Muddymoles mountain biking in the Surrey Hills and Mole Valley

1999 Marin Nail Trail

Posted by Mark | December 3, 2006 | 6 comments so far

Mark's Marin Nail Trail
I needed to get off my fully rigid £180 Free Spirit Kielder and onto something with a modicum of “MTB” about it. Fortunately, a deal was struck with a mate of Dave’s who hadn’t really done much with his bike and I ended up with this near unused Nail Trail at a bargain price.

I needed to get off my fully rigid £180 Free Spirit Kielder and onto something with a modicum of “MTB” about it. Fortunately, a deal was struck with a mate of Dave’s who hadn’t really done much with his bike and I ended up with this near unused Nail Trail at a bargain price.

For those of you who remember the ’99 model you may recall that it came with a ‘state of the art’ Diatech cable front disc brake. Shame it didn’t work (they never did), a fact I conclusively proved by disappearing through a hedge backwards at terminal velocity.

Having judiciously invested a hundred and fifty quid I now have a fully hydraulic brake set up and the bike still represents a huge saving on a new one. The only other upgrades have been a WTB Speed comp saddle which has been great from day one and a pair of Yeti grips.

AtoZ disc adaptorUpgrading the rear brake needed a new wheel and hub plus a disc brake adaptor from supercycles (www.supercycles.co.uk), which has worked really well as the alu frame affords plenty of space to attach the adaptor (see pic). I’m using the 2003 spec Julie brakes with alloy levers and they seem to work just fine.

This bike has a solid frame and a commanding riding position with the wide riser bars fitted by its’ previous owner. Sooner or later the running gear will need replacing but probably the obvious upgrade would be the forks.

In the meantime, I’m pleased with it as it is and have become very attached to the blue stem!

Nail Trail specification (as at Aug 03)
Component Spec Component Spec
Frame 1999 Marin Nail Trail Headset Ritchey Logic
Forks RST Mozo Pro Bars Azonic 2″ riser
Front mech STX Stem Marin 120mm (er, very blue!)
Rear mech STX-RC Seatpost Marin
Shifters STX Saddle WTB Speed Comp
Front brake Magura Julie 2003 Pedals Time ATAC
Rear brake Magura Julie 2003 Rims Ritchey front; Mavic 221 rear
Chain n/a Hubs Diatech (front) Deore (rear)
Cassette Shimano 8 speed Tyres Continental Vertical 2.3
Chainset STX-RC

Filed under Bikes in December 2006

Mark

About the author

There are 6 comments on ‘1999 Marin Nail Trail’

We love to get comments from our readers - if you've spent a few moments to comment, thank-you.

If you haven't had a chance yet, jump to our comments form if you have something to say.

  1. Muddymoles says:

    Mountain Bikes – What we are riding

    A quick round up of the Mountain Bikes that have found favour with us recently. A broad and eclectic bunch, especially if you like bikes from the Calderdale Valley.

  2. Muddymoles says:

    Blue Pig is now orange

    The Ragley Blue Pig from Shedfire (or is that Tweakbikes?) has now reached the painted stage, turned out in a fine orange/yellow. Or yellow/orange. Or something.

  3. Dan M says:

    Ive just seen a nail trail avertised locally for £50. Im tempted to buy it for the wife. Will a more modern dics brake set-up bolt straight onto the front fork ? and is the rear conversion an easy fit ?

  4. Matt says:

    Dan, I think to Mark’s eternal regret he let this go instead of passing it on to his wife.

    If the one you’ve seen is original I think you can relatively easily put a modern disc brake onto the front. The brake mounts will be ISCG so you might need a cheap adaptor but it depends on what you’re trying to fit on there.

    I’d seriously think about a modern fork as well though – those original RSTs are crap, but at £50 the bike sounds great.

    At the rear the A2Z adaptor was quite straightforward to fit. It’s a bit fiddly but basically works quite well.

  5. Related: And now the end is near… | Rides | Muddymoles: Mountain biking (MTB) in the Surrey Hills and Mole Valley

  6. Related: Blue Pig is now orange | News, 2009 | Muddymoles: Mountain biking (MTB) in the Surrey Hills and Mole Valley