Moderately priced.

Spokes very loosen and break far too easily for a wheel in this price range.
Not a suitable wheel for riders in the 200 lbs range.

My comments apply to the 2015 version of the EA70 rear wheel, which has been a real disappointment for me.

When I bought my bike in 2007, I equipped it with the Easton Circuit II wheel set, mostly on the basis of forum comments that they stood up well with heavier riders. They lived up to the billing. In 2012, I replaced the front wheel (bent it on a wooden slat bridge) with the EA70, which also has performed well and without complaint. Thus I had no hesitation in asking my LBS to order the standard EA70 rear wheel when the Circuit II rear wheel finally gave out last fall.

The first thing that I noticed about the new EA70 wheel is that unlike the 2012 EA70 front wheel, which retained the Velomax hub and straight-pull spokes of the Circuit IIs, this rear wheel used Easton's new V5 hub with J-bend rather than straight-pull spokes. I knew that there are pros and cons to both alternatives and so did not worry about this too much.

However, I did begin to worry when I noticed that every three of four rides enough wobble developed in the rear wheel to require a slight tightening of a few spokes (In contrast, I never had to touch the Circuit IIs in eight years). This pattern continued through this year, culminating in a broken spoke this spring. My LBS replaced the spoke and did a thorough truing and rounding of the wheel. They pointed out at the time that the holes in the hub seemed rather large, which can be a factor in breakage of J-bend spokes (see DT Swiss web site: http://www.pinkbike.com/news/To-the-Point-DT-Swiss-Talks-Spokes-2013.html). The newly trued rear wheel was stable for about two months before another spoke became so loose that it effectively had no tension on it at all.

LBS suggested that a next step might be to rebuild the wheel with higher quality DT Swiss spokes, but by this time I had lost faith that this design would suit my needs. I have instead opted to replace the Easton's completely with the Shimano RS81 CT24. I would have saved myself a lot of trouble if I had taken the time to read the review below!

Stiff, some-what aero, light and look fantastic.

These wheels will shoot spokes off when you're not even riding it. Once one spoke goes the wheel is pretty done. Made it one year. Easton replaced it. Replacement only made it six months. LBS says to try a Shimano c24 next.

Buy it if you're easy on your wheels. If you're looking for a replacement for your original wheelset that you killed, pick again! You'll probably kill these wheels before you know it.

Similar Products Used:

Bontrager race

Strong, Stiff, Semi-Aero

Non-bladed spokes, weight (for the MSRP price, but they are not heavy IMO). Front skewer makes noise under load.

Picked these up as new bike take-offs. I read about troubles some folks were having of before 2012 production, these are 2012 and are good. Got them when I was 195lbs, now down to 182. 800 miles on the now, no problems. Spin smooth, took some serious abuse but no broken spokes or flats. Some riders in my group use these for cyclecross and also had good experience. I think, the semi aero rim was intended to balance out a drag created by 24/28 round spokes. Overall they feel neutral - good for climbing, good for flats, rough roads but they are by no means aero. No flex. The rim width, and the edge of the rim lip is wider than my other wheels. I hit the concrete construction hole with my rear wheel, foot deep with sharp edge on the impact. One of those hits where you wonder if you left the other half of the bike with it. No flat, no damage, remained true. Was following someone and they didn't call it out. Forgot about same hole few weeks later with my AMC Aero 420 3 and got a snake bite in the tube from the rim. Same tire and pressure on both wheels. So, for daily beating, long distance touring these are reliable. Not sure if I would race with them but for the price/durability/weight they are an excellent choice.

Similar Products Used:

Mavic Aksium, Shimano RS80, DT Swiss 1700, American Classic Aero 420 3, American Classic Victory 30, Reynolds DV46T