Following on from the "How many Bikes" thread, how much do you use each bike and which bike would be the keeper if you were only allowed one bike? Use any metric you like to work out the usage: distance; time in saddle; number of rides, just a rough percentage for each bike.
Mine are based on last year's distance, 'coz that's easiest from Strava, I can get more data from Veloviewer but since I've had the bikes for varying lengths of time the results would be a bit skewed.
Road bike: 19%
Hardtail: 35%
Commuter: 33%
Fat bike: 4%
Singlespeed: 9%
No figure for the FS as I only finished building it ten days ago.
The keeper? The HT, a Cotic Solaris.
Hardtail about 45%, cx about 30% and suss bike 25% of the time. I reckon I'd keep the hardtail.
Last year was 65% road bike on turbo, 25% on Parkwood HT, 10% on Whyte t130
If I could keep only 1, it would be the Whyte t130
Rigid 26" 45%, hardtail 29" 35%, FS 29" 20%. Even with that if I was only allowed 1 I'd keep the hardtail.
It's like asking if you can keep only one pair of shoes!
As a minimum I would need four:
Fixed wheel road bike with guards for commuting and winter riding
Road race bike. For racing, obviously
TT bike. For TTS, obviously
Mtb or cross bike
I could commute on the mtb, or combine fixed wheel and mtb into a cross bike. I could also walk the dog through the mud in a pair of brogues.
Most of last year's riding was fixed.
You have more than one pair of shoes? 🙄 (or whatever the roll eyes code is)
As a useful minimum I'd probably need two: the HT would handle the MTB side of things and a commuter/CX the road stuff.
Carbon cx bike. I use it the most, probably +70% of my riding was done on it last year and a lot of the mountain biking I did do on a sus could probably have been done on a it as well. I'm fundamentally a roadie at heart so whichever one I keep has to be more road biased.
I could get by with my rigid 29er if I had to have only one. I can happily road ride on it and do most technical things, albeit very slowly. Not sure if I would put suspension on it - it's much nicer to ride on bumpy stuff with suspension of course, but then it loses something on roads and 'gravel' cos sus forks flex more when out of the saddle, and at least Rockshox don't really lock out.
For the last 1000km, all rounded down to a whole % ...
CX/Gravel bike =34%
XC bike = 47%
FS bike = 17%
Road bike = negligible, maybe 1% (but tbf it is a pile of bits right now)
Ancient 1996 MTB = 0% exactly (last ridden 2009, except for maybe 1 trip to the pub)
I could bin the road bike (CX/gravel does the job), and one of XC/FS if I had to be ruthless. The other ancient MTB can go.
There can be only 2 (or 3). XC, CX, FS. Probably in that order.
Edit: and by time in saddle, that's almost exactly XC 50%, CX and FS 25% each
I could not do one. Maybe two, a BMX and a HT Mtb of some sort but I would need multiple bits so I could convert it for diffrent uses from commuting to normal xc / trail to narcore. Would probably need to be custom or a customised frame. Proably with some sort of bolt on replaceable rear dropouts so that when you altered the fork from a long fork down to a ridgid and steepend the HA the BB was no too low, helped manage the geo changes.
Big fat tourer - 70%.
MTB - 15%.
Road bike/BMX and pub bike 15%.
The tourer is even more fun to ride than the MTB.
I only have 1 bike (no need for any more), so it will be 100% my bike...that was easy.
Fixed commuter (Road) = 48%
Road bike = 31%
Gravel/CX = 15%
HT = 6%
Which is sort of strange reading now had you asked which was the "only one bike" a few years ago I'd had said HT MTB instantly...
That's pretty meagre MTB use really, and far more road riding than I thought, but then an MTB is the one bike that could probably cover all the other bases.
TBH I would give serious consideration to consolidating down to a single gravel/CX type bike if forced.
I have two bikes: a rigid 26" MTB, and a road bike that hasn't seen much use this winter. I've seriously considered exchanging both for a single gravel/adventure/monstercross/whatever bike, but it'd just be a bit too limiting.
According to strava I’m about 50/50 road and mtb. Skewed toward mtb past few months cause I got a new Hightower and ignored my road bike. I usually do a couple of short road cycles a week over lunch and a big mtb cycle at the weekend.
Most riding last year was XC FS 29er, as I was training for, and doing, XC marathons.
other than than, pretty much evenly split through the other MTBs then riding summer/winter road/commuter/gravel bikes as the weather dictated.
id keep my 5010 MTB and sequoia road/gravel bike, if I had to.
Hardtail - 100%.
I'll pick that one 😉. It is looking worryingly cracked in 3 places now and creaks badly. Not sure how much life is left in it.
