What’s up with eastern?

I dunno if they’re the top two companies in America, that might be a bit of a stretch.

But yeah, I’ve definitely been checking in with Eastern every now and then just to keep up since my frame is from them and have seen that their products are lacking. Once I bought the Repeater frame late 2018, I haven’t seen much from them. They were never a really “popular brand” to begin with, I’d say infamous is more of a fitting word haha. Well, maybe production is just slow or they plan on discontinuing stuff due to the competition against other, more popular companies.

S&M hasn't offered customs in at least a year, probably longer. They told me it was to catch up with production of frames like the Holy Diver, but that was last winter. They're also done with chrome. Eastern frames etc are all Chinese (not Taiwan) who knows what's going on there.

readybmxer wrote:

I dunno if they’re the top two companies in America, that might be a bit of a stretch.

But yeah, I’ve definitely been checking in with Eastern every now and then just to keep up since my frame is from them and have seen that their products are lacking. Once I bought the Repeater frame late 2018, I haven’t seen much from them. They were never a really “popular brand” to begin with, I’d say infamous is more of a fitting word haha. Well, maybe production is just slow or they plan on discontinuing stuff due to the competition against other, more popular companies.

Two of the top, definitely not the top two lol.

readybmxer wrote:

I dunno if they’re the top two companies in America, that might be a bit of a stretch.

But yeah, I’ve definitely been checking in with Eastern every now and then just to keep up since my frame is from them and have seen that their products are lacking. Once I bought the Repeater frame late 2018, I haven’t seen much from them. They were never a really “popular brand” to begin with, I’d say infamous is more of a fitting word haha. Well, maybe production is just slow or they plan on discontinuing stuff due to the competition against other, more popular companies.

I actually considered buying that frame as a gift for a family member so he could upgrade his current whip.

Like George said, S&M is only focusing on production bars & frames, until custom work doesn't have an impact on standard production.

S&M is the only company that makes all of their "production" frames with Vari-Wall THERMLX and I'm pretty sure there's no shortage of it right now (someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

Eastern seems to have run out of their full chromoly stuff & then they are done for the year. Maybe it's a cost savings thing so as to not have left over stock. Let's face it, the BMX world always seems to be on the brink of extinction so that sort of move wouldn't surprise me. I've noticed that with the Shovelhead and Natural dating back to 2017. They were seemingly always "sold out" of anything I might want. This is all speculation, however.

Is the steel tariff still a thing? I feel like all the chromoly stuff is a bit more expensive now. Maybe Im thinking of something else but I seem to recall Trump making certain materials more expensive.

Maybe it's all the other types of bikes eating up the materials. It's been kind of an eye opener shopping for BMX bikes. Every shop you go into has about a zillion MTB's, and a bunch of other bikes. But there is very little BMX. Some shops have more than others but a lot of shops don't carry any bmx bikes. A half dozen bmx bikes would be a large inventory from what I'm seeing. And really a large part of the are geared towards beginners with Haro being the number one stocked company. It's wild how they have the market cornered around here. There was only 1 shop that seemed to have more Kinks and Sundays than Haros. But they still had them. LOL.

I prefer touching and feeling stuff before buying but that's not all that easy with these bikes.

Maybe the Olympics will help the sport? I heard that BMX will be in the Olympics in the next summer Olympics. Eh?

Fortyseven wrote:

Maybe it's all the other types of bikes eating up the materials. It's been kind of an eye opener shopping for BMX bikes. Every shop you go into has about a zillion MTB's, and a bunch of other bikes. But there is very little BMX. Some shops have more than others but a lot of shops don't carry any bmx bikes. A half dozen bmx bikes would be a large inventory from what I'm seeing. And really a large part of the are geared towards beginners with Haro being the number one stocked company. It's wild how they have the market cornered around here. There was only 1 shop that seemed to have more Kinks and Sundays than Haros. But they still had them. LOL.

I prefer touching and feeling stuff before buying but that's not all that easy with these bikes.

