Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 47 total)
  • Any one use one bike for everything
  • DIS
    Full Member

    I am considering consolidation my bikes to just one and wonder how others that have done this find it. I currently have my ‘proper’ of road bike and a bike i commute on. Both bikes are worth about £1000 – £1500.

    I only have limited money to spend on bikes and was thinking that if i just had one then i could save a bit and have slightly nicer stuff on the one bike.

    The bikes are singular hummingbird and peregrine. i would keep the hummingbird, which i like to ride of or on road, peregrine is nice but i just really like the feel of the hummingbird. Can’t quite describe it but it is the nicest bike i have ever ridden (and i have tried quite a few!).

    I would have two sets of wheels for road and of road.

    I am interested in others thoughts on this, particularly those who have done similar.

    bunnerscj
    Free Member

    29er 🙄

    DIS
    Full Member

    Tried 29er much prefer 26er.

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    chvck
    Free Member

    Yarrrr. My NS Surge with pikes. Use it for downhill, dirt jumping and xc (I don’t do much road unless it happens to be in my xc loop!) ranging from short blasts to stuff like the dyfi enduro.

    I wouldn’t mind a lighter bike for the xc but I’m not that bothered, the surge does the job and is great for the downhill bits!

    Northwind
    Full Member

    I have done, my Soul was my only bike for ages. But you know what? It’s better having 2.

    DIS
    Full Member

    Northwind why do you think having two is better? can understand nice bike and pub/leave in town bike but two reasonable nice bike, why is that better? (bear in mind i don’t mind doing 50-70 miles on the mountain bike on the road)

    R.lepecha
    Full Member

    Something like a Ragley Piglet with 120mm forks would by choice, should take most of the abuse while still not sapping much of your energy on road

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    2 bikes for me – mountainbike commuterised, mountainbike for offroad.

    I don’t like wearing my knobblies out on the road and I like different gearing

    edhornby
    Full Member

    I wouldn’t

    commuting takes it’s toll on bikes, especially when the weather is crappy… if you are on a budget, get a budget road bike or similar secondhand, suspension forks on the road aren’t needed

    donsimon
    Free Member

    What an interesting concept, good luck.

    convert
    Full Member

    2 – try 7 😳

    Northwind
    Full Member

    DIS – Member

    Northwind why do you think having two is better? can understand nice bike and pub/leave in town bike but two reasonable nice bike, why is that better? (bear in mind i don’t mind doing 50-70 miles on the mountain bike on the road)

    OK you’re right, 3 is better than 2.

    The reason 2 nice bikes is better than 1 is that there’s no 1 bike that can do everything. So I’ve got a light agile hardtail, and a bigger blunter full suss. Going downhill racing amateurishly? Take the full suss. Going for a wednesday night pentlands ride… take… Hmm… Take the rigid bike.

    4 is better than 3 it turns out!

    ton
    Full Member

    i tried to do this a year or two ago.
    lasted about a month……………went back to five bikes.

    now got just two.
    one of those i have not ridden since july…………so might sell it and try the just one bike thing again.

    grum
    Free Member

    One road/commuter bike – one mountain bike for me. I have big knobbly tires my mountain bike and riding it on the road is soul destroying.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Too late to edit my post… I should have said, one bike could well be fine if your chosen riding is more limited. Just having an XC bike was fine for me when I was just doing easier trail centre routes and the like, and there’s nothing wrong with that but if you broaden your riding you start to hit compromises.

    I could do every ride I’ve ever done on either of my bikes, but, it’d often have a pretty big impact on the ride. I’d have possibly not tried the fort william dh or the races I’ve done at innerleithen without the big bike, and it’s a chore to lug around the extra weight, bike tyres etc for simple stuff- and less rewarding too, the Hemlock’s a machine for making stuff easier and some trails just feel beneath its notice.

    philconsequence
    Free Member

    carrera fury.

    samuri
    Free Member

    I’ve had more than one bike for about twenty years but there was a period I rode only one bike, nothing else. I rode it everywhere, I rode everything.

