Sea Otter ’11: Easton EC90 XC Wheels

Chuck Teixeira, Easton's director of engineering, has been on the mountain bike scene for more than 20 years.

The EC90 XC are related to the Haven all-mountain wheels that were introduced by Easton last year. The main similarity is that they are both rendered from ballistic-grade carbon fiber.

Light weight, but also tough. The wheels come in both 26 and 29er versions.

All of Easton's composite wheels get heavy weights dropped on the rim edge for impact testing. Engineers are kind of disappointed when they can't get a wheel to break.

Even with computer design, products still come to life using pen and paper.

The EC90 XC wheel system spins on a set of proprietary Easton hubs featuring a CNC-machined hub shell and a 7050 aluminum cassette body.

The hubs also feature an oversized 7050 hollow axle riding on premium grade, double sealed ceramic bearings.

To make sure wheels that are shipped to Easton for service can be repaired, a range of hubs from over the years stands ready for techs to use as reference.

The EC90 XC features a 19-mm internal rim width (and a fat 24.7-mm external width) that will accommodate tires up to 2.3-inches.

Some EC90 XC 26-inch hoops in the wild. Photo by Tyler Roemer

pieces of laminate before they become a virtually bullet-proof wheel.

Laminate goes into a mold to be made into an EC90 XC rim.

The EC90 XC are UST wheels that must meet an international standard for things like shape, profile and diameter.

Getting ready to apply Easton's colors.

Easton is part of Giro and Bell, so you can imagine what this guy's job is...