New bike day yesterday
 

I went and bought myself a new hardtail mtn bike. I got a 19 Marin Nail Trail 6 from AMain for close to half off by the time the rep applied an extra discount.

The brown truck brought it last night at almost 8pm, so I'm doing the bulk of the assembly and set up today. I still have a bit to do to get er right, but she'll probably get a shake out ride today.

I'll say this about the wheels.....I'm going from 26" to 27.5" with much wider rims. When I saw them I thought I got plus size tires by mistake, but the tires are the same width, and that's when I remembered tires spread out more on wider rims.

I'm pumped to get out on the trails.

Enjoy!

We need photo's. Congratulations and enjoy.
Frank.

Have fun with the new bike!! Still riding my old 26" rimmed mtn bike (not nearly as often as when I used to live near more trails). I've heard the larger tires, 27.5 or 29 really do make a diff.

Okay, new bike day for me too! After not riding for many years, the only bike I had left is a Trek 930 Singletrack from 1992. I recently had a full overhaul on it and put some new tires on it. Its fine for the woods but I found myself wanting a road bike again, or at least something other than a MTB for those longer rides on pavement.
So, I just bought a new hybrid 'road/path' bike. I didn't even know bikes like this existed; alum. frame, 27.5 wheels with all-purpose tires (1.95), front shocks, Shimano hydraulic disc brakes, comfort saddle with sprung seat post, single chainring and a Shimano Nexus 8-spd internal gear hub.
I've always loved the geared hubs and once did a metric century on a 3-spd. before I had a legitimate road bike. That 3-spd Sturmey-Archer had a coaster brake in it so I added a front caliper brake to the bike, which otherwise was stripped and painted black. This was a very flat ride on the Colonial Parkway between Jamestown and Yorktown and back. I actually passed some guys on the way back because they were getting cramps for some reason.
I am really looking forward to getting this one and hitting the Capital City Trail between Richmond and Williamsburg. Its paved, off the highway and about 12' wide, mostly flat. And of course, I still have the Trek for the woods (minus the clips - I almost killed myself with those toe clips on my first actual trail ride - now using some older Shimano platforms that I had on my road bike many years ago.)
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My "new" bike day will be sometime next week. I am actually resurrecting a Trek 8000 hardtail that I bought as a 40th birthday present for myself in 1995! It needs a good cleaning, a new chain, new fatter tires even though it has some 26x1.5 city tires on it that are barely used, new saddle and new grips that both have disintegrated. Shifting is very stiff so maybe new cables, or a lube on the old ones which look to be intact. I currently have a carbon road bike and my Trek 7000 that I use as a commuter, two steel road bikes from the 1980s, and a Cannondale from the 1990s.

Living in NYC limits the use of a trail bike as there aren't very many places to ride off street, but I know of a few. It certainly isn't enough though to buy a bike new for it, but I already have this one.

I hear that. I did the same thing, put on narrower tires on the Trek, then recently changed them. I used Michelin 'Country Racer' clinchers, about 2.1"
Nice soft tires with loads of grip.

Hey, just Christmas many years ago, nothing like a new bike!

I already have a pair of Kenda Nevegal tires in 26x2.1 in house that I bought used on ebay. They look to be little used. I'm looking forward to giving it a ride this coming week when I get a new chain. Then I'll figure out what else needs to be done. I used to have a $100 limit on what I considered "under the radar" but now that I've retired I've lowered that considerably. Now I try to keep things under $25 per item. The pair of tires was $20, but then shipping. But if I bought new tires the starting point seemed to be about $25/each and up, and these are like $38/each.

Enjoy it! It sounds like a great time!

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Got it all together yesterday and took it out on the streets, and today I took it on some gravel trails. It was a blast. The tires were like new once I looked at them mounted. New chain shifted nicely after I put new rear cable/housing on it. But that's about all I did.