    On-one pompino. Cost me two hundred quid.

    jakeds
    Free Member

    On-one pompino. Cost me two hundred quid.

    Word to that.

    lowey
    Full Member

    I got a five spot. Had it since 2004. Its battered twice a week over alkes and rivi and commuted on as well and its still ace.Never let me down.

    alpin
    Free Member

    Any one use one bike for everything

    despite the lack of a question mark denoting that the above is in fact a question, i shall endeavour to answer it.

    yes. my DB Alpine. everything from pootling through the woods, guiding multi-day transalp tours, going to the shops, jumping and light DH.

    oh, i do have two wheelsets, though. although, the lighter set haven’t been used in ages; i too lazy to change wheels and tyres every few days.

    AlasdairMc
    Full Member

    One was all the bike I needed. Then I got my second. Then my third. My third, a Genesis Altitude, became the bike I rode 99% of the time, but now that I commute on a CX I’m riding all of them a lot more.

    ahwiles
    Free Member

    blue pig.

    i’ve raced Xc on it, i’ve raced Dh on it, i’ve commuted on it, i’ve found that it even works quite well at the bmx track.

    yes i’ve got a lighter xc bike, yes i’ve got a bouncy dh bike, yes i’ve got a commuter, yes i’ve got a bmx.

    ok, i’ve got 2 bmx’s, and a road bike… ok, i’ve got 3 road bikes, but that’s not the point.

    each 1 is better in it’s niche than the pig, but i keep finding myself riding the stupid orange pig with a stupid big grin on my face when there’s a ‘better’ bike hanging in the cellar.

    maybe because it’s the best bike i’ve got for wheelies…?

    _tom_
    Free Member

    One road and one mtb for me – used to be happy riding the mtb for everything but the position and everything feels so inefficient after riding a roadie. Eventually I think I’ll replace the road bike with either a cx or 29er mtb to get a bit more versatility out of it for riding local “trails”. I would also like a short travel full sus mtb to compliment my hardtail!

    amplebrew
    Full Member

    Only a few months ago my bike collection consisted of a Litespeed Obed, a Pace RC200, a Rocky Mountain Vertex, a Hewitt touring bike and my Kona Big Unit.

    I’ve since sold the Litespeed, Pace, Rocky Mountain and Hewitt and all my riding is now on my Kona Big Unit singlespeed.

    I use my Kona for commuting to work, mtb rides and road rides.

    I’ve found that I’ve grown far more attached to my now one and only bike and I enjoy my cycling just as much.

    Tracker1972
    Free Member

    philconsequence – Member
    carrera fury.

    Was my one bike and did everything from 5 day unsupported C2C camping trip, to my first Merida Marathons, to C2C in one go and everything in between.

    Since got my hybrid I loaned out back for commuting and a lovely Fuel EX9 a couple of years ago though so…

    EDIT-Sustrans C2C, nothing too gnarr-y 🙂

    jazid
    Free Member

    I have a road bike and my 2008 fuel ex8. The mtb satisfies
    Xc duties from trail centres to racing (nothing serious – usually finish just above mid pack). Realized that
    it is the engine that needs upgrading.
    However I’ve realized that life is too short to worry about
    minor details like this. Do what makes you happy and just get out and ride.

    yossarian
    Free Member

    3 bikes here

    Road bike, 29er hardtail and 26″ ute/parts bike. Pretty much covers it all although kinda thinking about a full sus…

    mattbee
    Full Member

    Have gone in the last 6 months from having a road bike and 3 mtbs down to a single hardtail mtb, as I found I wasn’t really riding any of the bikes enough. Was also finding myself thinking I was never on the ‘right’ bike; wanted the 5″ when I was on the singlespeed, or the hardtail when I was on the 5″…

    Now ride a retromod hardtail everywhere and without the choices I am actually finding I enjoy myself more. My handling seems to have got more consistent too, probably because I’m not having to adjust my riding style for each bike.

