I'm a firm believer in n+1. Perhaps too firm as I've probably owned 10+ bikes in the past 5 years. I have always tended to pick the bike I ride on any given day based on a whim and 'I've not ridden that one for a while so I'll give it an outing'.
For the last six weeks I've been riding the same bike, I'm getting faster on it and, mainly, having more fun. The trail conditions have been the same throughout (dry as a bone) but I'm more familiar with how the bike behaves and more confident as a result.
All my bikes are set up with the same saddle and cockpit and similar ride position but there's a fair variation in geometry, travel, tyres etc (FS, fat bike, ss hard tail etc) - constantly adjusting my riding to these different bikes meant that I spent a lot of time being nervous about what the bike would do on the limit and not really pushing the bike or myself as a consequence.
To be honest it's been a bit of a revelation just how much I can trust my FS bike to keep grip and go where I want. I spent a month on the fat bike before that with similar increases in confidence over time.
I'm not going to get rid of any bikes, I'll probably just make a point of picking a bike and sticking with it for a month or two - in the end it turns out it's more fun not worrying about what the bike's going to do and just getting on with the ride.
errm, that's it really.
i wish i still had the same problem as you wwaswas...its nice to look at a collection of bikes and be spoilt for choice but now i only have the one FS and a commuter
but at one point i had up to 6 bikes and eventually started to feel the same way as you...for me it was a case of not enjoying it because by the time i got used to the set up, geometry and the way the bike handled i'd want to ride another bike...plus in my mind i'd think that if i wasnt enjoying the ride on one bike i'd wished i'd picked a different one...it just led to me not enjoying my rides
now with just the one mtb i can just get on with enjoying myself on the only bike that i have...the commuter is just a commuter and just does a job and is ridden out of necessity.
1 x tourer/road bike
1 x mtb
why have more. 😀
I've gone from 5 down to two, road/commuter and a bouncy mtb.
Very easy to choose which bike to ride however, come to the mud fest that is winter I'll miss having the single speed hard tail.
Never had the problem of having to get used to the bike again.
I need a full on DH bike, a trail bike and a dirt jump bike... Can stick the rest.
narrowed it down to 3:
road bike
mountain bike
commuting hybrid with mudguards
no need or room for any more 🙂
I've run out of room in the outhouse.
I've just retired my AM bike, which is now in Ebay in bits as the missus has handed down a strict "one in, one out" policy.
3 for me. Hardtail, fs and commuter. Always feel a bit twitchy when getting on one that's not been ridden for awhile.
7 bikes here.. Yes some see more action than others but I wouldn't have any less 😀
I did the same thing. At one time i had the following;
Winter & summer road.
Hardtail
5" FS
6" FS
Singlespeed.
Problem was, i always seemed to be agonizing over which was the right bike for any given ride.
I now have 1 road bike, 1 4" FS 29er & 1 cheap ss commuter. I now never have to worry about which is the right bike.
Although i would't mind a cross bike 😉
> Commuter
> SS rigid 29er
> 120mm HT
> CX bike
[ >100mm HT at my parents house for when I visit.]
I think it covers all grounds and they all do things very differently- just need a 140/150mm FS bike as my N+1.
In the past I've had major over lap between bikes. I found that they did the same thing but handled very differently so I never got used to it. I found it frustrating.
I had a 100mm steel hardtail and a 5 for years and often felt the same. Last year I got rid of them and replaced with a Soul with 120mm fork and a dropper. Much better for my riding and less complicated. Have a nice road bike and a Croix De Fer too (and a track bike).
I've only got two mountain bikes (we're not counting road bikes, right), but I still spend far too much time trying to decide which one I prefer (neither, they're both great, just different) and wondering whether I've made the right choice. I drive myself nuts sometimes.
I've got down to one mountain bike and one road bike. It does certainly make life simpler.
At some point presumably my willpower will give out and I'll end up with another 7....
Mtb + pro6 has most things covered for me. I would love more bikes but tbh I can't really justify it!
From 5 down to 2 and even sharing wheelset.. Many bikes is good dont get me wrong, just put huge dent in your wallet come fork/shock servicing time ...
all I need are
1) 160mm bike for the alps summer trip
2) 120mm FS for regular UK trails
3) 100mm 29er (anthem,epic,..maybe stereo carbon) for sportive events.
FWP alert!
TBH I can't really feel sorry for you OP, having come to the conclusion that you own too many bikes and should perhaps ride fewwer of them but more often we get:
I'm not going to get rid of any bikes,
So what's was your point exactly?
You are just going to carry on being a hoarder of bicycles?
[img] 
[/img]
Happy to organise a bike amnesty for those who want to downgrade to N+1.
