[Closed] Who genuinely has one bike to do it all?

If I had to pick one bike that was the most useful and could handle the most situations, it would be my Saracen Skyline steel tourer. I've taken it out on road club runs (although that really isn't much fun if it's a faster ride), I ride it every day to work, it loves rougher roads and gravel lanes, and I even took it out (once!) on our local gravel night ride.

Failing that, my old XC bike.

If we're just talking off-road, then I think it would be a bike I don't actually have - maybe something like a Cotic Soul.

I have many bikes but my 29 anthem is the one bike that I would keep to do it all.

Until around Xmas, I felt my Voodoo Wazoo fatbike was a fun flat bar "do it all" bike, the FatNotFat 29er wheelset made it so versitile with a swap of tyres to run anything from 27mm road tyres to 2.35" all-rounders (I never did end up buying a dedicated pair of offroaders such as the Smorg/Monkey combo).

But then the freehub seemingly died, I wouldn't always get forward propulsion while pedalling as the pawls wouldn't engage.

It still works as a commuter with the fat wheel and Jumbo Jim on the rear, but it's so much more of a slog, especially uphill on the way home. There's very little chance of me choosing to take it for a 20-30 mile loop on the rural roads, if my road bike is up and running, but it might get a few outings offroad to Cheesefoot Head and/or up and down the Meon Valley Trail.

One bike, a 2017 stumpjumper. Used for commuting, local trails, trail centres and up lift days. It was going to be used on a couple of marathons this year too.

My yt capra is my one bike to do it all. all = local rides, rides along the cycle paths with family, trail centres, uk uplift centres, alps/proper mountains

I do have a bike that could do it all - an old On One ti cross. At various stages of the last 15 years it has.......acted as a non mudguard road/sportive bike, a winter road bike, a panniers front and rear touring bike, what would now be considered to be a gravel riding bike (but back then was a drop bar bike to freak out your mtb friends on a carefully selected mtb route designed to make me shine), an adventure race bike, a pop down the shops bike and of course a cyclocross race bike (inc the 3 peaks).

Of course I'm not that daft - it is one of 6 bikes currently in my collection with wheels and twiddly bits on and another 4 frames hanging around like a bad smell.

Don't let my wife read this post as it undermines everything I've told her for the last 25 years.

Are we allowed more than one wheelset?

If so then I would go for a bombtrack hook ext.

Yep, a mk1 Switchback (on 26") that I use for commuting (we work from home so commuting is dropping the post down to the post office, ~5 mile round trip), long-ish bimbles and a bit of local enduro/DH racing. I do have a few sets of wheels with different tyres (Kenda K-Rads, Conti Trail Kings and Conti Baron/Kaiser) on though, so I suppose that's a [i]bit[/i] of a cheat.

If I had to reduce to one bike it'd be my Soul. It does most of what I want these days.

I don't feel any need for another bike so I guess that fits. Rift zone - done trail centres on it, done long xc rides on it, did ard moors enduro on it, do local exercise / strava'ing on it, ride with the kids on it. I'd replace it with similar but don't feel any need for a +1.

No, but I reckon my stooge mkIV is the one I'd choose if I had a gun to my head. I've done enduro on it, great at trail centres, great for bike packing, had it on the turbo at the start of lockdown, bung fast rolling 29ers on and it is a decent gravel ish option.

It gets out of its depth on really rough and choppy downhill stuff at speed but it's a rigid bike, I'd not take it to the Alps out of choice but it'd work and it'd be a ball ache on out and out road.

In terms of any offroad riding, my Bronson does it all, big mountain days, trail centres, uplifts, local loops, long XC rides, trail centres. It pedals tremendously well and is capable of everything my limited abilities can chuck at it.

I have a flat barred commuter for my short 8 mile jaunt to work, I only consider it a utility, commuting does not = fun to me. 🙂

Err, jist naw. My riding is too varied.

One road bike, one summer mountain bike, one winter mountain bike (which is usually my old summer bike). Summer bike is a short travel 29er used for all the riding I do, and it could probably handle a whole lot more because I'm not very Enduro.

I have many bikes but my 29 anthem is the one bike that I would keep to do it all.

Yep. Me too. Took mine for a road ride yesterday evening and loved it. They're just so damn fast and responsive ( compared to any other MTB I've owned )

Managed just over 17 mph average for the ride, which is insane for a full Suss MTB with knobblies.

If only the seat collar adjustment wasn't so utterly ****in awful, then it would be almost perfect.

I've a road bike (Ribble R872) and a mountain bike (spesh Enduro)

That pretty much covers all my needs

My surly karate monkey does everything I need from a bike, I’ve commuted on it, done road on it (with big apples fitted)
Off road, touring, shopping.
My mate has done all of that on a genesis day one 853, but it actually is his only bike.
I think it’s very much an attitude thing, some folks will use a different discipline as an excuse for N+1, while others will revel in using the completely wrong bike but still managing.

Whyte G160. Commuting to work, 18 miles of road, local Ridgeway riding, local trails, Afan/FoD and BPW and Morzine, yup, it does the lot.

