Dear A. Tool Horda,
You should not feel concerned. This happens to all of us. Cyclist think that the n+1 rule applies to bikes, but it actually started with tools. Let me explain how this develops.
First, you start with a cyclist's multitool. It's a useless set of allen keys that never includes the one small size you need, and the whole thing has no leverage, is too bulky to be accessible to the bolt head in question, and it pinches your fingers.
Next you go to loose tools from the hardware store. Bondhus allen wrenches are a good example. Good wrenches, actually, and you can actually go n+14 if you get the jumbo set.
But you lust for more. You want that ability to crank on your stem with all the gusto you'd put into the crank detonator connected to the C4 in a James Bond movie. You'll even wear cufflinks to get that ability. And then you start to find satisfaction. There are Y-wrenches, T-wrenches, stick wrenches, hex tips on screw guns, hex tips on screwdrivers, hex tips on torque wrenches, integrated hex tips on torque wrenches (you get to count those twice). Then there's the belt buckle with the fold-out chain tool and the little studs on the front that are ... if you look closely ... the torx tips you've been longing for. So for want of a simple cheap cyclist multitool, you now are at n+87 and climbing. Each has its purpose. Each has its mission. What you now need to do is be sure that each has its home. More tools are required to accomplish that goal. Drills, drill bits, countersinks, jig saw, orbital sander, and somewhere in there you know you'll need a tig welder. You always will need a tig welder. You aren't serious until you've eyed a tig welder. And a decent one. A Miller Syncroweld is about the baseline for an n+1. (Yes, Alice, it does get harder to score points as you go farther down the hole.)
Have we mentioned the parts drawer? You aren't buying tools without buying parts? Button head allen bolts in all the lengths and threadings. Nylok nuts. If you're installing fenders on your bike you need at least thirty different types of hardware that your fenders don't come with. Pretty soon you'll realize that your tool collection isn't as insidious as your parts collection (when you have spares of all the various parts to build a pair of Phil Wood track hubs, you'll understand). So now you're approaching that point that we all reach here where bike collection is not a sin, nor is tool collection. It's simply a necessary way of life if we're to excel on a bike. I'm not defining what excelling on a bike is supposed to mean, but sometimes the world is simply ambiguous (like when your wife asks what n bikes is and you quote her n-12).
This is only a very superficial tour of life as an essential cyclist. There's such a metaphysical element to life as a cyclist. And when you walk through the pearly gates, you definitely want to walk through with your best allen wrenches in hand, just in case there's a bolt on the pearly gates that needs attention. Carrying that wrench will bring you bonus points in the eyes of the Almighty.
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