Rest assure everything can be anonymous. Just drop them off at my house and we'll never speak of them again.
You'll be able to sleep easy.
😀
[i]you own too many bikes and should perhaps ride fewwer of them but more often we get:[/i]
I think I'm still going to ride them all, just in less frequent rotation.
Instead of picking a different bike very ride I'll pick one for a month or so. Over a year they'll probably all end up with the same mileage they would have done with the old eeenie-meenie-miney-mo approach.
To be clear - I don't own 10 bikes now I have
1x140mm fs
1xss ht
1xfat
1x29 geared ht
1xroad
Not to mention the strange phenomenon where, although each bike is barely ridden, they are all constantly in need of mechanical attention!
I now own a FS & hardtail, both of which are similar in style and geometry so that I can swap between them without experiencing that settling in period that a different bike requires.
I'm a sensitive soul and my confidence is easily knocked by change. I've just regained my confidence on my hardtail by changing a couple of things. After swapping forks and bars over the summer, it felt wrong. Adding a 10mm spacer under the stem and swapping out last winters Swampthing for a different tyre, the balance is now restored 🙂
I have 3 MTBs
Lightweight 120mm hardtail
160mm Alpine bike (quite heavy)
140mm Full suss Alfine winter bike (heavy)
I used to just have 1 mid travel, mid weight full suss that was great for everything. I cant help feeling that 90% of the time now I'm either under biked or over biked when I used to have the perfect bike 90% of the time.
Not sure how I have let this happen but its pretty ridiculous. I think it boils down to the Alfine bike ending up far too heavy and under geared to be all that quick on anything other than DH. Should bin it really but although it climbs like a bit of a dog it is a hoot and easy to maintain.
good things I found about going back to 1 MTB:
No thoughts (excuses) like 'oh I would ride that if I was on my am/fs/dh/ss bike'
No garage full of not quite working bikes you put off fixing because there was another one to ride
More money for nicer parts
Really get used to riding it
One less decision to make
(I admit to also having a road bike, but that doesn't count)
Own:
Road bike
Mountain/AM/ENDURO bike
Need/want, to make my life betterer:
DH Bike
XCish/trail centre weapon
Canal path shredder (for upcoming new commute)
Not to mention the strange phenomenon where, although each bike is barely ridden, they are all constantly in need of mechanical attention!
Exactly! This was driving me nuts. I now have one bike, that is always clean and can be restored to perfect running condition with a bit of work if I notice it developing a problem.
🙂
I'm on 3:
29" 120mm, light, fast hardtail
26" 150mm AM
26" 200mm DH
The DH rig is a thing on its own.
The two trail bikes are broadly interchangeable, although obviously longer days, bigger hills, faster trails and bigger jumps are better on the 150mm bike. I enjoy riding at HT from time to time and the redundancy is often useful where mechanicals or servicing might otherwise stop me riding.
The only snag I currently have (on trail bikes, not DH, because it is [i]so[/i] different) is switching to and fro between 26" to 29". On all but the most tech/gnar I'm equally quick (read slow) on either, but the process of switching seems to take about an hour or so of acclimatisation each time.
Cross bike with rack & mudguard,
'Race' 29er hardtail but sensible build
650 frankenbike Remedy for big stuff
& bmx as a vain attempt to prove to myslef I'm not old.
Is more than enough and covers everything for me
The only snag I currently have (on trail bikes, not DH, because it is so different) is switching to and fro between 26" to 29". On all but the most tech/gnar I'm equally quick (read slow) on either, but the process of switching seems to take about an hour or so of acclimatisation each time.
obviously need moar 650b in your diet
I would only ever have the one.
Although I can see the interest in having 1 mtb and 1 road bike if that's your thing.
5 MTB - 3 full sus / 2 HT. Of which two 29ers.
5 road bikes - winter mudguards bike, race bike, normal road bike, and two more classic steel bikes (which are my old racing bikes)
plus a Brompton here.
I guess that's a "problem" of having tons of storage space. I'm kinda whittling them down a little - obviously very unsuccessfully!
I've consolidated to a road bike/commuter and a LT hardtail now.
I want big bouncy FS bike but not quite a full on DH bike, then i'll have all my bases covered.
1x road bike
1x MTB hardtail
1x SS commuter
I pretty much have a 1 in, 1 out policy. We're in a flat right now so with MrsSalmon's bike too 4 is already a PITA. Also right at the moment I don't ride any of them except the commuter enough to justify any more!
If I had more funds/space/time though I could probably be tempted by extras...
at the start of the year i had---
170mm FS
140mm HT
100mm HT
Jump bike
Commuter
City bike
Fixie bike
Now, i've slimmed it down.