The only thing it doesn't do it turbo training but that's only because the rear axle isn't compatible with my trainer.

i have two bikes that can do it all.
Santa Cruz Highball carbon 29er - handles most of the stuff i have available nearby, especially the techy uphills, downhill involves careful route selection.
Cotic SolarisMAX - handles it all too ... but in the opposite way.

Since ‘no gnar’ I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how versatile my 27+ / 29 x 2.1 rigid bike is. I’d neglected it in favour of flashy full sus and hardtail, but I’ve really enjoyed 90s style mtb riding on it. If I had to have one bike, the Genesis Longitude would be it.

If I had to reduce to one bike it’d be my Soul. It does most of what I want these days.

I can only afford one bike and that’s currently a Gen 5 Soul. Therefore by default it has to be my one bike for everything and it copes with everything pretty well. Off-road, gnarly stuff, bimbling, exploring, long rides, short rides, singletrack, canal towpath, commuting, arsing about and the necessary evil of roads.

I’d like a drop bar gravel thing too, mainly for canal and bridleway mile munching/fitness riding and commuting. Not interested in road riding so two bikes would do it all for me.

Yep, the most bikes I've ever owned at once was 2 and one of them was a full-blooded DH bike I used to use a handful of times a year.

I've always owned 'big trail bikes' 6" bounce both ends. I've got a Bird
Aeries 145LT at the moment, previous was an Intense Tracer, Cove G-Spot, a couple of Lapierre Spicy's and a Spesh Enduro.

I use it for going to the shops, occasional commuting, local XC stuff (I did a 45Km mixed XC / Road loop at the weekend) Trail Centres, BPW and if we can ever travel again the Alps.

It's fine really, droppers and shock lock-outs have made them pretty easy to live with. The only thing that would stop me riding it as an every-day commuter is the cost of the consumables.

My Bird Zero 29 does everything I want, xc rides, downhill trails at Inners, messing about in the woods.

My Rocket Max does a great job as a do it all bikes. Not breaking any world records on the more XC stuff but feels efficient enough. Hauls me up climbs nicely enough and puts a huge grin on my face on the downs. Manages DH uplift days I've done....definitely a case of the rider being the weakest link in the chain there. So a definite all rounder with a slant to the downhill/techy trail stuff.

If I could only keep one, I'd keep my Arkose Alfine. But add a dropper (😱) and change the tyres and get a removable rack/mudguards. All bases covered.

My Norco Optic is my one bike to do all, as its my only bike. But I purchased it with the fact its will be my only bike. Its 140 front 125 rear travel, fairly aggressive/modern geometry.

I ride it for everything, local XC, days at BPW, Surrey hills thrashing, the odd commute, riding with my daughters etc etc. I will also take it to whatever foreign destination I end up going to (the Alps or Finale). I'm happy to be slightly under-biked for a certain amount of my riding.

There is part of me that would like multiple bikes, but every time I think about buying XYZ I rather put the money towards some upgrades for the Optic or going places to ride.

My buddy has a 7k Giant Trance and a 5k Starling Murmur. Depending on where we ride, depends on what he brings, but he isn't any faster on either bike in multiple situations, so it kinda feels pointless at the level of riding we do.

I have one mountain bike to do all my mountain biking. Mk 2 Cotic Solaris, but I do have a different bike for commuting and a road bike as well. So the Cotic isn't completely 'do it all'....

Norco optic I would say is the perfect bike for the UK. I have used mine around the tweed valley since Feb on all the trails, riding around town. Between towns etc. Even the DH farm at Portsoy. Just be careful, it handles it. Then also the 20 mile ride after and your not blown up.

If I had to, my Pickenflick probably. I don't do much road-only miles, but have a second wheelset with 32c slicks on. The other wheelset with 42c gravel tyres would probably be replaced with a 650b wheelset with wider rubber to make it more capable off road (it's still pretty good for most of my local riding).

Would be a bit crap for trail centres, weekends away to the Lakes. But that only happens once or twice a year anyway.

Or, my On One 45650b. Would need gears (currently running SS), a spare rigid fork, a 700c wheelset and spare drop bars so it could be converted into a monster-cross gravel bastard for longer mile-munching mixed surface rides.

Depends on "all" - MTB riding only is easy.

1 bike not really possible if you ride a road chain gang for instance, tho a 2nd set of wheels might do it.

Can the crazy talk! Don’t you know there are some SO’s that peruse this forum at times?!?!

Just one bike? Seriously! 🤷🏻‍♂️

i think about it from time to time. The problem is that anything nice enough to "do it all" is too nice to leave outside the pub.

I've got 4 bikes that could quite easily do me for everything, but the fun is in having the right tool for the right job 😉
Stooge Mk4, Surly Krampus, and DMR Trailstar - these can all do pretty much anything....