Maybe the Olympics will help the sport? I heard that BMX will be in the Olympics in the next summer Olympics. Eh?

park bmx, yeah, for the first time. racing has been an olympic sport for a minute but thats basically a different sport


eastern isn't even in the top 15, surprised to see so many on here. everyone i know IRL has always regarded them as some of the worst parts you could ever buy

I honestly wouldn't put Eastern as one of the top brands anymore...Once they had the frame issues (much of that was people legit ignoring warnings, misuse, and the fact that they were among the first to offer super light stuff).

They have (for the most part) been an entry level complete brand and a lesser used brand shops would sell, then they went and had that bankruptcy issue a couple years back.

I wouldn't be surprised if they call it a day soon due to budget, or drop into small parts only for a while.

The frame issues left a bit of a rough reputation for a bit, that will take some time to recover from.

Eastern has a great warranty dept. from my experience. I don't necessarily view them as the tippy-top of the bmx part food chain but they are definitely a step up from many parts you will find on your standard-spec'd completes.

Furyus George wrote:

S&M hasn't offered customs in at least a year, probably longer. They told me it was to catch up with production of frames like the Holy Diver, but that was last winter. They're also done with chrome. Eastern frames etc are all Chinese (not Taiwan) who knows what's going on there.

I've heard whispers of a certain flu having an effect on China's productivity lately

HavokDJ wrote:

Out of curiosity I went on Eastern’s website and I noticed they have sold out their bikes with any chromoly, no frames, no forks, no bars (except the tranny bars, but let’s be honest, who prefers trannies? Lmao) pretty much almost all chromoly and titanium is out of stock on their site. I’ve also noticed S&M is not offering any custom work right now. These are two of the top companies in the US for bmx and they seem like they’re running out of chromoly. I know there’s a shortage of chromium and molybdenum on the planet but is this an effect of that or are they just getting ready to release something potentially?

Eastern will be flush with parts and many different price points of complete bikes very soon. While things have been slow to make it here to the USA, we have been fulfilling orders from distributors all over the world. Further, we are thankful for the many customers who purchased 2019 models and ensured that we didn't have leftover complete bikes in inventory that we have to discount from last year. Please sign up for our newsletter on our website so you'll know instantly when new products are in stock.

Thanks for all of the feedback on this thread - both positive and not so positive - we consider them all and it helps us to try and provide the best bikes, parts & customer service in the business.

Wow, that was really good timing. Thank you for posting in this thread. I just bought a used 2017 Shovelhead in pristine condition and I was not real sure about you guys as a company. But it was a good price for the quality of build and after my first ride it feels really good to me. I'm a total novice so take that FWIW.

I will be sure to look at your website for future parts when shopping.

The color of this one is really nice. It's like a trans brown. I think it's supposed to be like a Gold type finish and in the light it might be a bit more golden but the brown is what stands out the most and I dig it.

Fortyseven wrote:

Wow, that was really good timing. Thank you for posting in this thread. I just bought a used 2017 Shovelhead in pristine condition and I was not real sure about you guys as a company. But it was a good price for the quality of build and after my first ride it feels really good to me. I'm a total novice so take that FWIW.

I will be sure to look at your website for future parts when shopping.

The color of this one is really nice. It's like a trans brown. I think it's supposed to be like a Gold type finish and in the light it might be a bit more golden but the brown is what stands out the most and I dig it.

She's a beauty!

U done good. I don't really dig the billboard letters on the tires you guys put on all your bikes. But I have a feeling cuz you don't seem like you put all kinds of money into other types of advertising, maybe this is your way of doing that. LOL. It seems like you guys offer a lot of quality for the price point in comparison to other companies.

I could get behind them more if the lettering was a bit smaller. LOL. Either way it's a great bike. Just my feedback. I did grow up in the 70's and 80's when white letter tires were all the rage on hot rods. LOL.

Fortyseven wrote:

Wow, that was really good timing. Thank you for posting in this thread. I just bought a used 2017 Shovelhead in pristine condition and I was not real sure about you guys as a company. But it was a good price for the quality of build and after my first ride it feels really good to me. I'm a total novice so take that FWIW.

I will be sure to look at your website for future parts when shopping.

The color of this one is really nice. It's like a trans brown. I think it's supposed to be like a Gold type finish and in the light it might be a bit more golden but the brown is what stands out the most and I dig it.