170mm FS
140mm FS
Jump bike
Commuter
Fixie bike
...and a 140mm HT frame
By the end of the year, i want to be left with a...
170mm FS
140mm FS
Jump bike
Commuter
My problem is owning a 5 and a Patriot. Too similar really - long term, I'll convert the 5 into a rigid 29er I think.
The trick is to try and avoid them overlappng too much, if you genuinely have to think hard about which bike to take on a ride then you could probably live without one of them.
I'm currently at
Rigid 1 x 10 29er - For local XC/
S****y carbon road bike - For 'proper' road rides in nice weather.
Cross bike with mudguards for commuting/errands/Chariot duties.
I'd very much like another bouncy bike for gnar and going to Wales, but that's going to have to wait til spring.
130mm hardtail
170mm full susser
200mm downhill bike
loads of fun on all of them
I /could/ probably lose one bike from the current 4 - but each time I think, Ok, which one, I'm stumped.
26":, c. 1995, rigid SS MTB
26", 1998 HT geared MTB
all road robust road bike - SS / geared 2013
26" 1998 fixed gear MTB drop bar conversion (monstrosity)
The last one could - I suppose - go but it's fun in its own way, kind of pub bike really.
None of them owe me anything, being either old, cheap to buy or both.
But I know what you mean, sometimes the maintenance gets out of hand and you run round in ever-decreasing circles to find a bike, any bike, for a spin. I know the limitations of each bike though, never / rarely feel I'm on the wrong one; though what I take out will select what trails / routes I'm doing..
@HansRey
Why get rid of the HT?
I've always liked having one about and the difference in feel from the trail. In the winter I feel (perhaps illogically) that I'm wearing less out and certainly when it's muddy they make progress slightly less sapping.
the missus has handed down a strict "one in, one out" policy.
You did reply that this applies to wifes just as much as bikes 😉
I limit it to
1 fs
1 SS
1 hardatail
1 road bike
1 pub/hack bike
I do not have to but anything else and IMHO you are just replicating something you already have and it would not get much use
Wouldn't you be better off having less bikes, but with the same overall budget i.e. better bikes?
Or are they all works spec bikes already?
I like having a few different bikes, keeps it interesting.
As long as they don't overlap more is better!
160mm FS
120-150 u-turn HT
Rigid SS HT (commuting mainly)
Road bike
Tall bike
Never in doubt over which to take out.
I really need to sell one. But it hurts so : (
[i]Never in doubt over which to take out.[/i]
but there's still a period of time adjusting to each bike, even if you're using them on different terrain?
if I go out for a 2 hour ride I spend the first hour and half getting my head sorted out and even then it's not perfect.
As I say, multiple bikes are ace but, for me, it turns out the chopping and changing too regularly makes me less confident in the bikes.
To be fair only the first 2 get ridden as proper MTBs and I've ridden them both so much I'm pretty much happy getting on and blasting off!
why get rid of the ht? I live in a 1 bed flat.
It's a classic bfe, 4 months use. I'll get chuff all for it, but i'll probably never build it up. It's gotta go.
I'm thinking the same currently
1 commuter
1 road bike
1 cross bike
2 FS
1 Hard tail
I'm think of going to 1 Hardtail, commuter/baby carrier + crossbike (two sets of wheels/tyres). I've just had my old 456 powder coated and built up and I'm going to ride it all winter. If i can't see any reason to keep it the fs is going. Similarly I'm going to ride my crossbike on the road all winter and if i don't feel its holding me back that much the road bike is going. The cross bike also offer miles more flexibility. The fact its a little slower than my road bike doesn't matter when when your my weight and speed.
I look at it based on the trails I'll be riding. On trails I know well - local woods or trail centres where I can be a bit of a hooligan, the Patriot is great. If I'm up in the mountains, when it can sometimes be steeper and rocker I might still take the 5 because it's a better place to sit when covering the miles even though it's worse on the descents.
However, with a view to the Tour Divide I might rob the groupset and other components and put them on a 29er rigid frameset. It'd be nice if I could make a bike that was fun and racy with sus forks but could also have rigid forks fitted for real mile munching.
As long as you're riding different trails with the different bikes I don't see a problem. I wouldn't take my "xc" bike down dollywagon and I wouldn't pedal my lakes bike around 40+ miles of bleak moorland. Normally only takes me 10-15mins to "dial" myself into the bike, admittedly I could probably get a [i]bit[/i] faster or more technically adept if I stuck with 1 all the time trouble is my local rides are fairly tame but my preferred trails are a lot more tech so with 1 bike I'm either overbiked most of the time or underbiked when I'm trying to shred the gnar on my favourite-est trails.
just add a commuter bike in there and that's me (admittedly my hack bike is an FS but as it's an ancient frame built from the parts bin it still counts)1 fs
1 SS
1 hardatail
1 road bike
1 pub/hack bike
Having said that I could really do with a cargo bike for shopping/child portage...and a fat bike would be nice 🙂
Possibly, it's accretion tho innit? I can afford to spend £X money on bikes per year so many years ago I bought a bike worth X, next year I buy X worth of parts, next year I buy a new frame and consumables (ie drivechain) and bodge together a parts bin bike, keep going in this fashion and after several years I have a few bikes. At no point do I have multiples of X in my wallet to buy a proper posh bike with.Wouldn't you be better off having less bikes, but with the same overall budget i.e. better bikes?
