Your Preferred Stable

[prototoast]

I have:

-2 custom carbon road bikes made by me. One is the bike I ride most often, the other I wish I could get rid of, but it has no sale value, so I keep it.
-2 custom steel bikes made by other people. I don't ride either of them enough, but I love them both in different ways, so I can't bring myself to get rid of either.
-1 generic carbon bike I got to be my rainy day commuter bike, but then I started working from home, so it's just collecting dust. I'd like to sell this.
-1 Ti gravel frame. Keeping it.
-1 Steel cyclocross frame. Trying to sell it.
-1 steel mountain bike. Keeping it.
-1 steel single speed / beater / commuter / errand bike. I don't use it much, but it's the only bike I'll leave locked up outside.

So that's 9. Could easily be down to 5, and the garage would look nicer for it.

[zlin]

2. cx which I ride on all types of surfaces and a track bike that sits on a trainer and never gets pedaled. Few sets of wheels and one bike with tire space is best for me.

[weaponsgrade]

Currently, these are the bikes that are in regular rotation:
1) Kirk road for pure road rides.
2) Ripely FS 29er. This gets pulled out when driving out to the chunky/technical stuff.
3) Field 29er, hardtail with rigid fork. My lunch break ride for the small network of relatively smooth single track I've got near me. Sometimes I'll also use it for longer mixed road/dirt rides. You feel the drag on the road, but get to really enjoy the dirt sections.
4) Specialized Cross Roads commuter/townie. This bike looks really beat cosmetically, but everything is solid mechanically. I don't worry about babying the paint when I lock it to a rack or whatever.
5) TBD: Disc gravel to run something between 700x38 and 42s. I think these five would cover 99.9% of my current riding.

[93KgBike]

I always find these inventories interesting, because I've always wanted to ride frames or frame sets made of certain materials, which largely makes redundancy impossible-ish.

For example road:
Tange #1 frameset, 531 frameset, 531/520 f-r frameset, 531 tandem frameset, SLX frameset, CCL (Columbus) frame, CCL (Reynolds) frameset, CCAL/AL frameset, High-modulus CF frameset.

I also have MTB, CX & Cargo bikes.

None of these seem redundant to me. They are all wonderful to ride.

And I long for an Onesto by DK, a Sachs CX, and a Tallboy.

And I really want to fabricate some frames.

The perfect stable is the one that suits you.

But it's casual.

[Matthew]

Mine: Serotta Meivici, Colnago EPS, Moots Compact for the road. Mountain bike: Moots Rigormootis 26er. All kept in the basement.

[fogrider]

The issue is no bike is perfect. One of my favs is Rock Lobster road bike made of scandium. It's light and responsive and great handling ride. But the tire clearance is tight, a 25mm tire can barely clear. I also have a Ron Cooper that is joy to ride! It's a steel frame that is not light and with lightweight parts, it builds to a little over 18 pound bike and just a sweet ride. Then there's the Serotta Legend Ti, setup a little on the relaxed side which I take out for lunch rides. And then there's the Time VXSR setup to be a weapon.

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[whateveronfire]

My group exactly. Maybe it's an LA thing?

Originally Posted by onsight512

I have four: road, gravel, rando/commuter/pack mule, and a fixed gear. The gravel was the latest addition and it's been here two years now.

I might add a mtb at some point, but it's not really a thought now. I'm pretty happy with what I have and enjoy riding each of them.

[cachagua]

The issue is no bike is perfect...

True. And yet, at the same time, lots of bikes are perfect -- in a way, that's an issue itself! I've sold or given away at least a dozen perfect bikes over the years, and I've got a handful of perfect ones now.

Hampsten MAX, Suntour Sprint build
Kirk NAHBS bike, 7700 Dura-Ace
1980s Ciocc, 10-speed era Campagnolo
Kish Crossmuter/Suntour XC-Pro
Sweet little old-fashioned Masi, roadgoing fixie
De Salvo fat-tire road bike...

And by Xmas or so there will be a perfect hardtail mountain bike arriving.

