BANANAJACK

My wife would like to give me a TREK MARLIN 6 for my next birthday.

I must indeed reindeer a little exercise for my health ...

But I hate to switch gears on bikes and I would like to know if it would be possible on this particular bike to change the current chainring / cassette / derailleur system by a 1X chainring 42 teeth and an internal gear hub Simano nexus 8 speeds.

I searched the net but I could not find internal gear hub experiences on the TREK MARLIN.

Thank you for all your advice that will be welcome!

tomtomtom123

What's the problem that you have with shifting gears?

You'd be dropping from 506% gear range to 307% if you change the stock setup to a Nexus 8.

You should be searching the internet for Nexus 8 conversion with 135mm dropout, and not for someone who's done it on this specific bicycle model.

If you really hate using a front derailleur, just not using it will give you a 1x8 setup with 309% for free with zero effort. Or if you want to use a little effort, you could simply disconnect the cable and take off the shifter and front derailleur.

The product page says it's a riveted chainring crankset, so you can't change the chainrings. But you change the chainline by using different length BB. The product page for the crank says 123mm BB for 48.8mm chainline. If you want to change the chainrings, then you would have to change the crank arms first.

dsbrantjr

With the IGH you will still have to switch gears...

jimc101

Get a bike with IGH gearing as stock, trying to retrofit this (or retrofitting just about anything) on a bike not designed for it will lead to incompatibility complications, and you will end up with a bike that cost far more than one that had it as stock in the first place.

BANANAJACK

dsbranttjr,

I know that you have to switch gears, but as I'm not a great cyclist, I do not like the derailleur/cassette system because you can not shift gear when I am at a standstill

Indeed, with the derailleur / cassette it is mandatory to anticipate before stopping otherwise we can end up on too big a gear when we have to restart. Very often it is difficult for me in town.

excuse my english my native language is french

Wilfred Laurier

The rear derailleur also acts as a chain tensioner. Bikes with internally geared hubs usually do not have a chain tensioner and you need to set chain tension by positioning the rear wheel. The Trek Marlin 6 does not have the dropout design required to move the wheel to set chain tension, so you would have to add a separate chain tensioner (or adapt a derailleur to use for this).

Also you will probably have to change the crank if you want to use a 42 tooth chainring. I don't believe the crank on the Marlin 6 has removable chainrings or replacements available.

What country are you in? And are there other brands of bike available? The Marlin 6 is designed as a derailleur bike and there will be compromises necessary to make it work with an IGH, but other manufacturers make bikes that are a better choice for conversions. Norco makes a couple IGH bikes and Kona makes single speed bikes that would be a better conversion.

Wilfred Laurier

Here is an example of a bike that would be good for conversion to IGH:

https://www.konaworld.com/unit.cfm

tomtomtom123

When I've gone to a local big brand chain bicycle store, I've seen bikes with Nexus 8 for $600-800. If that's what you want, it's simpler to just buy a bike with it already installed. I've also seen a bike with a Rohloff hub for $1000-1200 at the same store. When I searched for the same model online, it was selling for around $900 on the internet. I don't remember the brand or model though.
I think I saw a few Alfine 11 for around $1000.

but anyway, nexus and alfine gear spacing is unacceptable for me. cassette and multiple chainrings give me the range and spacing that i want.

Darth Lefty 

There are several other brands of bikes that can accommodate a gear hub. Most Surly touring bikes will, their pure mountain bikes can with some work-arounds. A few Salsa bikes will (the ones with Alternator drop-outs)

I'm not sure I've seen any crossover between "cheap gear hub bike" and "cheap mountain bike"