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BBC NEWS | Africa | Pedal power for Kenya's mobiles

BBC NEWS | Africa | Pedal power for Kenya's mobiles.

Kia 20 Inch

A customer sent us this photo of thier Red 20 inch Kia sting ray style bicycle. We sold them the white lowrider parts and the lowrider tires too!

BiRectional How-To

How to switch your “Bi-Rectional” Hub from right-hand drive to left-hand drive

First and foremost, this procedure should only be performed by an authorized bicycle mechanic. In fact, it’s required for any warranty claims-if you’re not an authorized bicycle mechanic or if you’re an authorized bicycle mechanic that’s uncomfortable with this procedure…set the hub down. Call your friendly Eastern Rep; they’ll help to point you in the right direction or “Bi-rection” whatever the case may be. The first thing you’ll need to do if you want to convert your Bi-rectional hub is to gather the proper tools. You’ll need either a 17mm socket or open ended wrench to remove the rear wheel, as well as either a 20mm open ended wrench or an adjustable wrench for the cone nuts. You’ll also need a 6mm allen or hex wrench to hold the axle still while you loosen the cones and a small flat-head or small Phillips head screw driver to remove the pawl retention plate. It’s also recommended to have some rags on hand as well as some background music-something from the ‘80s with guitars is recommended.

THE TOOLS...

THE STEPS…

1. Using your handy 17mm socket or open end wrench, remove the axle nut and washer from the drive side. It’s not too late to turn back, so if you’re having second thoughts-call us! Put the axle nut and washer in a safe place-you’ll want to be able to find them later.	2. Now, put that 6mm allen wrench to good use. Stick it in the end of the drive side on the axle and then, with a firm grip on the allen wrench put your 20mm or your adjustable in the game by sticking it on the outer cone nut.
3. With a solid grip on the axle, you’ll want to turn the 20mm or adjustable away from your body or counterclockwise. This should loosen it to the point where you can remove the outer cone nut by hand. Remove the outer cone nut and set it somewhere safe (you’ll need it later for sure).	4. You should now be able to remove the inner cone by hand, if not use your 20mm or adjustable again along with the 6mm allen and basically repeat step 3 with the inner nut. By now, you should pretty much know where you’re keeping all the parts as you remove them so go ahead and put the inner cone nut there as well.
5. You’ll now want to remove the driver. It’s actually recommended to hold the wheel drive side down over some type of catch basin or a shop table. This way if bearings decide to come out you’ll at least have an idea of where to start looking and won’t have to call Matlock immediately. If you can’t find bearings, we have them available for a very small fee, just call us. The driver should just pull off of the axle, if there are complications with this please call.	6. Don’t even think about setting that driver down! Just grab either your small flat head or Phillips head screwdriver with your free hand and start to loosen the three small machine screws that hold the pawl retention plate on. Remove those screws and set them somewhere very safe.
7. Now pull the pawl retention plate off. Set it with all the other important stuff and be sure not to drop the bearings out. If somehow the driver bearings fall out, give us a call	8. You’ll now want to remove one of the pawls. MAKE SURE TO DO THIS ONE AT A TIME. This way, you’ll be sure to put them all back in correctly. Set the pawl down nearby and move on to step 9.
9. Now it’s time to remove the pawl spring. Just grab it softly and pull it upwards, it should come right out. Set it nearby, you’ll need it soon.	10. At this time you should have what looks like an empty spot where a really tiny femur was in the hub.
11. It’s time to put that little pawl spring back in. You’re going to want to put it on the opposite side from where it was before. If you’ve already forgotten which way it was before…don’t worry. Since you’re pulling these out one at a time you can just look at any of the others that are still in the hub and install it opposite of those. Push it ONLY HALF WAY IN and DIRECTLY FROM THE TOP. This is very important to the process.	12. Let’s have a pawl! Or at least let’s put a pawl back in a hub. Now you’ll need to push the pawl HALF WAY IN and DIRECTLY FROM THE TOP. Make sure that the inside edge of the pawl is perpendicular to the pawl spring.
13. Push both the pawl spring and the pawl into the hub body AT THE EXACT SAME TIME. Repeat this step 5 more times verrrrry carefully…	14. Set the pawl retention plate above the pawls and line up the three holes in the plate with the three threaded holes in the hub.
15. Grab those screws that you carefully set in a safe place. Also grab your screwdriver-were re-installing the pawl retention plate.	16 . Hold the hub or wheel upside-down over the same safe place where you took it apart. Slide the driver up the axle and into place in the hub. It should now be flush inside the hub.
17. Grab the inner cone nut and hand thread it onto the axle. You’ll want to turn it down into the hub until it’s fairly snug, but the hub still spins freely.	18. Get your outer cone nut, 6mm allen wrench and your 20mm or adjustable wrench. You’re going to want to thread the outer cone nut onto the axle and then down to the inner cone nut. Now put the allen wrench in the end of the axle, put the 20mm or the adjustable around the cone and tighten until you’re confident that everything is snug but still free-spinning. You also want to check the axle to make sure there’s no play. VOILA!!! YER DONE!!

