Does anyone exist on one MTB?

I have always tried to keep at least 2 MTBs on the road at any one time “just in case” but since I now have a CX bike in my shed, having 2 mtbs seems like overkill. Part of me thinks 2 is just unnecessary and one really well specced bike would be all I need while another says that that it’s all very well but if my one bike was off the road for any reason, I ‘d be stuffed if i wanted to do anything more adventurous.

Space isn’t really an issue.

One bike might be cheaper to keep in top nick and I could always use the CX if it needed tlc.

There are many arguments for and against, I just wondered what other folks do.

i ride with only 1 bike. a dh bike BUT i am looking into getting a city bike as its impossible to ride mine other than down hill lol

so no i think if your a xc rider its definatly possible. even more when you have a ht.

I’ve got one MTB, but I’ve also got 2 road bikes and a CX singlespeed, used for Commuting. I easily cope with one MTB, I don’t do enough to justify a second one

my gt avalanche does me for everything, trails, commuting etc, i’d like another 2 bikes mind, road bike and an some sort of light xc full sus effort, but beer kinda stops me buying them so…

I don’t do enough to justify a second one

I can gurantee I “do” less than you.

I have 6.

Absolutely

I have one bike, a little Giant STP hardtail. I have a stupid long seatpost for when I’m XCing, drop the saddle for bmx tracks dirt jumps etc and spare wheels with road tyres on for riding to work.

Never been able to justify another bike as it does everything i need and is good at it, never feel compromised.

6?? what are they? why you have so many?

Just one MTB. Giant XTC custom build, XT/XTR world cups, hopes etc. Light enough to race but strong enough for trail and everyday use.
I am mindfull to have spares ready or to buy before bits go.

Without a doubt.

I have a Cove Handjob with Pace RC31’s and full XT so I am xc biased. I have a spare set of wheels with 26 x 1.0 tyres on and I commute 120 miles per week for 30 weeks of the year on the same bike.

It does everything that I want and never lets me down.

Now that I ride less than I ever have, I have more fully functioning bikes than ever. They do all still get used, just not very much 🙁

(SS, geared bike, second old geared bike, road bike, cx bike)

it is, but not for long!

I’ve had spells of one bike – initially mechanical failure might mean a bit of downtime. I was racing XC and it would usually be in less than great shape for racing.

I’ve slowly progressed to now having 5 bikes.

* Single speed mtb for winter use and summer hacks
* geared hardtail mtb set up as a bit of a racer, for, well, racing
* singlespeed road bike/cx mainly for winter road training & a bit of fun in the summer
* nice road bike for sring/summer/autumn riding & racing
* commuter/pub – mainly made of worn rejects off the other bikes 🙂

I’ve found as the years go by I prefer specific tools for the job rather than a jack of all trades – e.g. i like the similicity and low maintenance/cheap to fix of the ss bikes in winter. I like the speed of the road bike. I like a geared mtb for going fast off road/competition.

possible additions might be a dh bike, but lack of time at the moment means it wouldn’t get used much… though I would like to 🙂

I have one bike, I manage. A second would be nice but a luxury for me. Cannot afford luxuries right now. Commute on it (off-road mostly) five days a week, ride it at the weekend, did some touring on it last year.

FYI it’s a Specialized Stumpjumper

On-One Scandal, slot drop out so I can run geared or SS, it’s all the MTB I need.

no

Only one bike here! I use my Mount Vision for everything including commuting. I’d love a second bike, (a carbon hardtail) but without a garage, I dont really have the space and I aint leaving a bike in a shed in Manchester. That said, I really dont feel comprimised with my one bike, it does everything I want just fine.

I considering trying to get through this year with just one bike.
So far I am doing the following events…

The Welsh Ride Thing
LEJOG
Mayhem
Trans Provence
Coast to Coast

Might enter Trans Wales, Bonty and some others, but giving uplifts a miss.

