What's the story? Everyone on this forum seems to either love them or hate them; every time someone mentions them the next 5 posts are basically like "eastern sucks" "eastern rules" "no they sucks". I feel like I'm missing something here.

What exactly do/don't you like about them?

I have an eastern element. I like mine... Was cheap fairly light weight. stock rims are actually holding up... after riding in the dirt it doesent sound like i have squirrels gnawing on my crank... but i have nothing to compare it to other then a few harro's and gt's... Beats them by far. the 25/9 ratio on it stock was a nice touch along with full cromo and tubular crank. For the $150 i picked up mine for used it was a good buy... But i dont think i would of ever paid full price for it considering there are better bikes out there to be had. The 20.75 TT was a good length for me. it holds my weight (210) well. Over all i think its a decent bike and i have had no problems thus far. Only complaints were the seat tube is 2 short for my liking and the bars hurt me for some reason... it feels a little heavy up front but nothing a new stem/fork wont change

For one thing, they put gimmicks on their frames for the weight weenies. From what I understand, a lot of their parts are junk, too. I personally like the look of their high-end bikes. Not so much for the parts they sell though.

Mainly what mini said, parts are weak and break. I wouldn't trust half the stuff they have like those pegs that are half cut out and the frame with open slots everywhere.

I do wonder y they cut out the seatpost like that it saves what all of .2 lbs and risks so much structural integrity

https://www.danscomp.com/211368.php?cat=FRAMESFSD

The cream/blue on this looks cool though

i like their parts because theyre ALMOST as good as the competition, and theyre cheap. i like this because i get a decent part for a lot less. i dont go through parts that fast, so this is good for me.

There are numerous other brands for the same price I would go to before Eastern.

Tru dat, just steer clear, we speak from experience. I bought an element frame for cheap that i have to hammer the wheel on

I put the headset in 8 peices.

i dont think ive ever broken an eastern part. maybe just chipped it up or something, but never actually broken it. maybe you guys just need different parts. it all depends on your riding style and how hard you ride. i ride street and i do a bunch of big drops and stuff, but all of my eastern parts have held up so far. and this is starting a year ago.

i personally loved my eastern when i had it...but then i had to sell it and now i have a gt....
i like em cuz theyre wayyy light, and they look good ha