Well….who has more fun than people? Monkeys do but that’s a whole other story. Hopefully that went smooth; once again if any of you shops out there have questions do not hesitate to call your friendly Eastern Rep.

How to Tighten and Maintain Your Eastern Bikes 9’er Wheel

First and foremost, this procedure should only be performed by an authorized bicycle mechanic. It is important to remember that over time you may need to adjust your looseball Niner wheel. To do so, You’ll need to loosen the hub's cone and lock nuts and then re-tighten as much as needed, its that simple. With the 9’er looseball hub, the cone nut for each side has it’s own special job. The nut on the non-drive side controls the tightness for ONLY the bearings packed into the hub, the hub bearings. The driver-side cone nut ONLY tightens the bearings for the driver. Knowing this, you must tighten each cone nut by itself, NEVER together. Pretty easy, right? The lock nuts, the outer, 23mm sized nuts have a very important job. It is simply their duty to be tightened against the cone nuts so that the hub doesn't come loose every time you ride. The cone and lock nuts have a special relationship and work best when functioning properly together. Take that wheel off your bike, remove any pegs, axle nuts, or spacers from the axle, and let's do this! 
Since we now know what duty each cone nut takes care of, we can now adjust bearing tightness. Before you can tighten the hub down, you're going to need to get all cone and lock nuts loosened up first.

As a rule of thumb, it's nice to first start from the driver side of the hub. Because the lock nut’s job is to clamp against the cone nut, you will first need to separate the two nuts from one another. With a 19mm thin cone wrench attached to the cone nut and 23mm wrench attached to the lock nut, push the two wrenches away from one another. This will unclamp the two nuts from eachother. Loosen the lock nut by spinning it down the axle a few times, followed by the cone nut. Be extra cautious to not unthread the cone nut too much because you don't want any bearings coming loose, rolling away, and disappearing from your life forever. Every bearing counts. Only loosen the cone nut enough to release any tension from the driver, no more. Flip the hub over and use the same technique as before, just on the non-drive side cone nuts. Unlock the two nuts from one another, loosen cone nut only enough to remove any tension, etc. etc. Now you're all loosened up and ready for adjustment.

Once it's time to tighten the hub's bearings back up, we're going to work from the non-drive side first. As you may remember, the cone and lock nuts on this side of the hub control actual hub bearing tightness, and the driver side's cone and lock nuts control bearing tightness in within the driver, so they always should be tightened one side at a time, and never ever at once. Dont forget this, it's important.