Think a Ti hardtail should be ok for most but TP makes me think I’ll need to keep/buy another.

Of course you can. Although those who turn their noses up at people riding Trail X “over biked”, evidently have a choice of 6 for every riding occasion 😀

I’m (a little) ashamed to say at present I have 11 and 2 more are been built as we speak … I wonder if I perhaps have a slight problem. I don’t even own a full suspension bike FFS 😉

n+1 baby!

Would you expect a chief to cook with one saucepan?
Would you expect a carpenter to work with one chisel?
Would you expect a rock and roll star to to be addicted to just one drug?

No and neither should any cyclist be expected to live with just one bike.

@TheBrick

There are 2 x road bikes and a CX bike in the shed too so I would only be running one MTB.

>Would you expect a carpenter to work with one chisel?<

Ever seen two chisels being used at the same time? Thought not…

Collecting and mtb can be two entirely different things.

I don’t know if n+1 works, due to the law of diminishing returns. I have three MTB (SS, HT and FS) but am ditching the SS to get a CX to commute on. I also have a thing for acronyms.

I currently have two mountain bikes (a rigid singlespeed for round town, quick blasts, red trail centre routes and muddy rides) and a full-sus for XC racing, remote rides, and anywhere I think a rigid singlespeed would struggle. I could get by with one, but I’d be chewing through drivetrains, and the forks would need serviced far more quickly on the FS. I can also wash the singlespeed in about a third of the time it takes to clean out the suspension bits and gears on the full-sus, and I’m slightly less worried about leaving the singlespeed chained up to railings. I’d say that on average, the singlespeed gets ridden 2-3 times a week at the moment, and the full-sus goes out once every 3 weeks (more in the summer).

However, if I had a CX bike, I could probably get away without the singlespeed. I’ll get shot down in flames for this, but I do think that too many bikes can be a disadvantage, and just means that you have far more work to do to keep them running. If you head out on one bike on Monday night, and the other on Tuesday for example, and discover that the front brake rubs slightly on both, you now have two bikes to fettle with on Wednesday.

Back to the original question, if you have a middleground MTB (do it all hardtail or full sus) and just ride it at weekends, I reckon you could happily get away with one bike, provided you aren’t using it for everything from XC racing to downhill.

I had a xc hardtail before as my only bike. The problem for me was that having one bike I wanted it to have nice bits, but than commuting and riding around town on a nice bike would mean I would probably have something stolen off it when it would be locked up.

Currently have:
1. XC full suspension that will be swapped for a XC hardtail soon.
2. Road bike
3. Winter commuter/hack/pub bike to save the road bike.

I’ll be riding to work on my road bike when the weather improves but still use the hack to go to uni.

Perfect balance for me. Probably would do with a CX bike as well. However space does not allow to add no.4 to the collection.

My OH’s brother has a road bike and a nice full suss race bike, he used to have a road bike, fixie, dirt jump bike and a good hardtail. Now down to 2 bikes but with much nicer mtb. He misses his fixie though.

I wish I could…

My Wotan forked Wolf Ridge is a bit of a beast so I’ve resurrected my 2004 Enduro, built up in a skinny XC guise for long distance rides. It’s surprisingly capable as a commuter bike too.

Similar to CP

* Single speed / internal hub hardtail mtb for winter use and summer hacks
* geared full suss mtb set up as
* singlespeed cx mainly for winter commuting & a bit of fun in the summer
* nice road bike for spring/summer/autumn riding & sportives

I tried to live a 1 bike life but it wasn’t a 1 size fit all and after 20 years of bikes I’ve settled on the ones I need love the most.

Can man (or woman) survive on one bike alone?

Once upon a time, that was the plan….honest

I could cope with 2 – an XC-ish hardtail and a DH/FRish full sus. The SS and the hardcore HT are both toys, depite being loads of fun.

