Currently 4:
Canyon 29er carbon hardball
Singular Swift, rigid steel 29er - effectively a flat bar gravel and bikepacking bike
Canyon Inflite - aluminium with mudguards, commuting and winter road bike
Enigma Etape road bike
I'd love to add a Fairlight Secan to that mix. But in reality that 4 does serve me well, and I think I'd use the Swift less if I got the Secan - which would be a shame as its beautiful to ride.
About what I have . I need a couple more but could swap one of the folders for something. I have several road bikes that are never used as I have nicer ones. Probably don't need 3 trikes, espcially as they are all in bits at the moment.
So lets pare it down to a round dozen or so which doesn't include bikes for collection only purposes.
Currently;
- 150mm 29” FS
- 140mm 29” HT
- Stooge Mk1 SS
(- Stooge Scrambler BNIB until I need it )
- various wheel sets, tyres and forks to spice up thee above
I’d quite like a drop bar gravel thing, Cotic Cascade?, a DH bike for big days at uplifts, a full fat ebike just for giggles and days I feel crap and a ecargo bike so fairy child around and go shopping and reduce the need for a second car. I don’t need any of these, I just want them.
1 is enough. I can't, after all, ride more than one at a time 😂.
Now, obviously, that's just not going to cut it. So I actually have 3:
ENDURO FS - far too much bike for me, but I bought it cheap. I have not used it at all since last May's holiday to the Highlands and a trip to Laggan. Reckon its done 100 miles tops in 3 years.
HT - bought via cycle to work and does for everything including commuting.
Gravel/adventure - used for just about everything - mainly done road miles on it.
I'm now considering getting rid of the big FS and the gravel bike and replacing with a xc/mid travel FS. At least it would get more use.
I've got 3, that seems to be about perfect for me.
Rigid xc 29er/gravel/commuter bike, road bike and trail full suss.
Don't get me wrong, if I had more money and space I'd have quite a few more!
Lists then..
Carbon road bike: faster club rides and a feeling of breezing along.
Old carbon road bike: replaced by above a couple of years ago and now dedicated to the Trainer.
#gradventourer: titanium tourer that (currently) fills the adventure/gravel role too. 3 wheelsets for it.
Ti 29er/B+ hardtail: my main bikepacking option. Two wheelsets, rigid and suspension fork options.
140mm FS : for playing on local trails, trail centres and big-mounta8n days. Has also been used for a couple of bikepacking trips
Fatbike: for days when there's no option and for the sheer fun element. Also does bikepacking sometimes. Rigid and suspension forks but rarely rigid.
Old Ti 26er. SS. : Pub, shopping, just getting about town but also sometimes just spinning along local trails.
I'd like a nice gravel bike. Something a bit shorter and lighter than my Ti tourer. Very attracted to a Topstone Lefty.
The 26er, tourer and old road bike are all 14-15 years old and would be pretty worthless if I was to sell them. The FS was my most expensive purchase and that was a few years ago too. With 27.5 wheels it's not even on-trend now but I have wee legs so I don't want to be forced into a 29er FS either.
Total monetary value of the bikes is probably less than one FS E-bike 😁
All rounder full suss (orange segment)
Road&turbo bike (orange R9)
Pub/family bike (98 Kona Hahanna)
Can't justify anymore tbh.
Racy XC FS (100mm both ends, carbon)
Rubbishy training MTB (actually my exes old race bike, has a terminal creak, i'll ride it until it fails, FS, Aluminium, creaky)
Winter MTB (Studded tyres, rigid, guards, simple, basic set up)
Race bike (actually an old old old steel made to measure bike from the 90's with a modern mech groupset on it)
Do everything road bike (Relaxing road geo, big tyres (soon to be tubeless) Di2)
Wet weather/commuting/audaxing bike (guards, rack, biggish tyres).
CX bike, for if i ever decide to race again.
Also got a BMX and a big bike (150mm trail bike, but 26" wheels)
And a retro MTB in the attic. and another CX bike in pieces, and another road bike, and a TT bike, and another couple of MTBs as well.
And a couple of other road bikes.
So 9, or 13/14/15, i'm not sure.
What was the question again?
I could tell you some right horror stories about people with too many bikes...
My current stable of 3 suits me nicely,
FS ebike - Levi SL
All Round HT - Moots Womble
City / Centre Parcs bike- Cannondale Bad Boy
might tinker with a few of the components but happy the line up will be sufficient for quite a while
Funnily enough, not counting any projects it will the same number of bikes, shotguns and chainsaws. I feel the need to break this balence. What should I buy?