Woah, isn’t that mishinn_controls whip? I remember reading a post about that thing a couple of years ago. Also great timing on lukedogg’s behalf, it’s awesome to see big people interacting with the community

Fortyseven wrote:

U done good. I don't really dig the billboard letters on the tires you guys put on all your bikes. But I have a feeling cuz you don't seem like you put all kinds of money into other types of advertising, maybe this is your way of doing that. LOL. It seems like you guys offer a lot of quality for the price point in comparison to other companies.

I could get behind them more if the lettering was a bit smaller. LOL. Either way it's a great bike. Just my feedback. I did grow up in the 70's and 80's when white letter tires were all the rage on hot rods. LOL.

I love white letter tires.. I like Eastern's styled letter tires too.. They stand out in a crowd of boredom in my opinion. Is that a cassette or freecoaster on your new whip?

Fortyseven wrote:

U done good. I don't really dig the billboard letters on the tires you guys put on all your bikes. But I have a feeling cuz you don't seem like you put all kinds of money into other types of advertising, maybe this is your way of doing that. LOL. It seems like you guys offer a lot of quality for the price point in comparison to other companies.

I could get behind them more if the lettering was a bit smaller. LOL. Either way it's a great bike. Just my feedback. I did grow up in the 70's and 80's when white letter tires were all the rage on hot rods. LOL.

Black Swamp Ghost wrote:

I love white letter tires.. I like Eastern's styled letter tires too.. They stand out in a crowd of boredom in my opinion. Is that a cassette or freecoaster on your new whip?

The site says freewheel 9T but they don’t make freewheels that small AFAIK so basically it’s more likely than not a cassette.

Fortyseven wrote:

Wow, that was really good timing. Thank you for posting in this thread. I just bought a used 2017 Shovelhead in pristine condition and I was not real sure about you guys as a company. But it was a good price for the quality of build and after my first ride it feels really good to me. I'm a total novice so take that FWIW.

I will be sure to look at your website for future parts when shopping.

The color of this one is really nice. It's like a trans brown. I think it's supposed to be like a Gold type finish and in the light it might be a bit more golden but the brown is what stands out the most and I dig it.

i like it, except the bars. im sorry but those bars are hideous. what are they anyway?

Fortyseven wrote:

U done good. I don't really dig the billboard letters on the tires you guys put on all your bikes. But I have a feeling cuz you don't seem like you put all kinds of money into other types of advertising, maybe this is your way of doing that. LOL. It seems like you guys offer a lot of quality for the price point in comparison to other companies.

I could get behind them more if the lettering was a bit smaller. LOL. Either way it's a great bike. Just my feedback. I did grow up in the 70's and 80's when white letter tires were all the rage on hot rods. LOL.

Black Swamp Ghost wrote:

I love white letter tires.. I like Eastern's styled letter tires too.. They stand out in a crowd of boredom in my opinion. Is that a cassette or freecoaster on your new whip?

HavokDJ wrote:

The site says freewheel 9T but they don’t make freewheels that small AFAIK so basically it’s more likely than not a cassette.

It's a cassette.

FWIW I have had great luck with my Eastern Night Train (26" DJ). Bought it in 2012 and it has treated me very well, couldn't be happier with it- the style, the quality, etc. Super fun bike. Used to ride it at a lot of the concrete parks around central Florida before more recently scooping up a Kink 20".

Fortyseven wrote:

Wow, that was really good timing. Thank you for posting in this thread. I just bought a used 2017 Shovelhead in pristine condition and I was not real sure about you guys as a company. But it was a good price for the quality of build and after my first ride it feels really good to me. I'm a total novice so take that FWIW.

I will be sure to look at your website for future parts when shopping.

The color of this one is really nice. It's like a trans brown. I think it's supposed to be like a Gold type finish and in the light it might be a bit more golden but the brown is what stands out the most and I dig it.

ggallin422 wrote:

i like it, except the bars. im sorry but those bars are hideous. what are they anyway?

They're Eastern. And yes it's Mishinn's bike. He graciously sold it to me for a really decent price. Not sure why people are calling it a "whip" unless that is a general term. The model is a "Shovelhead".

