In the perfect number of bikes REALLY always N+1?

AS title, is it always really the case??
I've got the grand total of 3 bikes..
X bike thats used as my commuting bike (so would always want to have this, or one like it for keeps), and will hapilly use this as a road bike if the guys decide to go for a road ride of a weekend…
I used to have a Yeti 575 that Was sold as IMO 5.75" of travel isn't needed in the UK (unless you're in Scotland _ and i'm about 300+ miles south of there..), and this was replaced by a SC superlight. Fantastic bike – fast, nible and perfect for the sort of riding that I do (either local – so Dorking, or for little jaunts out to the Welsh trail centers)
Other bike is a Trek 8500 hardtail. The first time I used it in about a year was last weekend for a ride in the snow. It was great fun, but its got me thinking.. – is there really any point in having this sitting around when the SL is more then the best tool for the job for ALL of the riding I currently do..
Kind of undecided as to whether I should get rid, or keep it, just for the sake of having another bike… (its not a bad spec, but not as good as the SL!)
So,I guess it's over to you guys – how do you find the time to ride x number of bikes?? – It's true what one of my best mates said – why would you ever pick the lesser spec hardtail, over a full XTR short-travel full-sus?

Personally, I wouldn't have admitted to owning the Trek.

1 xc full susser good for everything I ride but typically not ridden locally unless the trails are reasonably dry
2 singlespeed for local riding so cleaning is easy and wear is low
3 hartail used mainly for commuting and baby seat carrying but occassionally offroad
4 Cx bike also used as winter road bike
5 good road bike which is noticeably faster and nicer to ride than the cx bike on the road

I also have spare full sus and ss frames for some variety

all do different jobs so it's good having them all.

Kiwijohn – your opinion, and you're entitled to that, but I personally think its a good bike, and what got me into the whole MTB thing! 😀
Clubber – interesting you say that – I'd probably get more use out of a proper road bike than the hardtail…

I regularly pick my lesser spec hardtail over the xtr short-travel full sus. It's more fun. But there are times when I couldn't do without the FS.
n+1 is always, always correct.

There are a great many advantages to simplicity. More money is one of them. Just sell the hardtail if you don't ride it. If you really find yourself pining for something else, then, hey, you've got room in your garage now!

I've just slimmed the collection down massively to bikes that I "Need"
1. very light scanduim 29er ss (put all my niches in one bike)
2. 5" oingly boingly bike for riding propper mountains
3. Voodoo hardtail for twatting about and family duties (sits on turbo trainer alot with a TT tyre on it as well)

Have got rid of:
a monter psyco animal of a bike
a super bling lighweight race frame
a steel singlespeed 26"
a steel singlespeed 29"
a lightweight enduro boingy race frame

my garage now seems empty I can feel a new project comming on 😀

N minus 1 for me, but which one to lose is the impossible question!

I've got five though, all MTBs.

You have a commuting bike, so that doesn;t really count, and two MTBs.

You need two MTBs because one might not be working at any given time.

So your ideal number of bikes is N.

I'm paring mine down too

Currently stands at:

Keepers:
Orange ST4 full bounce
Kona Jake the Snake Cross/Commute bike

Selling:
SS cheap Jump Bike
Cannondale Badboy flat bared 26" slick commuter
Merlin Malt frame (may keep to build SS flat bar HT)

ss cx bike – commuting/winter road bike.
good road bike – races/events
ss 29er – anything off road really, put gears on sometimes
light 29er – races/events
wouldn't really want to lose any of these and don't want another. if i didn't do any racing i could handle just one mtb one road bike.

I'm no good.
Intense Uzzi SLX '02 – love this bike does everything I want when riding with the kids
Intense Tazer HT '03 – great little fun bike to have
Intense M1 '00 – thinking about selling it but love the looks
Intense Sniper Cruiser '09 – Going down the shops bike
Intense 6.6 '09 – Cyclescheme to thank for that!
Tomac Buckshot – SS project for Thetford forest
Marin Team FRS '95 – Retro is increasing in value!
Marin Palisades Trail '91 – the first proper mountain bike that started me off!
Would love a '92 Marin Pine Mountain as that was my first race bike!!!

I reckon 5 is the ideal balance, so this is how my fleet pans out:

All mountain/trail full-suss (S-works Enduro)
Fast XC full-suss (Epic)
All mountain/trail hardtail (Soul)
Fast XC hardtail (Van Nicholas Zion)
General hack/commuter/cheap bike (rigid Inbred)

I'm going N-2 for space reasons (small one-bed 2nd-floor flat). I need a commuter hack as it's my main mode of transport anywhere, and I can justify keeping the mtb for weekends with mates. I've really loved playing on the Singlecross this winter but it and the road bike are going to have to be rehomed. I'm quite sad about it.

No.

I've now got too many bikes.