I've got my collection down to three:
lighweight carbon road bike
carbon gravel bike
carbon short-travel FS
In reality, more than 80% of the riding I do is on the gravel bike - I use it on-road, off-road, bikepacking. I'd like a proper steel bikepacking bike (HT or drop-bar), another gravel bike, a longer-travel FS for alpine rides but, really, I have everything I need right now.
I have settled on the below, seems to tick all boxes for me. No spare wheels or parts other than the odd tyre swap for the boggy months.
- 170mm 29er Ali FS, the big bouncy enduro
- 120mm 29er Ti HT, the light XC duties with some trails
- 160mm mullet Ali E-bike, Eebs 4 life
- Ali road bike, turbo and fair weather road duties
tried to keep the same parts/brands across the MTB’s which helps for robbing bits when stocks are low
My stable is full, no more bikes for me…
Trek Fuel Ex 9.8 for trail/XC
Nukeproof Mega RS for Enduro
Giant Reign E+2 E Bike for shuttle days
BMC URS 3 Gravel and Bikepacking
Focus Izalco Disc 9.8 for roadie
Boardman ADV 8.9 e gravel thing for winter commuting
Planet X London Road winter shitheap
No room left in the garage….which is why the Wattbike Atom is in the Dining Room…
Currently five that are ridable, which feels excessive, but covers most bases and feels right. I like having multiple on and off-road options...
- trail bike full susser (27.5", 130mm)
- nice light gravel bike with big tyres (cabon, di2, 45mm Tundras)
- summer only roadbike (classic Time VXS with mech Campy) for Alps / Pyrenees trips
- fixie with gearing for rolling hills
- e-bike SUV for daily commuting and kids stuff
Love the Ebike at the moment, but should really sell the fixie and buy a 29" enduro rig for Ard Rock racing etc
Last year I would have said 5. This year I can now say 6.
120mm full sus
fat bike
gravel
xc
road
pub/steel flat bar
Plenty of gaps there still it all of this see fairly regular outings at the moment.
I mean, one FS XC 29er (especially mine with a triple) could do (and used to do) almost everything I want. You could put it on a direct drive Turbo, do intervals and long solo road rides on it, gravel ride on it and even keep up on the slower local group rides with it. As well as XC, a bit of Swinley and an occasional Brass Monkeys or Gorrick Spring/Autumn classics and even race CX.
But if we're getting into dream garage then:
Wattbike (etc)
Aero road bike
Aero race bike (as above but with faster tyres and kept only for racing)
Gravel Bike
CX Bike x2
FS XC bike
Would cover most things I'd want to do I think.
My actual garage is:
Triban 5 / Kickr Snap permanent indoor set up.
Workswell r066 Chinese carbon rim brake road bike on Prime RR50's and now upgraded to Ultra di2 12speed.
Specialized Diverge with two wheel sets (Prime RR50's with GP5000 700x32's on one and G540's with 700x47 Pathfinder pro's on the other)
2013 Scott Spark 920.
Which still has an awful lot of crossover. Yesterday for example, my head was saying take the Diverge/Primes on the group ride for the shitty/slippy roads but my heart wanted to ride 4 miles at 29mph down the B4000 on the way home 🤣
It used to be 2 - a long travel steel hardtail and an all-mountain full suss was all that I felt I needed, but I bought a gravel bike 2 years ago so now it's 3.
Having ridden the new build cutthroat yesterday I think that could do 98%* of my riding with 2 wheel sets.
But then -replacing XTR drive trains using them in winter gets spendy fast. Using my old rigid ti single speed bike that's worth about 54pence** just makes sense*** - 8 strathpuffers to one chainring and cog anyone ? - infact touch wood the only thing I've broken on that bike over the many years was a headset cup-sheared where it enters the frame.
*Completely made up
**Also made up
***Man math
One gravel and now one mtb, one of each is enough for me (at the moment)
Just one more and I'd be sorted.
Got 5, would like to move to 4.
2x MTB (short & long travel FS)
1x gravel
1x road
The jury's out on whether I'll keep the road bike long-term actually, so 3 would probably suit my regular riding requirements perfectly well.
I had five, but reduced to four. Had a fixed gear road bike for commuting - really nice bike, loaded with panniers etc. Got spine broken whilst commuting, so eventually sold it. Back to commuting nw, but my route is mainly off road, so I'm using my old 90's MTB for that - it's ideal.
I've a full suspension for fun stuff, and two road bikes. One road bike can't be replaced, custom built, custom paint etc.so that get's ridden at weekends manly when the weather is good. Other road bike ridden more, but it's old too, but not quite as unique.
I sepnd most of my time on my 90's MTB.
A nice hard tail or gravel bike would be an option.
It has changed over the years.
Used to have 9 - TT, Road Race, Road Winter, 120mm Hardtail, 120mm Short Travel FS, 170mm Long Travel FS, Singlespeed Rigid, Fixed Track, Brompton.