    Clobber
    Free Member

    Your hummingbird is flexible if you’re only having one bike. You can always make it into a 69er to give you another option

    DickBarton
    Full Member

    1 for me although technically I have 2 but the second is a keepsake so never ridden.

    Coasting
    Free Member

    Ive never heard such crazy talk.One bike.Cant be done.

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    1 bike = too much compromise, no amount of xtr or whatever on the 1 bike would make up for that for me.

    But I have 7 😎

    PJay
    Free Member

    I think it depends on what riding you do and whether your primary concern is going as fast and efficiently as possible or just bumbling around enjoying the ride.

    I like having one bike (although I do have a ‘spare’ hack bike) but then I’m not a ‘proper’ mountain biker or road cyclist, I just pootle around on roads (mostly rough country ones), bridleways etc. for enjoyment and do the odd bit of commuting.

    I’ve got a rigid mountain bike with semi-slick tyres which does me fine, it’d probably be hopeless in any sort of race but I don’t do that and it’s great for what I want from it.

    julians
    Free Member

    I use my endruo for everything, but my everything does not include any significant amount of riding on the road .

    if I needed to cover soem road miles I’d get a bike better suited to it, but for all offroad duties and the very occaisional road miles the enduro does me fine.

    spiddy
    Free Member

    Had one bike for all for years but bought a second bike (full sus) last year for off road stuff only. I wouldn’t go back while I can afford to keep the two. For me it’s the faff of constantly swapping wheelsets between commuter and off road use that was the decider. Now I just grab the right bike for the job – no faff!

    Downside to more bikes is of course more cleaning and maintenance… two is all I have time for. 🙂

    perthmtb
    Free Member

    Tried to do everything with a hybrid and two sets of wheels for the last three years, but found it was really limiting the kind of trails I could tackle off road – just too stable and limited tyre choice. Now keep the hybrid just for road and have a hardtail to complement it, and gotta say I’m having way more fun off road now – though the MTB sucks big time on tarmac! Never felt the need for an ultralight roadie…so I’d say two bikes is the sweet spot for me.

    billyboy
    Free Member

    For about 15 years I used one bike (Giant-mountain-bike-£300-job followed by a Kona Explosif….that’s two bikes….I know, but I didn’t use them at the same time!!!) for everything. Did about 150 miles per week commuting to work plus off road rides. At one time I did have two sets of wheels, one shod with Spesh nimbus commuter tyres, but after being caught in the snow and having the worst, coldest, longest commute ever I gave that up and just used mtb tyres for everything.

    Since then I became a bike aholic and now I have 7 bikes. Up until last year when I went out with a lady who was doing the Fred Whitton they were all 26″ mtbs. Now I have a 700c hybrid/cx thing which eats the road WAY better than a mountain bike.

    BUT

    I still prefer mountain bikes and even on road rides on them I’m not craving for a 700c bike.

    Keep the two. Having several bikes does tend to keep you interested.

    DIS
    Full Member

    Being drawn in the direction of just using the hummingbird for everything with two sets of wheels. I have tried road bikes in past but just prefer the mountain bike set up. I relies not as quick but that does not really bother me to much and i regularly ride of road on my way home when able.

    kudos100
    Free Member

    I used to have one and now I have three. Yes you can make do with one, but if you ride xc, downhill, dirt jumps and road then it is more fun with a few different bikes.

    stevede
    Free Member

    I have 3 bikes – Giant Defy for the road, Cotic Soul for trail/xc/razzing round the woods etc and a Specialized Pitch for when the terrain gets a bit more demanding or i want to push it more.
    Even with 3 bikes i feel compromised at times, missing from my collection are a 4x style bike and a dh bike but i cover most bases with the 3.
    The idea of one bike to do it all is a moon on a stick scenario imo unless your riding is limited to one style. You can do it all on one, i’d choose my Cotic Soul if i had to only have one but hopefully i’m never put in that situation!

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 47 total)

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