How many bikes is too many?

[reuben]

7. Definitely seven. Guess how many I have now.

[NHAero]

I just added a Habanero as a travel bike (I hope!) and as my main winter road ride. So now I have nine. I would rather ride than work on bikes, and I've been in the basement a lot in the past few weeks as I convert three bikes from hydro discs to cable discs, which I believe will lower my mechanic time overall.

I don't keep a bike I don't ride, but some get little use. I have a folding 50 year old Raleigh 20 (which got a recent rebuild of brakes and shift cables/housing) for locking up at the ferry, or for taking on a hike where we enter/exit in different trailheads. I have a Big Dummy that is used for shopping or taking big stuff to the PO, or going to the beach. Use cases are distinct but frequency is low.

I have my '72 custom Bob Jackson which I can't envision selling,and which has fenders and a rack, but now with the Hab I think it will get fewer miles. I could put the Nuovo Record stuff back on, but that would limit me in terms of how far I would ride it (42/24 low gear).

I had the old Litespeed Unicoi set up as a drop bar 26er but the Hab replaces that use case. It's back as a flat bar with BB7s and 2x11. Probably only used as a studded tire bike (less needed with the climate shifting) and loaner.

The bike I use the least that I could let go is the Nagasawa fixed gear road trainer. I rode it 6 times in 2022. But once that's gone, it's never getting replaced - I've only ever seen one other. And there isn't any bike that takes less maintenance than a fixed gear rim brake bike.

So that leaves the bikes that get ridden the most, the Bingham all road and the Firefly road bike and the Pivot 429C FS29er. The Bingham can get the 700x25 wheelset instead of 650B and in theory could replace the Firefly, but it's easier to just pull the Firefly off the hook and go. And it's just a gorgeous skinnytire rim brake bike, it would be hard to part with.

Given that I have the space (though I have maxed the available hooks ) and given that the ones that could leave are likely not worth much, why not keep them?

[Kirk007]

If the number becomes a burden- financially, mentally, space etc. Then you have too many.


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[Metz]

Originally Posted by Kirk007

If the number becomes a burden- financially, mentally, space etc. Then you have too many.


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This

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by lorenbike

if I lived in NYC I could probably be more than happy with 1 bike.

LOL. I currently have three bikes in my NYC apartment

...and I'm not even in my NYC apartment!

[clave]

Originally Posted by reuben

7. Definitely seven. Guess how many I have now.

Haha that's exactly my situation

I can justify having a lot of bikes by the fact that I'm into lots of different disciplines of cycling and by the fact that they are all ridden often.

But, that's sort of changing after having a kid. And I have less time for maintenance, so it is time to sell one or two.

[wgp]

Down to five, but due to space restrictions my son has one of them (which he rarely rides now). All road bikes, btw. The only thing that would make me buy another is either a Sachs or a Peg DID - and those rarely come available in 58cm (believe me, as I’m always on the lookout) …


My oldest is a ‘79 Gios, which I rarely ride now. Raced on it for years back then, but honestly it’s not as much fun to ride as my other three “in residence” bikes.

[dirttorpedo]

I'm not sure how many bikes I have - 8ish that run probably and then 3 or so frames that are projects. I think 4 of them are ridden regularly so I could probably make do with 4 - 5 if I was still into mountain biking.

For many years I just had 1 because all I did is mountain bike and I rented so I had a strict one in one out policy.

[CAAD]

My current count. Won't go past this unless I sell something.
-Mountain
-Gravel
-Fast Road
-Sunday afternoon perfect weather road bike. That special build.
-Travel bike I can throw in a bag and put on a plane without too much worry.

I ride everything except the travel bike pretty regularly.

[dave thompson]

There is no such thing as too much money, a diamond that's too big or too many bikes!

[ltwtsculler91]

Originally Posted by Kirk007

If the number becomes a burden- financially, mentally, space etc. Then you have too many.

I think Kirk has the right way of looking at it in terms of absolute limits.

My wife would probably prefer that I had fewer, but it's not a burden other than space in Nashville when I have 2 bikes in a 900 sqft loft... I have 9 "in rotation," but 2.5 of them are kept in specific places and I have 2 others for sale, with 2 replacements inbound. I tend to put a lot of miles on new bikes, and then they settle into their spot in the rotation.

At a minimum, I'd want to have 3 in rotation - a "race" bike, a racy mileage eating road bike, and an all road type bike on either 650bs or 35ish 700c tires.

Core "Home" Lineup (currently Greenwich, soon to be Nashville):
No22 Reactor - A bike, absolutely best thing I've ridden, long/hard rides
Hampsten Il Mostro - "classics" bike, road race bike on 32s, the new daily mileage machine
KBedford Fillet Comp - formally the mileage eater, now travel ready
Fabrica Strada SL - Race bike, 15.5lb steel weapon, in NYC during race season
Mosaic GT-1 - 650b all road bike for gravel & lazy miles
Serotta Duetti - Soon to be second bike in Nashville/winter trainer
Trek Procaliber 9.8 - MTB that I rarely ride

On location bikes:
Look 585 - 1x rig for Florida miles at the in-laws
No22 Great Divide - for when we're at our place in Nashville, soon to be sold to a friend in Florida & replaced with a Crumton SL

Inbound:
Kirk Terraplane - replace Look in Florida
Crumpton SL - replacing No22 Great Divide in Nashville, then migrate to FL or NJ

Selling come spring:
Trek Boone canti frame
Charge fat bike

[Andy340]

n-1, where n= number of bikes that would cause my wife to start asking a lot of questions

[d_douglas]

I had a really practical distribution of bikes until recently:

1x all-road/commuter
1x gravel bike
1x trail bike

In the last little while, I ended up buying:

1x specialized singlespeed 29er - dirt cheap
1x vintage lugged cleste Bianchi MTB - dirt cheap.

These last two are completely unnecessary and add stress to my mind, as I know its too many bikes. I will likely sell these off after the summer, as these are taking up mental space for me, not to mention the few hundred bucks that are better used paying for summer vacations, etc.

I feel better confessing this - thank you, Father...

[gbcoupe]

Originally Posted by d_douglas

I had a really practical distribution of bikes until recently:

1x all-road/commuter
1x gravel bike
1x trail bike

In the last little while, I ended up buying:

1x specialized singlespeed 29er - dirt cheap
1x vintage lugged cleste Bianchi MTB - dirt cheap.

These last two are completely unnecessary and add stress to my mind, as I know its too many bikes. I will likely sell these off after the summer, as these are taking up mental space for me, not to mention the few hundred bucks that are better used paying for summer vacations, etc.

I feel better confessing this - thank you, Father...

That's hardly worth a lap around the rosary. Many of us (self included) here are surely going to hell.

[estuche]

Originally Posted by cuda

3 bikes, 6 wheelsets

I really like this idea of maximizing frame use/applications when feasible.

Originally Posted by fried bake

I enjoy conceptualizing and building them as much as riding so there’s always more than “required” but, I think all hobbies are that way. Thankfully this is a relatively cheap way to express my creative outlet.

100%.