Ok, now grab a 19mm thin cone wrench  and place it on the cone nut. You may have noticed that your wheel’s axle (which is heat-treated 4130 cro-moly I might add) is slotted at the end to accept an allen key. Grab a 6mm allen wrench and stick it in either end of the axle. It may be easiest to put it in the same end that you’re currently working on, but that’s up to you. With one hand, hold your allen key in place. Then, begin to tighten your non-drive side cone nut with the 19mm cone wrench. Since you’re holding the axle in place, it won’t spin as you tighten the nut. In adjusting the bearings, we're looking for the happy balance between proper tension and a smooth-rolling wheel. It may take a few tries to find this balance. Tighten the cone nut until it is snug against the bearings. If when you spin the wheel the bearings feel rough and difficult to spin, you've got it too tight. If the axle can be wobbled up, down, or side to side, it is too loose. Since the locknut will keep your cone nuts tight anyway, you don't need to tension them a whole lot. If you feel satisfied with the tension and smoothness of the hub bearings, you may now tighten the lock nut against the cone nut. To do so, keep the cone nut in place with the same 19mm thin cone wrench as used previous, then tension the lock nut against the cone nut with a 23mm wrench. Since we've already spent the time to adjust the cone nut for proper tension, be sure to hold the cone nut exactly where you left it when adjusting as you tighten the lock nut. Clamp the lock nut nice and snug against the cone nut and your hub bearings are adjusted! Flip the wheel over, lets get the driver side bearings taken care of. Follow the exact same method of adjustment as you did for the other side of the hub. Remember this time you'll only be managing the tension for the driver's bearings so don't be afraid to give the driver a few spins to check for roughness and/or looseness. If everything rolls smooth, get the lock nut tightened against the cone nut, same as before, and you're ready for action.

Bearings love grease. Grease is good. Now and again, it can't hurt to re-grease all bearings and areas where bearings sit and rotate. To learn more about greasing and packing bearings in your hub, check out the assembly/disassembly guide HERE. Don't forget that with a little maintenance and love, your looseball hub can roll smooth as glass and also stay tight enough for all your hot stunts.

Eastern Bikes Inside/Out Philly

Inside/Out Philly from Eastern Bikes on Vimeo.

Brian Wizmerski invites outsiders Adam Banton, Kelly Bolton and Seamus McKeon to come ride his local spots in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The trip was plagued with rain and cold weather but the crew pulled through with some amazing clips and had a good time while doing so!

Easternbikes.com

Are You a Cycle-path?

Insanely wary of biking to work? We're here to talk you down, because it's easy, cheap, and good for the planet - not to mention your butt. Worried about sweat and helmet hair? We've got tricks. Kinda nervous? We'll show you how to prep so it's supersafe. From how to check your tire pressure to what to wear - here's some counseling.

Ideal Bite | Bike to Work Guide.

Are Those Fat Franks Or Is Your Bike Happy to See Me?

Everyone knows that Beach Cruisers are slow and sluggish on those soft heavy balloon tires, right? Not entirely true. The Fat Frank by Schwalbe is the best of both worlds. It's a big fat cushy 26x2.35" tire that rolls and steers more like a tire half the width. Now, take that tire and make it in cream and brown and you have one really cool set of meats for your ride. Fenders are so over rated.

Learn more about Fat Frank at LightenUpBikes.com

Firmstrong The Chief Lady Beach Cruiser

One of our favorites now has a counterpart. The Chief Lady from Firmstrong is a laid back cruiser with a slightly elongated frame. It rides like it's got no where to be and all day to get there. This bike a a prime candidate for a set of Fat Franks too.

Check out the Chief Lady from Firmstrong

So, you think you can climb?

The 2009 BUMPS (Bike Up the Mountain Points Series) is the only series of its kind in America – a series that recognizes the talents of riders who do the hardest thing in cycling, climb steep hills. The series comprises nine races on eight mountains of the Northeast, on courses of varying lengths and pitches. Any rider who enters a BUMPS event will automatically be entered into the overall series points standings. There is no need to enter a separate BUMPS category. Riders will be scored according to their accumulated points in up to five races, and the totals of riders who enter more than five races will be determined by their best five scores.

As the season progresses, a leader’s jersey will be awarded to the overall series leader after each event. At season’s end, age group series winners, both men and women, will receive awards or prizes acknowledging their achievements as well.

The new series will not change the way in which each event has been run in the past. Each event will continue to be run by an independent organizer, and event formats and prizes will continue to be determined independently. BUMPS simply wants to bring added acknowledgment to riders who enjoy the challenge of climbing, especially those who do it well.

Bike Up The Mountian Points Series (BUMPS)