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| The Havoc's look great, but what's under the hood? A 28mm outer rim width with a deep 'V' profile for strength, as well as a sealed inner rim wall that doesn't require a rim strip. Proprietary alloy nipples screw into the rim, and 28 straight-pull spokes can be found front and rear. The wheel's hub bearing tension can be adjusted via spanner. |
 | There proved to be a lot to like about the Easton Havoc UST 150 wheelset. Stiff, light, relatively affordable, and they look great on the bike as well. Add in their tubeless-friendly UST compatibility that won't leave you worrying about pulling a tire off mid-run and you have a winner of a wheelset for the competitive DH racer. In fact, we handed them over to an elite lever downhiller who took two wins with the Havocs under him, all while attesting to the wheelset's stiffness and extra traction provided by the low tire pressures that a standard tubed setup can only dream of. Unfortunately, we experienced repeated loosening of the front hub bearings during our time with them. We wouldn't consider them to be ''trailside adjustable'' either, given that the job requires a spanner tool. This means that we had to ride out with loose hubs, likely causing the expedited bearing wear that we encountered. We also managed to break a spoke directly at the threads where it turns into the nipple, highlighting the fact that the nipples themselves are proprietary items that have to be sourced from Easton or a local shop. We should mention, though, that the offending wheel managed to hold completely true, sans one spoke, until another broke at the threads once again. Yes, we should have stopped riding the wheels after the first broken spoke, but with Easton recommending that users return the damaged wheels to their repair depot (even for a broken spoke), we can see riders continuing to put time on them before boxing them up. Easton does step up in a big way if repairs are needed, though, with them often rebuilding the entire wheel with new spokes even if you've only broken one, and reactivating the warranty from that point on as well. We have to dock the Havoc UST 150 wheelset points for a lack of reliability and convenience when considering overall use, but competitive downhillers who want an extremely stiff wheel that is also relatively light may be able to look past this. - Brad Walton |
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| For slow techgnar riding and control on the steepest of steeps, a riser bar is the hot setup. The Atlas FR riser has all the right sweep with a boost in vert. High is the new low, didn't you know? |
| Low bars for fast corners, high bars for technical terrain. That's the simple way of looking at it anyways. The 1 1/4" rise Atlas FR bar is a compromise between old school tall bars for slow shore skinnies, and the limbo flat bars trended at the racers out there. They could also benefit those with a short fork steer tube who want to get a little more upright postion. Whatever the case, aside from the added rise the Atlas FRs have all of the same dimensions as the regular Atlas bar, including the 31" width that can be trimmed down if one desired. The bar is one of the stiffest that we've ever used, and it also shrugged off a massive amount of abuse in the shape of some huge airs gone awry, as well as inspiring confidence in the steepest of downhill terrain thanks to its extra height that moves weight bias towards the rear of the bike. Not the lightest out there, but certainly a good option if weight isn't high on your priority list. - Brad Walton |
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| The Decoy pedal offers a slim profile and bomber construction with a well-sealed bearing/bushing system. |
| Every now and then we have to mention a trusty standby. If we had a nickel for every pedal pin lost to the trails over the years, well, we'd have significanly more than five dollars. Which is only one of the reasons why we love the Deity Decoy pedal. Despite rock crunching and log grinding, we have yet to lose a pin on multiple sets of these pedals. But the main reason we love the Decoys is they are tough and reliable. The double micro sealed bearing system works, which strangely ins't the case on some other pedals out there. Our Decoys spin as freely as the day they were new, even after complete duluges such as the super soaker the trails experienced this past winter. They aren't the largest platform in the world, but they are sufficiently comfortable for size 13's. The only beef we have is the use of a 8mm hex for installation. Wrench flats would offer greater leverage to keep these really tight. Over time we notice a faint click in our drivetrain that eventually is pinpointed to the pedals loosening up on the cranks. A dab of grease and snugging them up again and we're back in business. For product longevity, we slap the Decoys a high five. - Brad Walton |
and the sound of a pro 2 when your going fast sound like a machine gun 
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