ATTN: North Carolina Kids

[brycexlighthall]

Seen anyone running these?

Sorry no picture, I'm not good at the interwebs. http://www.easternbikes.com/a/products/parts/07Parts/07NewStuff.html


In The Works
Plastic BB



Eastern has been working on some new products and we just wanted to give you a peek at one. This is a Plastic BB. It's light and will be significantly less expensive than a standard metal version.

Manufactured from bearing grade self-lubricating polymer
On a spanish bb you would save roughly 6.5 ounces
We have made one small production run and are currently testing with positive results
This will not be the final production model
Basically the cup presses into the frame with a lot less effort than a normal bearing and then the “bearing” fits pretty tight on the spindle and spins inside the cup
The bearings are made to do away with the stacks of washers most people use, it will however come with a few polymer washers if you need to adjust the spacing
Widely used in many industries
While this product is still in the testing stage, a handful of local riders are running them with positive results.

[jonKranked]

that's pretty wild. I'm curious to see how its long term performance is.

[Savage_Animal]

A bb is one thing I don't want to crack.

[v-digit]

hmmmm. thats kind of neat. yet another way to cut some weight. if it works - why not!

[Stoked]

macneil had one. never saw anyone using it.

[D.E.T.]

This kind of stuff makes me embarrassed to ride bmx. This light weight craze is getting out of hand. Maybe if the new school riders weren't worried about fitting into their sisters jeans, they could handle a little weight.

[jonKranked]

Fundamentally this is no different than using high quality bushings in place of bearings in a suspension frame - which, quite a number of companies do successfully.

With the right polymer there's no reason it shouldn't work.

[Pesling]

I rode an ares plastic bb - this really sucked!
1) you have to glue your crankset (loctite)
2) after 1 hour it's out of round
3) costs too much for pvc-parts
pvc-bearings = trash!

[jonKranked]

I'm sure the eastern one will be much higher quality. I highly doubt they will be using PVC. Its far too rigid and ages poorly for this kind of application.

I wouldn't be surprised if they're doing what DW did with the e.13 supercharges and formulating a proprietary polymer blend for the application.

[escapeartist]

Seems to make sense to at least try it.

People trash talked plastic pedals when they came out, but I see a ton of people running them. They wont last as long but if it cost half as much and is lighter than traditional ones, maybe its okay to replace it twice as often.

Is there any chance you could run into problems with ovalizing your BB shell if it were to fail?

[A Grove]

Seems to make sense to at least try it.

People trash talked plastic pedals when they came out, but I see a ton of people running them. They wont last as long but if it cost half as much and is lighter than traditional ones, maybe its okay to replace it twice as often.

Is there any chance you could run into problems with ovalizing your BB shell if it were to fail?

Ovalization of BB shells/HT's is "usually" caused over a longer period of time (as I have read, anyhow). It seems to be that these will want to develope play very quickly and be very picky to keep running. If these fail, I see them wanting to "blow up" which should make it pretty apparent when one needs a new BB :D

Interesting idea, though.

[organizedrage]

This kind of stuff makes me embarrassed to ride bmx. This light weight craze is getting out of hand. Maybe if the new school riders weren't worried about fitting into their sisters jeans, they could handle a little weight.

word! :cheers:

[Pesling]

I'm sure the eastern one will be much higher quality. I highly doubt they will be using PVC. Its far too rigid and ages poorly for this kind of application.

I wouldn't be surprised if they're doing what DW did with the e.13 supercharges and formulating a proprietary polymer blend for the application.

No they are using a nylon combination, like all the others. MacNeil has tryed that (but with steel bearing), and Ares too. Even in the 80s it was a trend, that didn't work. No future stuff.
If you wanna know more: (maybe translate this) - Link 1 (http://ridelite.blogspot.com/2007/12/ares-bykes-ein-flachland-hersteller-aus.html) and Link 2 (http://ridelite.blogspot.com/2007/12/todgeburt.html)

[jonKranked]

No they are using a nylon combination, like all the others.

Can you prove this? or is it just e-speculation?



edit: even if they are using nylon, its not like all the others. The BB in the links you posted was PVC, completely different than nylon. And I highly doubt that the nylon (even if this is the material they are using) formula they'd be using nowadays is identical to the formulation used in the 80's. Polymer technology has made huge progress in the last 2 decades.

[chuffer]

No they are using a nylon combination, like all the others. MacNeil has tryed that (but with steel bearing), and Ares too. Even in the 80s it was a trend, that didn't work. No future stuff.
If you wanna know more: (maybe translate this) - Link 1 (http://ridelite.blogspot.com/2007/12/ares-bykes-ein-flachland-hersteller-aus.html) and Link 2 (http://ridelite.blogspot.com/2007/12/todgeburt.html)

in link 2 he mentions that the bearings lasted about an hour before they developed 1-2 mm of play.

as was mentioned the bearings listed on the blog were PVC...

[A Grove]

Correct me if I am wrong, but polymer and nylons are two different "types" of plastics, correct?

If that is the case, it states on the link given that Easterns bearings are running off of some sorta polymer.

Me, personally... I think this is one of the dumber ideas to hit the bicycle industry... let ALONE the BMX/"thrasher" market. Then again, everyone said that about the pedals toooo.....

[jonKranked]

Correct me if I am wrong, but polymer and nylons are two different "types" of plastics, correct?

No. Plastic is a generic term used for synthetic polymers (the technical material/chemistry name). Nylon is a kind of polymer, so is PVC (polyvinyl chloride), PP (polypropylene), LDPE (low density polyethylene) HDPE (high density polyethylene), etc. Nylon is actually a specific kind of polyamide developed by DuPont. When nylon was first created, the term was applied to a single kind of polyamide. Nowadays, nylon refers to a class of polyamides (again, developed by DuPont).

[Stoked]

khe bb

http://bmxunion.blogspot.com/2008/04/product-preview-khe.html

[jonKranked]

^^^ nice find!

These bush bearings, named iglidur® are principally used in other industries, primarily on permanently running applications at high temperatures. Each of them sustain more than 3 tons.
Their advantages are obvious:- They are unbelievably compact and weigh next to nothing- Highest wear resistance- lowest friction- Excellent resistance against extreme conditions like high temperature, humidity, chemicals- Maintenance-free - Lubricant-free - Corrosion resistance - Extremely insensitive to dirt - High accuracy grade

This idea is quickly growing on me.

[VSBJake]

According to that eastern page a regular spanish bearing weighs over 2 lbs.

[jonKranked]

According to that eastern page a regular spanish bearing weighs over 2 lbs.

in spain they use metrics so its 2 kg :biggrin: