How often do you have to ride a bike in order to justify keeping it?

[KonaSS]

I would rather be riding than maintaining or building bikes. So I try to be honest with myself about what needs I have from my bikes. And then try to limit myself to only the number of bikes that truly serve a unique purpose. To me that looks like:

1 go fast road bike
1 gravel bike that has both gravel and wide road wheelsets
1 full suspension mtb
1 hardtail mtb - changes from SS to geared bike at times

Bikes potentially on the chopping block for me:

1 first gen carbon Santa Cruz Stigmata - bought thinking it would be my bad weather road bike. Can fill that need with either my road or gravel bike. Earned it's keep by sitting on the trainer for me.

1 fat bike. Depending on the year, we can have 1 day that really requires a fat bike to get outside, or we can have 3 weeks. I try and justify by riding this when I just want to do any easy spin. But really considering moving this one along. On average, it is a few days per year when I "need" it and I could always ride the trainer on those days.

[sasquatch16v]

It depends

If I'm not riding it because I don't jive with it or have no time to use it for it's intended purpose, I'll try to sell it almost immediately. My first gravel bike and MTB suffered this fate.

If I still think it's a cool bike, and what I get from the sale will not replace it with something of equal coolness or performance (in my eyes), I'm not against leaving it in the basement for months at a time... like my rim brake Hi-mod supersix.

[AngryScientist]

For me, the justification happens at the time of purchase.

After that, bikes are like tools. I use them when I need them.

I have always been a tinkerer and working on stuff. Cars, boats, motorcycles, trailers, etc. I have a garage full of tools, some of them purchased, or even made to do one specific job that may never be used again. Others get used regularly. I feel no compulsion to get rid of any of my tools. Same with bikes. I may not have ridden a bike for years, but if I wake up one morning and decide it's the tool for the job today, so be it.

[5oakterrace]

I am 67. I figure, if lucky, I live to 80 maybe longer. Family history at work there. How many years of cycling are left? Maybe 10, 13... No matter what shape I am in now, you slow down - cannot fight ageing. What are odds I end up 85 and cycling all the time? Remote.

So if I am not riding the bike - and I see no future likelihood - it is gone. Sure, I have "room" for it, but what happens if I die suddenly. All I have done is create one more headache for my family who has to dispose of the bikes. It is very hard for family to offload stuff their loved one cherished. So I try minimize that getting rid of stuff.
⁸
Books? We had maybe 1000. Now - if we do not figure on reading it again - give it to someone who will. Maybe 150 left. Bikes - if I am not going to ride it much - gone. I have two cf bikes and a titanium. Ti is the back up should the cf crack. I switch them around. I foresee selling one in a few years. Granted I doubt it sells for much but what would the family get? Save them the hassle.

One is on rollers. One for outside. One equipped with easy gears for steep stuff.

[jamesdak]

Originally Posted by bironi

How often do you have to read a book to justify keeping it?

BAM!!! You are my new hero! Until I have more bikes than books I will no longer entertain thoughts that I might just maybe have too many bikes.

Gotta be a couple of hundred books in this bookshelf alone.



And only 30+ bikes around right now, so I have no problem.

[Likes2ridefar]

I only keep bikes I ride regularly which means 2 at most if excluding the e bike for school/errands. I do not collect or hoard anything.

[54ny77]

my bikes are still mainly running 10 spd so perhaps that answers the question.

[buddybikes]

I have 2 bikes now, ride 1 5 days week the other 1-2, poor Firefly...

Also have a frame I made in 1981, never be rode again by me I think but just can't see myself selling/giving away.

[benb]

I'm definitely on the side of getting an itch to get rid of things if I'm not using them regularly. I'm pretty time crunched and I can do a lot of the maintenance tasks myself but I really want to do things in a way that I don't waste an excessive time doing maintenance.

I have had 3 bikes the last 8 years. Never more than 3.

All of them got used a fair amount in the last year. My carbon road bike always gets put away for the entirety of the winter and that doesn't bother me. In the past I'd always want to ride a bike like that constantly but these days I'm basically trying to keep it out of the bad weather. It's 8 years old and has not had to have any components replaced. Usually in the past I would never get more than 4 years without having to replace almost the entire groupset due to water & road chemical damage.

My All City Space Horse is basically only for commuting now. I probably only rode it 10-20 days last year.

Last 2 years if you base it on hours I rode my MTB far more than the other 2 bikes. But if you based it on miles I don't ride the MTB very far, most rides on it have quite low average speeds due to the terrain so it looks like I'm not riding it much.

The only thing I am not like this with is my camera gear. That I can let sit. I can't really deal with having much music gear I am not using regularly either. I have 3 guitars and I never go a week without playing all 3 of them even when I'm mostly playing music that is far and away most appropriate on one particular guitar.

[Bob Ross]

The wife and I are about to ship a couple bikes cross country where they will live in a rented storage facility in a city we will visit probably once a year. Maybe twice, though I'm skeptical of that frequency.

So not only are we not selling them even though they get ridden infrequently and will continue to get ridden even more infrequently, we're going to pay for the privilege of only ever being able to ride them infrequently.



...which probably qualifies as another "Never" answer.

[alexihnen]

Originally Posted by bironi

How often do you have to read a book to justify keeping it?

This is the only correct answer.

[robt57]

Originally Posted by alexihnen

This is the only correct answer.

More books fit in same space though...

We donate books, guitars and bikes... not so much.. ok, once in a while.

[Turkle]

For me, if a bike has sentimental value, it stays.

But, on the other hand, I had a gravel bike I simply never rode. Turns out... I'm just not rad enough to ride gravel. Never even got the thing dirty. So I sold it.

Anyway, I guess most of this has to do with how much storage space you have than anything else. I have 6 bikes in this house (including my partner's 2 bikes) and we don't have any room for more, so if I get another one I have to ship one out the door.

(Well, maybe I could squeeze ONE more in here...........)

[flying]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

You guys keep bikes?

"A" Bike yes & a wife too

[donevwil]

Most all my bikes are custom, either for me or someone else with similarly odd body measurements, so they are VERY hard to sell (as in pennies on the dollar). Sold my old custom Ti Cycles race bike (originally $2500 for F&F&HS) for $300 shipped a few years ago. I have a few similarly geo'd bikes (Landshark, Inglis, Merckx & Calfee) boxed in the attic since I know none would yield enough to offset the effort of dealing with buyers/selling/shipping.

Although my wife bikes are of much more standard geo she develops bonds with them, so even if one goes unridden for a decade she can't bear to part with it.