How I fell in love with used Shimano Nexus 8 speed $150 worth Nishiki hybrid bike.
First of all I consider myself as an avid cycling lover for a past decade. I switched and owned dozen of bicycles in that time frame. From cheap old 90's Puch road bike to Stevens XTR equipped 24 speeds mountain bike. I just love cycling no matter what is underneath of me.
Since I am getting older (like we all do) I was looking to get hands on some city bike in the classifieds. I didn’t wanted to spend too much. I was looking for something under $250 price tag. And that day was just published classified for an older Nishiki 408 bike that was equipped with Shimano Nexus 8 speed internal hub along with Shimano roller brakes.
I never thought about an internal hub as a serious option but hell I wanted to give it a try. It just looks nice visually and I researched a bit and read a lot of good reviews on the internet.
This bike was priced at $150 and in the financial terms there wasn’t too much to lose. I ordered it and bike arrived next day. When I took it from a delivery guy I felt immediate frightening weight on my hands. It was an heavy bicycle and I already felt disappointed. Though this bike looked compact and well preserved.
After unpacking it I gave this bike a test ride. My disappointment started to disappear immediately. Out of the box, riding this bike was very smooth. Even with the tires missing some air and bike had no setup for my size. Switching gears with Nexus 8 was so smooth and instant. I expected some dragging force (as others say on the internet) but there was none. Could not feel any of it. I was so amazed with the smoothness of riding this $150 bike even it was so heavy.
That day later I gave it a longer, around 20 kilometers, ride and I had smile on my face whole that time. Switching gears was instant on this Nexus 8 speed internal hub and I never see that before. I could switch the speeds even stopped. It was a brand new experience for me and I loved it.
Next day I wanted to make this Nishiki bike lighter a bit since its weight was really an issue that bothered me a lot. I removed some of its stock parts like mud guards, chain protector, bike kickstand and the rear rack since I didn’t need those at this very moment.
And voila: bike was acceptably lighter now.
It was time for the next testing phase. I wanted to try this bike going up some steep hill. I wanted to see can this bike replace my main 24 speeds equipped bicycle, at last for everyday rides. I rode this bike on one of the hills that wasn’t easy to get on top of it. To be honest I needed one gear lower under that number 1. It wasn’t as easy as riding the 24 speed switched to some of its lowest gears but I managed it. And I didn’t lost a bit of faith in that Shimano Nexus 8 geared Nishiki bike. Maybe I lost something by not having additional lower gears but I got much more with comfort of riding it.
Days later and dozen more rides I wanted to upgrade this bicycle a bit. Two things I wanted to improve first and those were bike seat and the tires that came with. I bought used Sqlab 604 (14cm wide) seat. At first I wasn’t too satisfied with it. It felt as any other regular cheap seat — not comfortable as they advertise. Suddenly after fixing some adjustments and angles seat became very comfortable to sit on. I learned that day that small adjustments can make a big difference in the world of cycling comfort.
Along with the seat I bought pair of Schwalbe Advancer tires sized at 700x35c. They where cheap — priced at $15 per tire and I wasn’t expecting too much from them but they looked very slick when they arrived. I love those additional green lines over the tire edges. They fit well to the silver colors of my bike.
Now I am on weekend trip at this very moment but can’t wait to ride this Shimano Nexus 8 equipped Nishiki bike again. For $150 this bike was steal for me. I am thinking of selling my mountain bike now.
Will I keep loving this new cheap bike? Time will tell…
Do you own an internal geared bike yourself or thinking of buying one? Or maybe having a bad experience with Shimano Nexus? Please let me know in the comments.
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