My goal is to keep myself in single digits, but inevitably there are a few miscellaneous things hanging around and frames I haven't built yet that push me above that limit. I don't worry about it much.

And while we're on the subject, many of you will recognize bikes up there that you used to own, and have I thanked you recently? Thank you! The riding and building pleasure that members of this board have made possible for me is incalculable.

[Ozz]

3 bikes

Serotta CSI - steel road -nice weather road bike...best riding bike ever
Serotta Legend - Ti road - similar riding to CSI, a little quicker handling
Yeti 575 - FS mountain bike - was given this bike last year by widow of a good friend.

I think about getting more bikes, and am toying with the idea of a commuter / gravel type bike....something that can take fenders, wide tires and racks. Something off the shelf would work, but a Hampsten Il Mostro Brutta would be really special!

[veloduffer]

I’ve pared down to

3 road
Eriksen ti
Parlee Z1 and Z5

2 gravel/cross
Seven Evergreen
Trek Boone

1 project: Moots Compact to be painted in Team 7-Eleven colors

I’ve changed bikes to get a better fit as my body ages - shorter top tube (from 56 to 55.5) and steeper seat angle (72.5/73 to 73.5), which has also kept my pedal stroke smooth.

The two Parlees seem redundant but they are the only carbon bikes that I’ve really liked.

I was thinking of adding a Trek Farley fatbike since we had so much snow last winter. Looks like a fun bike to ride.


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[rmk]

Originally Posted by DrSpoke

What a sweet fleet. Especially the SV and Black Cat.
Any photos of the Black Cat?

Todd took better photos than I ever could: http://blackcatbicycles.com/road-1/#/disc-road/

This was part of an experiment where he built two similar Max bikes--one with through axles and one without; one with the GRD and one with a cross fork. The frame fit me (although not perfectly) so I bought it when he posted it. The thing rides so well on rolling terrain.

Ryan--

[cachagua]

Todd... built two similar Max bikes--one with through axles and one without...

(Like to hear the results of his experiment!)

[weisan]

>>Your Preferred Stable

What I have now. Everything I ever wanted and more. It took me a while but I am already there.

Will that stop me from buying more bikes?

No.

I am way past "need". What I get now or later are just icing on the cake, special bonus, all of which I will receive with gratitude and without judgment.

[jamesdak]

Guess I'm the odd bird here. For one, I'm not seeing a reason to limit number of bikes very much. I also am totally embracing the golden era of steel bikes, so much so that I gave up my modern C.F. bikes. I even tried the custom Ti route, found it was no better than most of my older steel, and sold it.

I know lots of folks say how much "better" modern bikes are. Maybe that applies if you're a top notch rider. But after a study of my bike logs for a 7 year period I really found no real advantage to the modern bikes over my old stuff when pedaled by me. Only marginal advantage was on climbs and there was just barely a difference there.

So my stable is a slew of steel bikes. Lots of 80s and 90s road racers mainly. I've got an English 3 speed with baskets for errand running, a CX bike with fenders for rain and winter riding, a "funny bike" TT ride, and an 80s Fuji converted to a cushy 650b setup. All and all, around 25 or so right now. And of course there is a wonderful Serotta CSI in the mix.

Most of the stable:



The Lemonds:





The Giordana's:



I ride everything in my stable. That's part of the appeal. I do 5000-8000 on a normal year over mainly the same roads. It's nice to be able to mix it up by grabbing any given bike on any given day. I'd get totally bored with one or two bikes only.

[Spaghetti Legs]

I fall on the jamesdak side of the line and have 18 or so bikes, mostly 80’s and 90’s steel. I’ve turned into a bit of a collector with a soft spot for Italian racers but have some carbon fiber and aluminum too. One thing about having a bunch of cool bikes is I’m often motivated to ride even if the legs aren’t quite there. Always itching to get out on a bike I haven’t ridden in a while.

Back before I started getting all these bikes though, my stable requirements were:

Race bike - fast bike but aluminum that I wouldn’t mind crashing as much.
Plush bike - carbon fiber
Time trial bike
Cross bike
Mountain bike
Commuter bike - single speed