23 into the edge of a car door with these bars. I installed them 4.5 minutes before and I was throughly enjoying them. The crash broke almost all of my components even my cassette, and my lugged steel frame. The bars had the brake lever housing mushroomed around it, and the only damage to the bars was an eraser sized dent from the brake lever bolt. These bars are light, strong, and from 4 minutes of riding, comfortable.

Strengths:
extremely light,
stronger than my lugged steel frame,
comfy ergonomics (from a 4 minute ride)

Weaknesses:
I didn't get to ride with them longer.

Similar Products Used:
heavy steel bars.