...but my Genesis Vagabond - genuinely this can handle anything you want. Swap of tyres needed maybe, but I've done 100+ mile road rides and I've also taken it down arse-puckeringly steep and rooty singletrack.

i have a few bikes but the one that 'does it all' is the Chamois Hagar gravel bike. on blue and easier red type trails its faster than my trail bike, the MTB is obviously quicker once the trails get rough though.
as a guide i did a 95k 'gravel' ride on saturday on local bridleways, singletrack and back lanes then on sunday rode the local woods including local DH tracks, although i did go around the bigger drops and doubles. got me down all the local stuff with a top 10 and top 4 strava time on local trails and 18th/83 on one of the DH tracks

Hell no, hat a terrible idea.
From my current fleet I guess my Kaffenback would be closest but it’d be no fun.

Hmmm, I'd say my currently owned could "do it all" bike is my Stumpy evo as it can go up and down most things on or offroad... But I'm not actually sure I would want that, if I had to do the "only keep one bike" thing, it would actually be my crappy old London Road* as it covers more of the riding I actually do day to day now.
It's alright on the road (most of my miles) and it's adequate offroad. I have better tools for both jobs but neither covers both and there would be a cessation to any Gnarr, but I could live with just that one bike...
*(a few upgrades would be beneficial)

If I had to chop them all in for a totally new one bike to "do it all" I'd be torn between something a bit more 'monstercrossy/gravelish' and a Carbon 29er HT with a dropper and ~5" travel forks that can lock out...

Ive used my cross bike for everything if that counts?

Off road in the Chilterns is all rideable (if not the quickest downhill) on it, ive done road rides in groups (just choose the group carefully) and commuted on it.

But I do also have an MTB, commuter and road bike (and a fat bike and a SSCX/winter road/commuter thing but they're for sale).

I have a 1989 Kona Lavadome set up with drop bars on which I have in the last few years with just a change of tyres: Toured on the road in Canada, Alps and Pyrenees, bikepacked in Scotland, commuted, ridden DH tracks in Vermont, ridden blacks at various trail centres and done big MTB loops.

Admittedly it was better at some of that than others and not ideal for any of it but I enjoyed doing all of those things on it.

Current stable is:

Cannondale FSi carbon 29er hardtail
Santa Cruz Highball 29er hardtail
Bombtrack Audax 650 "adventure" road
1956 George Whitlow 531 tourer
1990 653 Cougar roadbike with d/t shifters

If someone said "you can only keep one" it would have to be the George Whitlow for sentimental reasons (it was my Dads), but then I'd be stuffed for most of my riding! Putting that aside, if I could only keep one for practical reasons, it would probably be the Highball.....

I do/did, (then fell off the wagon), but only if you define ‘all’ as a ‘compromise in all except compromise’

(With loop bars and 2x10) my ‘do it all’ is a Genesis Longitude MK1

Then it comes down to tyres. A lot depends on those. I keep three pairs of tyres to ‘do it all’

WTB Prowler SL (winter MTB)
Conti Race King Protection (summer, gravel, mixed, bikepacking, all-rounder)
35c Schwalbe Landcruiser (Road and gravel-touring

The Contis tend to live on there most of all. For me it’s a bother to often change tyres, and I tend to have bad luck pinching tubes in the process.

I thought about a second set of wider wheels to open up the 29+ option and keep shod with MTB tyres, but in the end it was (far) more economical to buy a 26er hardtail from classifieds and also a classic tourer from a retired bike-mechanic.

So £180 later, my one bike became three.

Now the Longitude sort of feels redundant (until I can get to go bikepacking with friends) as the touring bike is better, more comfortable, and much faster for all local lugging. The tourer is better of course, at road-touring and commuting. On 28c Marathons it flies over moderate gravel too, with room to go to 35c by the look of it

The hardtail is obviously better for fun in the woods etc.

So yeah, the ’compromise’ bike was useful until I saw opportunities that I could afford.

If (and I may have to)there is a need to go back to one bike then I’d really have to choose between the old tourer and the Longitude. This is because I customarily use a bike for transport and utility. MTBing for me is a luxury, whereas a doitall wasn’t. A rigid 29er is in my opinion the most adaptable bike.

During this current crisis my heart and arse seem to be getting set on the classic steel tourer. Never saw that coming. Just invested in some bar-tape, so it has to be serious!

I have one bike currently - its a road bike. Its not very good off road. It is soon to be replaced, it might be with a gravel bike but i think yiu get a lot more bike for your money with an xc 29er. Basically to get decent brakes on a gravel bike you like you need to spend £1.5k. That amount on a 29er gets you so much more.

A rigid 29er is IMO the most adaptable bike

I agree.

I've got a Longitude set up for fixed off road (yes, I know) just now but with gears I reckon I could happily do most things with it.

Rigid 29er here. To be honest it's the only bike of my 4 that I'm really riding. I'm still using one other but it's a cargo bike and that's only for running errands. Rigid 29er is getting ridden for fun local stuff, but it's also my only MTB

After having my 6 bikes stolen last summer, me!

So I have one bike, for all reasons. An all road (seems more fitting than gravel) bike.

*Technically I have a retro MTB project a friend gave me but it isn’t finished yet.