[Closed] How many bikes can you justify?!

I can actually [i]justify[/i] one nice bike and one bike to leave around the place. If I was starting a collection from scratch I'd have a light touring bike from Rivendell and a Surly Big Dummy and nothing else. But I'm starting from a full shed of heavily depreciated bikes with sentimental value. 🙂

I [b]tolerate[/b] one as otherwise I'd have to run along behind the others 🙁

2 road bikes, 2 mtbs. 1 of each has one gear, the other has lots of gears. 🙂

the geared ones are what you might call top end but I have more fun on, and ride more often, the one gear wonders.

Number of bikes i currently own... +1

As many as I have 🙂

1

I'm not sure any are really justified, or indeed justifiable. Except perhaps my track bike, as it has already paid for itself vs hiring one every time I ride the track.

Like BD, I have amassed bikes on an ongoing basis, rather than in one go, and so they have acquired a sentimental value, based on the experiences attached to them rather than their intrinsic value.

However, I have a cellar, and Mrs North is broadly an understanding lady. I'm up to six (track; road fixed; winter road; summer road; HT MTB; SS MTB). Of these, I think only 50% are reasonably justifiable (track; winter road; HT MTB).

Most of all, however, it depends on whether your use is sufficiently specific to warrant a certain bike.

If I had to have only one bike: a light tourer with two sets of wheels (everyday/touring and racing) with enough clearance to run CX tyres.

I have 8 bikes and am considering another.

I can't justify any of them really as they could all be ridden more. But i like them and they are all paid for. I don't really waste money on anything else. Plus i rarely sell my old bikes as they are so big most people can't fit on them so i end up hoarding them rather than just giving them away for peanuts. I still have my first racer from 1987 in the shed.

Full suss and HT 29ers, 26" singlespeed, old road bike, newer road bike, hybrid, pub/shop hack and my old (2000) 26" roadified commuter mtb.

I'll only stop justifying them to myself when i run out of room or stop riding when i'm older.

(n + 1)/d

where n = current number of bikes and d is a factor of desire to stay with my g/f 😉

Nice adaptation of the formula there, ctznsmith!

2, one fs and one ht

Great answers so far! 😆

total bike cost / 12 x 5 + yearly salary x (days in casualty + off work due to biking) / average bike cost 🙂

Have 2 and could never justify more (space/family constraints) have the singlespeed and the geared ht, which if i could i would probably replace with a f/suss, but thats not happening any time soon

think I could get away with just two a hardtail and a touring bike for getting to work , but I seem to have ended up with 12 at the moment

One bike for every type of riding you do 😉 ME = FS, HT and Road

Used to have many, but now I just have one for road and one for off road. Got bored/sick of spending lots of cash looking after all the drive trains and other gubbins, there always seemed to be something that needed doing...One of them was a 6" Nicolai that I rode maybe 6-7 times in anger a year. Lovely bike, but it just sat there for most of the time. So, sold them all, and bought a Cham and a really nice roadie Principia.

Very content, it's quite Zen like, not having to think about "what next"...

(n + 1)/d

where n = current number of bikes and d is a factor of desire to stay with my g/f

[b]WRONG[/b]

Girlfriends/boyfriends/Wives/Husbands/Pets should NEVER be taken into account when acquiring bikes. Come on!

N + 1 = Happiness 😀

The only one that could be justified was my commuter as it was reducing the money I spend on getting to work. Anything else is frivilous.

Girlfriends/boyfriends/Wives/Husbands/Pets should NEVER be taken into account when acquiring bikes. Come on!

Only possibly where they start to forget your name because you are always out riding the bikes in order to justify having them...

N + 1 = Happiness

Don't agree, for all the reasons nickc states. And that's precisely because I do have so many.

i need to crop mine down, currently 4 built up and one frame, but ever time a ride one i want to keep it 😕

anyone want to buy a
swift
wanga
P.A.
Ex 8
Trek 1.5

14 is a good number for me

Bikes are like Women (Men/singlespeeds* if that’s your thing) in that your not going to lie on your death bed wishing you had ridden less.

*No link there of course 😉

Sofatester I refer you to the "Could your wife/GF/partner beat you in a scrap??" thread. 😉

Right now, 3.

Carerra Subway commuter/tourer which will pay for itself in petrol saved. (All my commuters do)
All round geared hardtail (853 Inbred with Vanillas) with mostly cheap bits on it. This does everything local, all day rides, general messing. It's definately a 'keeper' bike for me, I can't ever see me parting with the frame, and I guard it jelously....
Burly FS bike (Pitch) which does Wales etc and anywhere with bigger hills and rocks.

I did have a SS, but it was silly because I hardly rode my 853 Inbred, and that's my favourite bike, so I sold it.

I did have an expensive FS bike (Yeti 575), but it got to the point where it didn't suit my needs and I hardly ever rode it. I don't ride the Pitch much (Last time was October) but I can justify having a £1000 bike sitting idle, but it was silly having a £2600 bike sitting around when I didn't really want it anyway: The Pitch is more fun. 🙂

I have one do-it-all bike, DMR Trailstar.

I'd like a BMX for street/park/jumping though, but I just can't afford one yet 🙁

Very content, it's quite Zen like, not having to think about "what next"...

N + 1 = Happiness

but is 1 every 6 months going too far - Maybe a support group is needed? My name is Dave and I'm a bikeaholic . . . . 😉

DeeJay I still lust after bikes, just don't wanna buy them...I got past the "it'll make my riding more fun/betterer/faster/whatever" stage is all.

double figures no problem....which is good since that's what I've got 😀

one of my mates actually justifies the amount of bikes he has and we joke with him his kids call him uncle dad 😉

Just cut my fleet down to 4, but already getting itchy feet.

road bike which lives on the turbo, a cube ltd race (1st nice mtb) and my recent addition, and anthem x, which according to the boss is to be paid for by the sale of the cube, soon told her where to go, cue 3 days of silence!

Currently working on justification for 3rd- it's either going to be "well you've got the 3 kids you always wanted, I need another bike" or "no they don't do refunds". Neither of which are sounding too convincing at the moment... 🙁

nickc - never mind the riding - its the new shinyness that does it for me 😆

LOL. "stroking the lovely things of the shop..."

I'm on 3.

DH bike, as I mainly ride DH.
Short travel play bike. Gets used for everything else offroad.
Road/commuter.

I would consider a do it all HT to add to the collection, but I think the lack of use wouldn't justify the purchase...

I have 4 ish.

MTB geared HT
rigid ss mtb
fixed road
geared road.

ss gets used most. followd by HT then road bikes not been touched in over a year. I have sentimental attachments to the ht and the road bikes, so won't sell. Nor will I sell the Klein frame hanging from my garage roof. or the indonesian rickshaw stored in my in-laws barn.

so when I said 4 I meant 6. well 7 cos I still "own" a bike that my dad uses on a turbo.

Still want a pugsley and maybe a full sus. and those singular swifts look tasty, and a Yuba cargo bike would come in handy.......

I must admit to hiding one of them upon purchase behind the others in the shed and getting away with it for a few months until one day the g/f asked why my bike was now blue and not black (not spotting understandably the difference between a Santa Cruz Chameleon and an Ellsworth Moment). Cue a full week of silence: "it's not the bike it's the deceit". Lesson Learned!

None but I have a few, will have to sell some to make way for new gear.

If you don't use them then they're getting in the way.

Far more than I can afford at the moment unfortunately