This is purely a guess, I have no proper measures of the relative distances, but
Singlespeed commuter - 70%
29er Singlespeed MTB - 15%
FS MTB - 12%
Roadbike - 3%
Which one to keep. hmm, assuming I can have some spare bits, like a pair of suspension forks and proper mudguards, possibly the 29er. I could commute on that with the right gear ratio, but would get brassed off very quickly trying to use the DayOne at anything other than offroad mincecore.
Thats easy.
I do most my errands on the 3spd utility/cargo but it's not much off-road. It is the best climb-on and go bike for general use as it has full guards, 2x integrated locks, hub-generator, lights, roller-brakes, rack etc and requires next to zero maintenance.
Hardtail MTB currently out of commission but great fun off-road/keeping fit
Road bike likewise but great fun on the road/keeping fit
Monstercross/29er (2x10) rigid is and can be a number of things with a simple change of tyres and/or bars. It can still carry shopping (though not nearly as much as the ute) and stuff with a quickly-fitted rear pannier rack and or porteur rack. It is also great fun offroad due to both the limitations and versatility.
But nothing yet forcing me to ditch the one or the other. Should I find myself with no space to keep them all then with tears and gnashing of teeth I would keep the monstercross, fit a hub-generator and keep a second wheelset and straight bars for near-lightning quick Clark Kent-Superman-style changes from road/touring/shopping costume to rigid 29er MTB costume.
if I didnt use bike for general transport and load-lugging I'd probably still choose a rigid 29er just for the fun, bikepacking and low maintenance as I don't ride competitively.
I haven't ridden this year so I probably don't need any bikes at all. I like having 9 though.
90% of the time it's my Anthem , I love that bike & use it all year round.
7% when I think I need longer travel & a bit more forgiving geometry , Its my Cove husler & I love that bike.
3% My Cube 29er hardtail is on my turbo trainer for when the worst of the Scottish weather hits , that bikes a bit Meh!
0% 18 yr old Claud Butler Cheapy HT , nostalgia only.
My Anthem could easily do it all.
I could manage 3.
Commuter because I have that instead of a car and it has a tough life.
Race road bike because I race and wouldnt be able to on a compromise bike.
Racey 29er hardtail. I figure I could do my mountain biking, CX racing and gravel riding on this if chosen well. Only CX would be a compromise as generally the rest aren't racing so no need to worry about absolute speed.
Right now I have the above and
26" SS because it isn't worth selling.
CX bike for racing and gravel
Winter road bike/ 2nd CX bike (because I never sold my old CX bike and like a roadie with full guards and fat tyres).
If I could only keep one it would probably be the yeti ascr as it is more than capable of being used as a trail bike or an xc bike worth the most
That said, it would be a toss up between that bike, which costs about 5k and my caadx bike to work which cost me about 350 quid. I'd definitely miss road riding more than I would miss the rare trips I make to places I need anything more than an it is capable of.
Road bike (on a turbo trainer) used for 22%
Bird zero hardtail used in winter for 32%
Trance full sus used for 46%
`Keeper is the Trance. Stat's from my garmin.
. By mileage By number of rides
Nice 29er hardtail 27% 42%
Foul weather 29er hardtail 9% 14%
Nice roadbike 35% 31%
Winter roadbike 29% 27%
Probably about 50:50 by time
Would keep the nice 29er if pushed because that's the one that could do everything and it's fast as ****
In dpfr we've finally found someone who genuinely gives 110% (and more)!
Plus sized hardtail for %70 of the year and riding I do. Tbh I couple live with just thins bike as it does everything..
160mm full sus the rest of the time mainly when dry
If I could only have one bike it certainly wouldn't be any of the ones I have now.
At least I'd get to buy a new bike that way.
1 x Hardtail MTB. 5% tops, very little usage at all, should be sold.
1 x carbon summer road bike. 35%, more mileage than any other but fewer rides.
1 x alu road bike, 15%, not really found its niche since the above arrived. Bit of commuting and a few wet rides.
1 x steel road bike. 25%, all on the turbo. Rather sad actually
1 x fixed road bike. 15%, all commuting before I realised it was the wrong tool.
1 x cargo bike. 5%, very little distance but lots of trips. Rarely ridden more than 1 mile but does that 3 times per week if not more
Sadly, I’ve done more miles in any of 3 pairs of running shoes than on my MTB in the last 18 months.
Re keeping 1, logic suggests the steel road bike as it's usable off road and can take rack and guards so can do pretty much everything else. It is seriously dull though, hence i living on the turbo. If pushed it'd be a toss up between the cargo bike and the alu roadie, the former would likely edge it as it means I don't have to own a car.