We've just received a new shipment of Eastern's hot new translucent grips and pedals. The Grips are soft and squishy and thin enough for a good grab of the bars. Best of all, they're covered in scary skulls! The pedals are extremely lightweight and they too come in bright colors. They aren't squishy but the dual concave design really sticks to your soles.
Check out the selection of Translucent Pedals and Grips at LightenUpBikes.com
The 2010 Eastern Completes will be here soon! Eastern Bikes has totally revamped their lineup for 2010 adding even more value to the Eastern Experience. Case in point, the 2010 Cobra. It rocks 25/9 gearing, Shaft Cranks, CFRP Pedals, Eastern Curb Monkey - OEM & Burnout-OEM tires, and a brake cable gyro, all for $259.
We're taking prepaid orders now for shipment in mid to late October. Supplies are limited so order your Cobra today!
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. |
|
 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. |
|
 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!! |
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.
Yo bubster, here comes your 9-volt!
Hot bike on bike action! Well, that and a nice way to get the Thunderbird home for the weekend.
Looking for a sweet deal on a BMX? You're done.
Business in the front, party in the back! With Tektro front and rear brakes and 25x9 Birectional gearing, the Metalhead is ready for action. It also rocks, Eastern's Integrated seat post clamp, cut-out seat tube, Choker stem and pinner seat. This is the party bus of BMX bikes. Party on!
You know bettter than to pay 2009 prices when there are still a few 2008 Metlaheads available. Damn, you're good.
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).
Recent Comments