Still need a new saddle and grips. I don't need the bullhorns either so those will come off. Brakes were fine, and I think I have a pair of SPD pedals somewhere, I just would need SPD shoes but maybe I have those still too. I was fine on the flat pedals though so maybe just a pair with toe clips would be OK too. The benefit of flat pedals is not needing special shoes. This isn't going to be my main ride, that's still my road bike.

It's a little hard to see in the paint job but it has a black fine line splatter in it. The frame is bonded aluminum Easton 7000. Components are Deore DX, an oddball group positioned between LX and XT.

congrats
We need first ride debriefing
&
we really need a picture
:D

While recovering from a broken fibula I switched out the spd pedals on my bikes for flat pedals with pins on them. That was over a year ago and I haven't switched back. As you say, I can wear any shoe and the pins do a fine job of keeping my feet in place. I thought I would miss being able to "pull up" on the pedal stroke but it hasn't been an issue for me.

Enjoy the new machine once it's up and rolling, also share pics.

When I'm on a road bike doing training I want every stroke to count to the fullest. When I'm on this bike riding on a trail not so much. So yea, I think I'll just leave the pedals as is. If I want to be clipped in I can always swap my Assioma Power Meter pedals onto it and get power readings too. I've done that with my commuter, just so I can get an idea of what my commute was worth for training.

Well, my 'new bike day' didn't work out so well. The bike is incredible but with the fork and that geared hub, it's a little heavy, plus I would want a lower gear in it. I took it on a 14-mile ride and it certainly was comfortable and those juice brakes are incredible. The hub was flawless and shifted smoothly and quietly. The spring fork was not 'mushy' at all but soaked up the road shocks. I just couldn't get over the 'road-hugging weight' of it which was aggravated by the need for a lower granny gear.
So, I changed tires on the Trek again, this time to a smaller tire with a smooth 'road strip' in the center with knobbies on the sides for dirt. Yesterday I took the Trek to the ride which was to be 16 miles this time, and I loved it. So now I'm stuck with a $620 bike that I'm sure somebody else would love. My fault entirely as I acted rashly and without sufficient thought in buying it.

Now that I've taken my Trek out for a few rides I realize how little I would actually use it, so it is a good thing that it cost so little to fix up. So far I'm $70 into it, if that much. It still needs a seat and grips, but maybe I'll just poach the saddle off another bike I have. For that matter, my commuter bike that I did use a lot doesn't have a great saddle on it either. Maybe I should get a new saddle for that bike and swap.

Too bad that bike cost real money and now you don't think you'll use it. You can try putting a smaller chainring on the front or a larger cog on the back, that'll lower all the gears. I don't know if you can widen the range of the hub itself, but I somehow doubt it, so the lowest gear went lower without making the highest gear change.

Yes, reducing the size of the chainring is the answer if I can't sell it by Xmas. I'm trying to get $495 for it on Facebook Marketplace but will probably also put it on ebay for local pickup only. By reducing the chainring, all gears get lower, naturally, but it had way too much on the top end anyway. In that one 14 mi ride I never saw a gear above 5th. What I'll do if it doesn't sell is count the teeth and look for a smaller chain ring of that type. Its not the usual that would be easy - its a steel ring with a pants guard riveted to it - I haven't seen one like this before so without pulling it off the crank axle I really don't know how it separates. Then if you change to a smaller chain ring you have to shorten the chain length exactly because there's not any fore and aft leeway with disc brakes.
Its starting to sound like it would be a lot easier to put a larger rear gear on if Shimano offers them. This would have the exact same effect but would be a lot easier. I didn't consider this option before because I didn't want to mess with the hub at all but once I saw how the chainring was made I started thinking about doing it this way again. Another drawback here is I'll have to buy a new chain to get the extra length required.

Have fun on the new bike, and great deal on the Marin.

Thanks!
Been riding it quite a bit. I'm noticeably faster on the new bike than my old Bikes Direct Motobecane 26" hardtail on the same trails.:)