Pared my collection right down recently, now just have a 26" hard tail, AM full boingo, and the road bike. Adding a fat bike soon, but that might take the place of the hard tail. Im with the OP, been riding the hard tail a lot lately and its made me a better rider going back to my roots and actually enjoying the trails without having to pick funky lines to warrant the FS. the AM machine has had one ride on it since I built it 6 weeks ago! I should really take it out this weekend since the weather forecast is for glorious!
beater winter/turbo road bike
bling summer road bike
165mm FS MTB
125mm FS MTB
SS HT MTB
Fat HT
I have fun on 4 of them. I hate riding the winter road bike, mainly because when I ride it, it's dark/pissing it down or it's on the turbo, and no one likes the turbo.
And I haven't ridden the fatbike yet.
i've got 4, think they are all in their own niche and anything else would be duplication..
proper semi posh road bike
bargain bin cx / commuter/ winter road bike
120mm 26 hardtail
140mm 650b FS
MTB wise it depends what mood i'm in and who i'm riding with, most stuff locally is fun on both either because its HT direct and all about nerve and line choice or because it's super quick crazy line choice FS magic carpet ride. It's nice to have a FS for days out on exmoor/lakes/wales
My perfect quiver of bikes would be the follwing
1 x Slack 140/150mm Hardtail
1 x 130mmr/150f Travel FS
1 x Downhill bike
1 x Touring bike
Gone down to two.
150mm susser
Rigid 29er SS
Covers most bases for the moment.
You lot with more than two bikes, do you have a family or partner? There is no way I could get my kids bikes, wifes and anymore than two bikes for me all in the basement.
I suppose my hatred for road cycling limits the amount I have.
I suppose one could have a downhill frame and a set of boxxers and just swap over parts when needed. So that would save a bit of space.
I have around 30 bikes and frames at the moment, mostly retro projects and bargain dalliances though. Ideally I'm wanting to get down to 4 mtb's and 1 road with 2 of the mtbs being frivolous and could be culled. I'd also keep 4 or 5 of my retrobikes too amd mothball a couple of frames I don't want to let go but don't know what to do with them.
Wasn't the original point that by having lots of bikes it means you're never riding one for long enough to really get used to it & know what it's capable of?
If it was, then I agree & that's why I only have one mtb.
I compare this to toys. My daughter has so many that none get played with.
And I haven't ridden the fatbike yet.
😆
it was john_l - I think it's got lost in a list of bikes for different purposes justifications 🙂
Riding somewhere different every week on a different bike because 'it's a different type of riding' would still have the same problem as far as I can see in that switching between bikes leaves you relearning their characteristics and 'reprogramming' your own approach and reactions to each bike.
I still want to have lots of bikes 'cos I *really* like bikes 🙂
You lot with more than two bikes, do you have a family or partner? There is no way I could get my kids bikes, wifes and anymore than two bikes for me all in the basement.
I suppose my hatred for road cycling limits the amount I have.
Nope. 2 bikes live on the landing, 4 in my bedroom. If I meet a girl, were going back to hers....
To be fair PMJ, I only got it last Sunday eve, and work commitments have conspired to mean that the first ride is tomorrow.
I have
Slack HT
160mm FS
Winter road
Posh summer road
CX.
Other half (munqe chick) has
100mm HT
150mm FS
Winter road
Summer road
Ancient HT/hack/pub
And is shopping for a CX.
HTs probably ridden once in last year, mind you have only ridden FS once since the spring, its all been about road miles this year (see IronMan thread).
We have a double garage. It also holds a motorbike each so is pretty full...
I have:
160/130 forked HT
150 front/130 rear FS
Have been thinking of selling both and buying just one 'do it all'(losing shit loads of money in the process)...but know I'd always want both and love them both, so it would just be stupid really.
I hear what you are saying. Five bikes to choose from but I tend to stick with one for a while, then another. It's certainly weird going from an MTB onto a full-on roadie after a big gap and also finding out how much less grip a 2.25" MTB tyre has compared with a 4" HuskerDu. It can produce a bit of "excitement" where none was intended 🙂