Ryan LaBar headed down to Squamish, BC to take a break from the madness of Crankworx and ride the new Easton Havoc UST 180 wheelset on some non-bike park trails. Read on for spec and first impressions.
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By Ryan LaBar
At a media event during Crankworx, Easton took a group of editors to ride its new DH wheelset on the burly trails of Squamish, BC.
We were all excited about the rumor of getting to see and ride the carbon downhill wheels that Easton has been working on, however Easton said that these were not available yet, because it wants to be able to put the same 2-year, no-questions-asked guaranty on these DH hoops as it has on the Haven Carbons, and they were not quite ready for that.
Instead Easton had us on its new Havoc UST 150 wheels, which amazingly, according to Easton, weigh in almost a pound lighter than the company’s Havoc DH wheels. Easton claims its new Havoc UST 150 wheelset tips the scales at a scant 1,870 grams, making them the lightest production 150×12 (rear spacing) wheelset on the market.
Pricing is set to be $1,000 for the wheelset.
Easton employed the UST system for maximum security from rolling a tire off the bead when running a tubeless setup. The inner rim width is 23 millimeters. These wheels use the same threaded spoke-nipple shuttles as the Haven wheels leaving the rim bed completely air tight.
One of two hub colors. The Havoc UST 150 wheels have an increased spoke count over the Havoc DH (from 24 to 28 spokes), and also changed from double butted to straight gauge for more stiffness.
Rim graphic detail.
The hub cutaway shows the simplicity of Easton’s 3-pawl system. The freehub has 32 engagement points.
After a day of bashing and thrashing our way down some of burlier trails in Squamish, BC, the light-weight wheels ran true. Even more impressive, is that there were zero flat tires on the day between the five or so different media folk in attendance.
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