These days it is 2 - Gravel (which fits the bill for road and gravel), 160mm Trail (which does everything off road).
As time has gone by and work/family/age have played an increasingly detrimental impact on the time available to ride, I have come to understand what riding I enjoy and whilst I couldn't make do with just 1 bike, 2 very different bikes is spot on, and certainly more useful now than 9 different horses for 9 very niche courses.
Perhaps the only N+1 that I keep hankering after is another Brompton. The ability to fold and go is increasingly attractive. Now, how to afford the Ti version.........
3 is enough for me.
1 x short travel FS. With decent geometry. I don’t want an XC bike. This has been my most ridden.
1x long travel FS. For racing, holiday & when I’m feeling like a sadist & want to pedal something heavy. Least used.
1 x FS ebike. For smashing laps. Simple.
No road bikes, no gravel bikes or anything like that. Zero interest in it.
I currently have too many. For the riding I currently do (once I can actually get back on the bike), I reckon three would be optimum...
1 A hard hitting , 'UK style' FS. Ideally mullet, 120mm-130mm rear and 160 front, steel frame, burly build.
2 A (much) lighter, 29er XC/marathon/all-dayer FS. 100mm/120mm, skinnyish tyres. This would serve as my bike for 'gravel' rides too.
3 An all rounder, 'mucking about' HT. My 27.5+ Sonder Transmitter would be perfect for this.
If I lived close enough to work to make a cycle commute viable, I'd have to add some kind of road bike or hybrid too.
And its n+1 thoughts like that last one that have got me into a position where I have 7 bikes and a unicycle in the garage right now...
It's the greater of N+1 or S-1. Where N is the number of bikes that you currently have and S is the number of bikes at which point your wife/partner leaves you and you have to go through a costly separation/divorce...............
I live in the Lakes and have a rather embarassing number of bikes
1 General MTB Forbidden Druid (v capable)
2 Hardtail SC Chameleon C (faster more XC with skinnyish tyres)
3 Gravel. Mason Boke - 2 sets of wheels - one 700c for road -one 650b for off-road
4 Road bike oldish Scott Addict (mainly for zwift as I prefer the mason for road)
5 Brompton S3L for commuting (v useful if I work away)
6 BMX Kurakawa from the 80s (can't face getting rid! hardly ever ride it)
7 old tandem. Viking with disc brakes (which I never ride - if anyone wants it cheap let me know)
8 old long-travel hardtail Bird ZERO (for friends who don't bring a bike when they come to stay and the pub)
Plus various bits and pieces.. I do agree with solarider the Druid and the Mason would just about cover 100% of the rides - but the SC is a good in-between as I find that in the Lakes the Mason is fast, but a bit painful if the ride has a lot of off road sections.
Three.
1. My trusty Specialized Tricross singlespeed CX bike.
2. A short travel hardtail MTB, undecided between my current flat bar Cotic Cascade with 100mm forks or my Solaris Max with 120mm forks.
3. A nicer version of my Boardman hybrid for road riding/commuting/shopping/gentle bridleway bimbles. Currently seriously considering an Enigma Escape flat bar after I saw one mentioned in another thread.
Just sold my orange five so down to 2 bikes.
Orange P7 Hardtail and Cube ebike FS
Would like a short travel FS but no funds for one yet.
4
Ti - Hardtail
Carbon - Summer road bike
Steel - gravel/adventure/tourer bike (2 sets of wheels)
Ti - gravel /CX/winter road bike (3 sets of wheels).
I could almost live without the carbon road bike, the grovel frames with their road wheels on are more than capable, but on nice summer days I love the speed of the carbon missile.
Having 2 gravel frames may be a wee bit indulgent,but I am such a tart about the custom paint job on the steel frame, it's now turned into more of a long distance road bike ,so doesn't visit much singletrack .
Hmm.
Ideal - prob 4 or 5
- Brompton
- pub/station roadie
- Racy gravel bike which is also a fast endurance machine
- TT
But in reality, as with others, I have lots more in the garage, most of which I could lose. But they have memories, history and act as useful backup for visitors, mechanical issues, and cannibalising for spares.
I could happily live with just the one - my OPEN UPPER, with a couple of wheelsets.
But I have quite a few in addition, including tandem (never ridden nowadays), Brompton (occasional commute to clients), TT, winter road (CX) bike, winter singlespeed, summer singlespeed, old canti CX, vintage carbon roadie, aero super road bike, another old canti CX, and probably more I've forgotten.
I certainly don't need any more. Nor want. I'll probably still get the annual C2W voucher to stealth upgrade the current fleet, with wheels, groupsets etc.
1 x 180mm ebike.
1 x dh bike.
