Easton EA70 Aluminium Stem

The Easton EA70 stem offers a good level of stiffness while maintaining a relatively low weight. It also offers considerable bang for your buck compared with many of its competitors.

In my opinion, changing a stem is something that shouldn't be done lightly. You spend so much time staring down at it in a world of pain that you become familiar with every slight scratch and every tiny shape in the design.

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It was easy to fit using the same universal four-bolt system we all know and love. The bolts seem well made and I had no kind of rounding or threading and everything sat well on both the steerer tube and bar, which is a good start. I also took it on a fair few wet rides and it hasn't shown any kind of rust on the bolts.

The faceplate is made with Easton's DST faceplate with Top-Lock, which has a hollowed central area. I liked this for a couple of reasons: firstly, in that it reduces the overall weight of the stem; and secondly, because it's very useful when setting your bar position. It is available in two rises, 6 degrees and 17 degrees, and from 60-130mm in length in 10mm increments.

The stem is made from 3D forged EA70 aluminium, which means that, although not the lightest in its class, it weighs in at a very respectable 146g for our 110mm version. Comparing it with both the Deda Superleggero (124g) and 3T Arx II Pro (159g), it sits roughly in the middle of the two.

My favourite part of the stem is the design, which is ultimately the thing you are going to be staring at the most. It is simple and understated, with one side kind of a textured black block and the other with a subtle Easton logo. It would sit well with and match almost any bike.

Stiffness is good and I didn't notice any movement when really hauling on the bar while in the drops. Equally, there was no kind of twisting, even when I was deliberately trying to force it, which suggests it's well made and strong.

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Its RRP of £44.99 is a good price for a stem that marries lightweight construction with stiffness. I find that stems have perhaps the largest price increases for the smallest weight gain, and this sits at what I would say is the optimum price vs weight point, although others might need to find that point themselves.

Overall, I like this stem. It's good quality, stiff, light and a very reasonable price. Having finished the review, I've now transferred it from my review bike to my best bike for a bit of longer term assessing, which is perhaps the biggest compliment I could give it...

Verdict

Performs well, with a subtle design that would sit well on most bikes