I saw a handful of Nitrous products at Eastern’s booth at Interbike in Las Vegas a few months ago and was briefly told that Nitrous was going to be somewhat of an entry-level brand from the same people that do Eastern. Then this past week Eastern posted a quick teaser for Nitrous on their site along with some of the Nitrous products. Curiosity got the best of me and I hit them up to get the 411. Eastern’s national sales rep and staff rider Bryan Byrd filled us in…
All the current Nitrous products and their full list of specs are posted at easternbikes.com.
To clarify, please explain exactly what an in-house brand is and what the relationship between Eastern and Nitrous is.
Both Nitrous and Eastern Bikes are “in-house brands” of EBIUS Trading & Distributing, which is our new distribution company. Think of Nitrous as Eastern’s little brother.
What was the driving force or idea behind starting Nitrous?
BMX is an expensive sport, and there are plenty of kids out there that can’t afford the latest this and the greatest. Everyone at Eastern was a kid like that at some point and felt that there is a need for more affordable products that look cool and are functional. These days especially-every penny counts and there are plenty of moms out there trying to keep their kids “cool,” but a $400 frame is completely out of the question; that’s this month’s rent! That same mom can get her kid a Nitrous Piston frame for $160; full 4130 chromoly, with a mid BB, integrated headtube, removable brake mounts and all…
The Nitrous Piston frame that will retail for around $160.
Who is your ideal customer for Nitrous? Who do you envision buying the product?
That depends on the product. For instance, the Piston frame that I mentioned above, it’s a great frame for the price, but is geared toward a rider that’s graduating from an entry-level complete bike or just upgrading the frame on his complete and keeping the rest of the parts. The Double-Shot rear wheels, on the other hand, are sealed bearing, double-wall, and inexpensive, but they can also hold up. Kelly Bolton just picked some up to try out last week. We envision riders getting started on a Piston frame and growing into an Eastern Journey or Grim Reaper as they advance.
The teaser on the Eastern site said Nitrous was a “wallet-friendly” brand. Can you elaborate on that a bit?
A lot of the entry-level products from the Eastern line have moved to the Nitrous side of things. This basically means that Nitrous is an inexpensive, but well-made product line.
Nitrous’ sealed, double-walled, affordable wheels.
How long have the products been in the works?
Nitrous products have been part of the Eastern line-up as forks and bars for a couple of years now. We’ve had this concept of expanding the line for some time, and it just worked out to do it for 2010.
Now that Nitrous has surfaced, will anything change with Eastern?
Just the entry-level products moving from Eastern branding to Nitrous, this should help riders see Eastern for what it is-a quality-driven, innovative, and progressive company.
The man behind all these answers…Eastern’s national sales rep and staff rider Bryan Byrd.
Do you have any plans for a Nitrous team or any kind of promotions?
Definitely not a team… One way that Nitrous is able to be so affordable is that we don’t spend money on an expensive team or image for the line. That’s something that is a bit of carry-over from Eastern; we have a great team riding for Eastern and we like to promote them, but we’d never intend to sell a rider a product just because our team is wearing the right clothes or has their seat at the right angle. We firmly believe that you can’t coast on an image forever. Your sales channel has to be strong and your products have to continually be desirable.
How do the parts compare to similar products on the out there?
More bang for the buck!
Anything else you want to add?
Contact an authorized Eastern dealer or go to easternbikes.com for all the details.