I clicked like on your post but I didn't really mean to agree that they're ugly. They definitely do a bit different shape than most other people. Not very wide at the bottom. I don't necessarily think they're the most handsome thing but I don't necessarily dislike them. At first I thought 4 piece bars were ugly. Now they are my favorite style. The photo kind of makes them look a little more gangly than they are because it's not really in the best perspective. They aren't really that big looking in real life.

That being said, I'm debating going back to the stock ones. I think I'm going to at least try the stock ones cuz I think I want it just a hair shorter. I might have to go somewhere in-between these and the stock ones though. These are 10" and the stock ones are 8.85 he said. There also looks to be a spacer in there that I can take out if I want to mess with height a little. The stock ones are basically shaped the same though, just shorter.

When taking the brake off I was impressed with the quality of it all. It's been on there for however long and it all came off really nicely. And even the little bracket for the brake line on the underside of the TT was removable with a small allen key bolt.

One of the upsides of buying this one used is it's so pristine, I'm pretty sure just about any mark or scratch is going to be from me. LOL.

My daughter likes the lettering n the tires too. I'll probably leave them and see if it grows on me. I think maybe after taking the Eastern sticker off the downtube that is basically the same size and shape as the ones on the tires, they wont look so redundant. I kind of like the clean look without much busyness. For now. LOL.

Fortyseven wrote:

Wow, that was really good timing. Thank you for posting in this thread. I just bought a used 2017 Shovelhead in pristine condition and I was not real sure about you guys as a company. But it was a good price for the quality of build and after my first ride it feels really good to me. I'm a total novice so take that FWIW.

I will be sure to look at your website for future parts when shopping.

The color of this one is really nice. It's like a trans brown. I think it's supposed to be like a Gold type finish and in the light it might be a bit more golden but the brown is what stands out the most and I dig it.

ggallin422 wrote:

i like it, except the bars. im sorry but those bars are hideous. what are they anyway?

Fortyseven wrote:

They're Eastern. And yes it's Mishinn's bike. He graciously sold it to me for a really decent price. Not sure why people are calling it a "whip" unless that is a general term. The model is a "Shovelhead".

I clicked like on your post but I didn't really mean to agree that they're ugly. They definitely do a bit different shape than most other people. Not very wide at the bottom. I don't necessarily think they're the most handsome thing but I don't necessarily dislike them. At first I thought 4 piece bars were ugly. Now they are my favorite style. The photo kind of makes them look a little more gangly than they are because it's not really in the best perspective. They aren't really that big looking in real life.

That being said, I'm debating going back to the stock ones. I think I'm going to at least try the stock ones cuz I think I want it just a hair shorter. I might have to go somewhere in-between these and the stock ones though. These are 10" and the stock ones are 8.85 he said. There also looks to be a spacer in there that I can take out if I want to mess with height a little. The stock ones are basically shaped the same though, just shorter.

When taking the brake off I was impressed with the quality of it all. It's been on there for however long and it all came off really nicely. And even the little bracket for the brake line on the underside of the TT was removable with a small allen key bolt.

One of the upsides of buying this one used is it's so pristine, I'm pretty sure just about any mark or scratch is going to be from me. LOL.

My daughter likes the lettering n the tires too. I'll probably leave them and see if it grows on me. I think maybe after taking the Eastern sticker off the downtube that is basically the same size and shape as the ones on the tires, they wont look so redundant. I kind of like the clean look without much busyness. For now. LOL.

Yeah whip is a general term. I’m not referring to the kink model lol.

Aaaaah. Still got a lot to learn, I do. LOL.

Eastern and S&M are U.S. companies?

Well, you're half right at least

Are they located somewhere else too?

HtownGetDown wrote:

Eastern and S&M are U.S. companies?

Well, you're half right at least

I was originally under the assumption that eastern was in the US but I was wrong. S&M is definitely US

HtownGetDown wrote:

Eastern and S&M are U.S. companies?

Well, you're half right at least

HavokDJ wrote:

I was originally under the assumption that eastern was in the US but I was wrong. S&M is definitely US

Eastern IS in the US. They just don't make any parts stateside.