Easton Cycling Hub Upgrade Kit

 I agree that they should make a bearing kit for all of the M1 hubs. But it's not only for the wheels that are less than a year old. My havens are older than a year old and the rear hub ends in a 1. So mine are available for the upgrade even though they are older wheels.

 We at easton hubs are committed to producing half ass prodycts then releasing them early and only charging you double price of our competitors. Oops wee made a booboo hahahuhuh heres a FREE upgraded $2 bearing for your $1600 wheelset and blown out wobbly rear hubs. We are committed to our customers money and will continue roobing unsuspecting marks with floppy 3 pawl hubs. Even though a smart customer would build a custom wheel with Chris King hubs(the best) and still save $550, we still manage to bang out roobs every day.

 It’s great to hear all of the positive feedback on the M1 Bearing Spacer Upgrade Kit. For those of you dissatisfied because you have older wheels that are not compatible with the Upgrade Kit, here are some tips on how to get the most performance and durability out of your rear wheel.

1. Easton wheels can be ridden with good bearing performance for years, however this does require tightening the hub’s preload adjuster the proper amount if it comes loose. This is very simple to do with a single cone wrench—with the wheel on or off the bike. You should only have to do this after the initial break in period or as your bearings begin to wear over time.

2. Some of the bearing durability issues come when the preload adjuster has been ridden loose for several rides which can damage the bearings and the axle. Over-tightening the adjuster can also damage the bearings.

3. The new Upgrade Kit replaces the bearing adjuster with a locknut, so once the new C0 bearings are installed with the new bearing spacer everything is locked into place. This eliminates the side-to-side play associated with an unthreading preload adjuster.

4. We have not produced M1–120 or M1-220 hubs for more than 3 years. All hubs that are 12x142 or 12x135 are compatible, you don’t need to check the number. Only 10x135QR hubs need to have the number checked as those can either be a 1 or a 0.

5. If you have M1-120 or M1-220 hubs and want to improve your bearing life you can either send your wheel to Easton for service or at home apply a light Loctite (MS222 preferred) to the threads of the bearing adjuster on the non-drive side of the hub. If your bearings or axle are already worn they should be replaced before the repair.

Basically if your wheel is not compatible with the new Upgrade Kit, applying Loctite MS222 to your preload adjuster will keep your bearings rolling smoothly.

 Thankyou for your interest in the pinkbike audience and large consumer based market. Here are some helpful tips on producing a good product.
1. Dont charge double the price of what is already available from trusted manufactureres like Mavic or Chris King.
2. All MTB wheels have the same flaw- bearings in the driver or freehub. Our BMX brotheren have already attacked this issue and come out with drivers using polymer bushings or angular contact or needle bearings. This has eliminated most cases of wheel slop in the bmx industry or at least made it a very rare occurence. Dont be affraid to admit bmx industry beat you to the punch, just get with it and your business will skyrocket.
3. Swapping bearings is easy and fairly cheap. The problem is the frequency of having to do this. If the design was better there would be no reason to have such headaches.
4. Creaking drivetrain or wheel play is the number 1 cause of having a crappy experience riding. It makes veteran riders look like noobs, and makes people want to not ride.
5. If you need to add loctite to a hubs axle there is an extreme problem in the design. Highly reccomend either dropping your prices alot of changing designs to a more modern configuration like changing the driver to needle bearings. Soo many mtb companies producing terrible hubs and they all have same flaw, bearings in the driver. You started using the straight gauge spokes like Mavic so that is a good move. If you can change the freehub bearings and maybe add a pawl or three you might have a worthy product.
6. Even so called high end hubs like Hadley are still using tired old school bearings in the freehub and 4 pawl drive. If you cant do better than that why even make hubs? Just stick to carbon rims.

 Ummm, my Havens came on my new Turner in February of 2012 with a M1–220 hub. How is this possible if you allegedly haven't manufactured the these hubs since before 2010? If you say they sat in the back of a warehouse for over 2 years I call BS.

 so eastern i think you need to cough up with the info you owe us comsumers
1. why your hubs suck shit and wobble like after 3 rides
2. why we need to add locktite to a hub that shouldnt need it
3. i think you guys owe us owners of your hubs a refund or a replacement
and 4. why the fu#k do you make us pay such a rip off for cheep shitty quility hubs that are not durrible at all!!!!!

 The problem is easton is trying to compete with ultra high end wheel companies like ENVE and Industry Nine, They are way out of your league at the moment but if you changed a few things in your design could blow both of them away. I telling you the only thing you have to do is change those puny redicilous bearings in the freehub for needle bearings. The needle bearings last 5 times stronger with no maintenence and take way higher load capacity. Something sooooo simple but so far away from close minded stuborn companies like Easton and every other company. You could change your stock bearing to needle yourself on any hub if you wanted. Seems alot easier to just produce a good product from the begginning, then you can justify charging more money than a King or Hadley. The biggest flaw with King and Hadley is they refuse to update to straight gauge spokes or change out the freehub bearings to a bushing or needle bearing. The first MTB company to make these changes to the freehub and offer straight gauge will be the true top of the industry. If your going to charge top prices better have a top notch design. If not you get laughed out of business with those stock low tech hubs you offer.

 I just ordered a blowout set of havens from jensonusa....thanks for the info, seems easy enough to take care of

 or a pair of Azonic Outlaws. They are bricks but never bend, break or get loose.

 Indistry nine isn't UST. Main reason I want Mavic or easton but both have hub issues. Are there any UST enduro wheels that don't have hub issues with similar weight to mavic crossmax sx or easton havoc?

