Looking at lightening my Meta slightly and considering a set of Easton Haven wheels which are going fairly cheap on CRC and Wiggle.

Few things are factors, lighter, newer and supposedly good wheels which are tubeless ready, but are they worth it? I know there is a bearing issue but allegedly Easton provide an upgrade kit to sort it.

If anyone has had any experiences or major issues with them feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks
Veero

The consensus last time it was asked, if i recall was that they’re great until they break.

Once they do break then you can’t get spares for the hubs and have to buy a new wheel.

Had a pair for a couple of years which the rear started to get lateral play about 18 months into its life. Got the spacer kit for free from Easton and resolved issue. Maybe I screwed up fitting the spacer (more than likely) but it needed new bearings a few months later. Other than that have been fine and dandy.

The CRC ones look like great value but you can’t convert the front hub to 20mm. Which is dumb! Otherwise I’d have had a set for my Mega.

Once they do break then you can’t get spares for the hubs and have to buy a new wheel.

I have some, they have been fine (actually quite good), but when I needed to change the front from 9mm to 15mm the nightmare began. It took me 3 months to source the adapter kit from the states, easton even promised to send me one for free, but from the date of the promise to just an end cap turning up in a huge box, one of the (4) shops I had ordered from got some stock, thank god I hadn’t cancelled the order when easton said they would send it, I would probably still be waiting now.

I have bought some spokes and nipples to keep spare just in case, but if anything major dies like the freewheel, that will be the end of them.

I will probably never touch Easton products again, at least not until I hear lots of sustained internet chatter about excellent customer service.

I have the Havoc wheels and have had them for about 18months, bought cheap from CRC and they haven’t missed a beat.

I had no issues getting a 142mm though axle conversion for the rear wheeal and the bearings were easy to replace when they died after the winter. They’ve been easy to rune with tubeless tyres (no mucking about with tape etc) and the freehub isn’t too noisey which is a major plus in my book. As much as I like mine, I wouldn’t pay full price for them.

I have a set…

They are actually really good, but…

They broke, spares are more or less impossible to get hold of.
Zyro the distributor quoted me £170 to fix them

Bought the new Hope rims…

When I had to get the axle kit for mine, it was under the old distributor. The new one doesn’t seem to have anything in stock.

The feedback is mixed, but they are pretty cheap these days which is why I took a punt…and I couldn’t afford a set of Crossmax.

My 29er Havens are 18 months old (also bought from CRC), and they have been fine. They are relatively light, and reasonably tough, they are full UST so running tubeless is nice and simple, the bearings are dead easy to replace, and the freehub is easy to strip for regular cleaning and maintenance. I haven’t experienced any issues with mine yet, so I can’t comment on spares availability, although I did order a spare freehub and a couple of spokes from my LBS when I first bought them, and they arrived within 3 or 4 weeks I think.

Hmm a little bit concerning, but I guess if I get a few spokes spare and the bearing kit is sorted then it should be ok.

Would love a set of Crossmaxs but when the Havens are less than half of the cheapest Crossmax set it’s hard to pass over them.

Will contact Wiggle and CRC to see what their spares availability is.

Cheers all.

I wouldn’t worry about spokes because they’re just normal J bend jobbies that you can get from a bike shop. I bought my replacement bearings from Ebay (SFK jobbies) for peanuts.

If you need to swap axles you may have any issue from what others have said, other stuff you can work around.

They are straight pull on the Haven?

The issue isn’t the spoke, it’s the nipples & getting spares

Yeah I thought they were straight pull on the Havens too.

I have some. I have damaged my freehub and replacing it at short notice has proved tricky. They are available, but trying to get one at 2 days notice proved nigh on impossible.

Otherwise, they’re proved less prone to dings than my old Stan’s flows and the hubs are as reliable as my old Pro2s in terms of bearings.

Didn’t realise that the Havens were straight pull – my Havocs just run normal spokes (they’re Sapim) so easy to replace.

They do seem pretty ding resisted, even with low pressures.