Plus a hardtail ebike for getting to work, going to the shops etc. I dont really count this though as it's just a tool whereas the other 2 are a hobby.
I get a bit stressy having more than 2 hobby bikes due to the cost and my inability to stop buying unnecessary upgrades.
Desperately trying to stop myself buying a kenevo sl as they are so cheap currently.
160mm full sus, 140mm hardtail, 650bx47c gravel bike with some 700x28c road wheels to interchange and the commute/pub bike is what I'm at now. I don't want any more than that as the maintenance is too much to keep up with as it is!<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Will likely be at a one in one out policy from now on</span>
i have 3.
road bike on turbo trainer, mid-travel full suspension and hard tail mtbs. don’t need the hard tail, but i would like a 120 full suspension such as a reeb sst/other short travel trail bike. preferably exotic.
i only need 2 bikes in my life at the moment. turbo bike and mountain bike.
I have a Surly Wednesday fatbike with suspension or rigid forks, fat wheels or 29plus wheels. That seems like a few options. And a Merida ebike. If I had some spare cash I' d probably buy a gravel bike.
11 bikes
- Yeti SB5c (2019)
- Orange 5 (2013)
- Yeti ASR 5C (2012)
- Ibis Mojo (2012)
- Ibis Tranny (2011)
- Giant Trance Advanced (2007)
- Giant MSM Team (1996)
- Cannondale Hooligan (2016)
- Kona Jake the Snake CR (2016)
- Kona Major Jake (2007)
- Cannnondale MTB Tandem (1996)
They all get regularly ridden too...
Currently on 10…
xc mtb
trail mtb
good road bike
winter road bike
road bike parts bin special
single speed pub bike
2 x gravel bikes
2 X tt bikes
need a clear out
Hardtail MTB, Road, Road, Gravel, Flat Bar Road.
Full suss plus a CinderKone in Switzerland.
Road in Ireland.
Currently have 3, but feeling the need for another...
180mm 25kg ebike (Spesh Kenevo)
Hooligan hardtail (PP Shan with 170mm forks, but not really new geometry and 26" wheels)
Retro '90's Kona pub hack/gym commute/will do gravel if I ever feel like going on a boring ride
Did have a YT Capra CF but sold it as it was too much like the Kenevo without the assistance
Kinda want to try a 29'er, fancy a titanium pinion HT, or a steel/titanium bling FS.
Currently 4
- 29 XC/Trail bike - Stumpjumper
- 29 Enduro bike - Geometron G1
- Eeeb - Kenevo SL
-DJ/4X bike - Stanton 4x
The first three get ridden a lot, the last one sits in the corner of the living room, its nice to look at but doesn't get ridden all that much.
Ok, I may have a problem here...And this is not an exhaustive list by any means
Folding bike for commuting
Road bike fixed
Road bike
TT bike/trike
Track bike
Recumbent trike
Tandem
Singlespeed MTB
Others I don't really need at the moment
Gravel/cross
Second TT bike
Road race bike (sniff)
Second track bike
Kiddyback tandem
Commuting fixed wheel bike
Geared winter road bike with guards
I could go on, but you might get the idea
I have three bikes and no room for anymore!
160mm travel FS MTB
Rigid, single-speed MTB
Road Bike
I ride all three regularly and I don't feel the need for any more.
A Strange Five Evo with a load of nice bits bolted to it. Does everything I'd want a mountain bike to do.
A dented, hammerite painted Specialised Tricross singlespeed with weird bars and generally just looks rubbish. Weighs nothing and is ace for zipping around town on.
That'll do me...
I’ve two full suspension 29er MTB:
130F/120R & a 150f/140R. Travel wise they’re similar but couldn’t be more different to ride. The short travel is incredible fun, poppy and playful whereas the longer travel is more suited to high speed & rough.
Both used numerous times per week, usually off road extended commutes. I.e. ride to work then take a long way home. Can’t see myself going back to road, hardtail or DH bike. I think bikes are so good these days that one could cover my every need, but because I’m happy with what I have I’ll save me pennies for trips.
That said, I do have a mates road bike sat on my turbo trainer, which gets used weekly too. Would consider an e-bike at some point but happy as I am at the moment.
currently have 2 -
a 2014 Giant Defy (105 + posh Pacenti/Hope wheelset) currently my nice summer bike
a 2022 Dolan GXA Gravel bike (1 x 11 GXA + Posh Pacenti/Hope Wheelset) currently doing winter road duties
What i'd really like is to keep the Giant and semi-retire it (don't want to sell, sentimental reasons) buy a nice endurance road bike for summer road duties and a dedicated winter roadie to free-up the gravel bike for off-road/gravel stuff.
So for me the number is 4 - but one of them won't get ridden much.
Might stretch to 5 if i buy another MTB though.