 The rear hub has had constant play in it after about the first month. I've replaced the bearings without luck.

 Get them warrantied! They should fix it no questions asked if you bought them new.

 The hubs that end in 1 are 12mm compatible. There will not be a fix coming out for hubs that end in 0. They want you to send the wheel back to them and they will upgrade you to the newer hub style.

 Less than 24 hours and I have a confirmation from Easton that my bearing kit and tools is on the way! I had also mentioned a non associated issue on a non covered hub and they took the initiative to send a set of replacement bearings for that too. Way to go Easton!

 People aren't ranting for no reason, some people have had the bearings in their hub replaced a few times, how much down time should we have sending wheels back for repair, when I spend 800 on a wheel set I expect to use them not send them in for repair multiple times. They have had this issue since day one and they are only now doing something about it, but only for certain customers? Read what they stated above it says nothing about them replacing the hub all it says is there is no fix for hubs ending in zero and that we should all use loctite. It's a bit of a slap in the face to some customers.

 Very nice of a company to do that. Not only is it free, but they made it simple that nearly anyone can do it. I applaud Easton!

 Thats good news. I have 2 pairs of Havens and was just starting to hear horror stories about the bearings. Thank-you Easton!

 One pair for me and no problems yet but I have been a little worried... Thanks Easton!

 Would have been real nice to do proper testing on prototypes and develop a proven product instead of rushing it to market and leaving riders broken down on the trail or with wobbly hubs and then retroactively fixing it later. Love their bars and bats though...

 Applaud Easton ? For what ? Admitting their hub/bearing design is shit with out actually saying it ?

They must of knew the hubs were shit , surely they must of sent them out for testing in the real world ?


When you are spending 800 notes on a wheel set it should be perfect.

 Hi did you get a contact for this upgrade in the uk Cheers

 You should be able to get it from your local shop

 People who are complaining are the people who have not been offered this fix.

 Not necessarily. I for one, and I'm sure others may be in the same boat, have baulked at buying the Easton wheelsets as the stories of bearing failure and high maintenance have rolled in. Bare in mind this might be geographical specific, and I'm in Vancouver, but the mechanic at the bike shop didn't have great things to say about their hubs in the wet / muddy conditions we get. To quote "Buy a hope Pro 2 Evo and a set of 721s and you won't touch em for years!" (and yes, I do actually own a set of Hope Pro 2s (the older version) and a set of 721s and yep, I only just did a set of front bearings after 4 years or so).

So if they offer this upgrade it does a number of things.
1. Increases bearing life and reduced service requirements (which was a problem allegedly to begin with, and vindicated by this upgrade / design change).
2. Placates existing owners (brand loyalty is important)
3. Reduces chances of existing owners shit bagging Easton
4. Increases likelihood of new clients buying Easton hub / rim sets as they are seen to have solved their bearing issues.
5. Improved their social rating as a company that solves problems rather than putting up a firewall and not getting on with it.
6, Considerably reduced the 'fix' costs as compared to Warranty. Warranty would require dropping back to a dealer, assessment, new parts, then labour on top. This fix simply ships the parts which can be procured / produced cheaply and done by the owner, thereby significantly reducing the cost to Easton to warranty the product.

So kudos to Easton. It's nice that they've recognised the problem and offered a solution.

 I work at a shop and we sell lots of easton wheels, every single haven hub we have ever sold came back with a bearing problem, worst hubs on the market, those havens, but great rims. Also their ceramic bearings are no better.

 what are some of the best hubs you deal with?

 There is a reason why hopes are rated well. Not the fastest engaging but truly fit and forget.

 Probably dt 240's, we are a santacruz dealer and santacruz specs them on their spx kits so we deal with hundreds of 240 hubs. Shimano hubs notoriously can come loose very often, but it is easy to tighten them and rarely do they suffer anything more serious, and if they do it is cheap and easy to replace. Personally I ride Saint hubs and Stans 3.30 hubs on my personal bikes and they are what I plan on using forever. Stans hubs (aka sun ringle) are unbelievably simple inside, crazy easy to replace freehubs, axles, and bearings. Even though I have bent the freehub and axle on a pair of stans I still love them for their weight and simplicity.

 thanks my friend for the information. Any opinions on the DT240/Stans/Saints vs. the high class hubs? (ie Hopes/Chris King/i9)

 So far my favorite hub for aggressive riding/ heavy riders are the saint hubs, they are bomb proof. If you are lighter or more of an xc/trail rider I would go with stans as they have less drag and are lighter. Dt240's I would put in the middle of those two ranges, they will get the job done, and have a nice quiet hum to them, you wont even notice them, which is a good thing. As for the high end stuff I would never recommend any of them. Mainly because of the price. They simply are not hundreds of dollars nicer than more "normal" options. Another thing to keep in mind is that the more points of engagement a hub has, the more drag it has also, ex: chris king and i9. As for hopes I can not speak much about them as I live in northern California and we just dont see much hope stuff.

 Stan`s hubs are most likely Novatec. One of the best hub designers in the industry and many OEM spec them and have them redesign just the visuals. Have four sets of them on duty for four years - no failures whatsoever.

As for Easton, speccing cheap hubs and then sending out 30 cent kits for a quickfix. Not good.

 not sure, what's your GPA?

 And an army of people on Pinkbike, getting in line to support the companies that produce this junk, criticizing anyone who dares question the almighty industry.

 don't buy it. pretty simple. if you don't have easton wheels, this doesn't concern you.