That’s on top of a commuter and a “proper” road bike though…

but since I now have a CX bike in my shed, having 2 mtbs seems like overkill

having 1 MTB and 1 CX bike does NOT count as having 1 bike.

even if you had a perfectly balanced MTB, the true jack of all trades and suprisingly not that shabby at any of them (mine would be a soul), would you then ride it into town and leave it locked up outside wetherspoons?

so 1 bike…. and a beater.
and if youve got 2, you might as well have 4!

Ideally it would be thus:

160mm skill compensator full susser
120mm all day XC full susser
Racey 100mm hardtail
Loony steel 140mm hardtail
Road bike
Pub bike

However my pockets aren’t quite deep enough…

Err no, my 5th ordered and on its way and could probably build a 6th from all the bits lying around! 😀

Yes, most definately. I used to when i was a teenager and was just as happy with my riding as i am now with 10+ bikes. Maybe happier in some ways as it was less ‘about the bike’. bike obsession is not what we ride for, it’s a by-product of loving riding combined with the less appealing effect of consumerism.

now, i’m builing my one-bike for all and trying to get back to that more zen state of riding ) it seems to have become a very expensive process though. damn that consumerism, as well as thanks for giving me the choice..

“so 1 bike…. and a beater.” – probably the most perfect solution.

Can man (or woman) survive on one bike alone?

Of course not, metal and rubber have zero nutritional value……….

Sorry, someone had to.

Seriously, no. I’m on 5 at the moment:
1) Rigid SS for winter
2) Summer hardtail, also SS because I got used to riding SS on the winter bike.
3) Bouncy bike, 140mm both ends and used a handful of times a year at trail centres, mainly in the dry so not likely to wear out expensive parts too soon.
4) Road bike for summer blasts down the beach and back.
5) Commuter and winter training bike – MTB on slicks, SS but higher ratio than the off-roaders.

I’ll let you know if I don’t get a job in the next few months, which might then be followed by – can man survive on no bikes only?

And as someone else pointed out – 1 bike of 1 type and 1 bike of another ISN’T surviving on 1 bike.

i should add that i could survive on one bike, but it would have 2 drivetrain options and 2 sets of wheels.. maybe 2 different bars, ie spares for the odd trip.

i’m gonna call it a ‘trigger’s broom’ bike

I only ride one bike (a 100mm hardtail).

I get out on it two or three times a week usually, although snow, illness and xmas basically killed riding in December. Technically I do own more than one bike, but the other one is 14 years old and in bits in two cardboard boxes. I’d like to own more than one ridable bike, but I can’t justify the cost at the moment. 🙁

Be eco and have just 1

I have a XC race bike and CX bike.

The CX gets used on the turbo trainer, for commuting, road training rides, and CX racing.

The XC gets used for all off road rides.

Ideally I’d like a 29 rigid Afline bike for general off road use so I could “save” the race bike for racing. However at the moment I just change wheels on the MTB to race or play depending on the ride.

I concur, 1 is not enough! Whilst my early cycling career (on shelf stacking and bar job wages) was limited to one bike…a 10 speed road bike for my 16th birthday, now that I have a little bit more disposable income (and a bike infatuation problem) I’m up to 4.

1) 140mm full suspension, ride everything MTB which I have used for everything from trail centre thrashes to C2C last Easter
2) SS 29er, built for winter but also used for commuting in snow and actually used in preference to the FS sometimes as it’s just so much fun.
3) Steel framed, Campag clad retro road bike…that can hold it’s head up with any of the carbon framed roadie boys round here!
4) Steel framed, fixed wheel road bike/pub bike/bit of fun…that used to be the 10 speed road bike of my youth.

I’ve got 1 bike…always have done, always will – really don’t see the need for more than 1 bike – I can only ride 1 at a time so having the other(s) sitting in the garage collecting dust would seem an utter waste to me.

Saying that, I do still have my Pace but it never gets used and just sits there for nostalgia…I just bring myself to sell the frame…it never gets used…might sell the parts and put the frame on the wall…