Full Sus – Mojo
Hardtail – IF
29er – Mamasita
SS – Airborne
SS – ti29er
Road – Genesis (new)

I'm going to have to sell one of the SS, but can't bear to part with the Airborne (as i love the frame) but I prefer the ride of the ti29er.

ive just sold my roadrat so down to 1!! cotic soul. plans to remedy that in the spring…

1 x Cotic soul- do most things hardtail
1 x Dialled Bikes Alpine with Zocchi 66's on it for buggering about
1 x 5" full susser – do anything bike
1 x Carbon road bike – commute mainly

Always fancy a fully rigid SS for local blast but that would go down like a pork sausage in a synagogue with Mrs Chuck

See – this is my point – guys with 5 / 6 or even 7 bikes..
How on earth do you have the time to ride them all /decide which one to ride on a given day?
If I were to get rid of the trek, I'd only end up keeping the frame for in a few years anyhow…

1 x Carbon road bike – commute mainly

No offence, but that just strikes me as a bit silly.

Always forgetting how many bikes I have..

3 bmxs (one track, one park (read: bling), one spare that can do a bit of both)

1 hardtail, chameleon. Used for everything off road.

1 road bike, cheapo decathlon, used for everything on road (commuting, road riding, even a bit of time trialling)

1 unicycle. No explanation needed.

Yet I feel like I'm forgetting something..

I used to ride them all but that was when I had time. These days I don't ride so much so some bikes don't get ridden much but so what? They get ridden when the occassion suits.

As to how to choose, well how do you choose which t-shirt to wear on any given day?

As to how to choose, well how do you choose which t-shirt to wear on any given day?

Whichever is on top of the pile, of course.

I suppose that could be the answer for bikes too 🙂

Oops

1. SS 29er fully rigid
2. Fixed for getting around the city quickly and for fun
3. Geared road bike that was intended for long rides, but the fixed gets used for those too
4. Old town bike for casual riding
5. Beach cruiser, because it's so much fun with the coaster brake!
6. Shitty MTB that I keep in Ireland for when I go over for only a few days

1 x FS for long days in the Mountains and Enduro races
1 x Track Bike for Strength / Winter riding
1 x CX for commuting and towing the nipper behind (also CX races when they pop up)
1 x 1990’s Colnago Low Pro

So, still wanting a Lightweigh HT for shorter races, 1 road bike for going out with the Road Rats

Wife has
1 x Carbon Road Bike
1 x FS Juliana

She wants a BMX next….

n+1 all the way

I've given up trying to justify bikes or apply logic to what I have. I'm resigned to just trying to enjoy the journey 😉

Currently got

5" FS
Alfined HT
Carbon Roadie
Flat Bar alu/carbon roadie (currently with CX tyres)

Thinking of chopping in the flat bar for a proper CX bike. But now the car's dead I think I'm going to need a hack bike so I can comfortably leave a bike in town. So for me it's N-1, then N+1, then N+1 again 🙂

5 bikes is going to test the storage though, as I live in a 2 bed flat.

Alex – Premier Member

I've given up trying to justify bikes or apply logic to what I have. I'm resigned to just trying to enjoy the journey

It's a disease called BAS bicycle acquisition syndrome. I have got it nearly as bad some others on here.

1) Small SC bullit with massive front forks and huge brakes fro big bumps and gravity and jumping ..

2) Medium SC bullit with carbon triple cranks carbon forks light wheels for very bumpy xc.

3) Mountian Cycles Battery with massive forks and massive brakes for the same as the SC bullit – why I need two bikes for one job I dont know..

4) 456 for longer xc

5) 1992 Spesh Rockhopper – the commuting/towing vehicle baby seat and trailer mudguards lights.

6) Pinarrello road bike (steel)

7) We the People Unfied Cruiser for dreaming about being better at jumping.

8 ) Robinson Ruckus BMX

9) Falcon Racer converted to fixed (work in progress)

10) Motebecane 60s racer – why, just looks nice.

HAve sold all my old school bmx's jsut to stop things from being excessive..

The most I had was 3 bikes once:

Stumpy FSR
Patriot for FR/DH duties
Scott Speedster Road bike.

Sold the Scott after nearly being killed on the road too many times. Then sold the other 2 and got an Orange Alpine. It does the lot with a lot less clutter. And I hate clutter. I'd like another all mountain bike for when mines in for a service, but I can't really justify that 😕

Just ordered my 7th.

4" full sus for general riding, enduros etc.
Light hardtail for when I fancy riding a hardtail
SS
Old road bike, winter/bad weather/turbo
Carbon road bike for good weather, big events
Cheap commuter with rack and full guards

Just ordered a track/fixed bike for some outdoor velodrome stuff, some general riding around stuff (it has a brake). Mainly because the bike to work scheme was too good an offer.

I don't really need the hardtail or the fixed.

– Super bling XC FS race bike
– Relatively bling carbon hardtail 'winter' bike
– Bling carbon road bike
– Winter training road bike

Would quite like a longer travel bike for trail centres and stuff when I don't want to use the race bike. May get a frame/fork and swap kit off the winter bike when the time comes!

Also want a new road bike, as the Madone is getting rather long in the tooth.

Ti456- general do all bike
Inbred ss- winter hack
Merida road bike- commute (rare) and turbo
Felt sector – bmx- when I want to keep my lad company down the race track (although I never see him cos I'm too slow!)

Did have full sus but 456 covers all of that for me with less maintenance required.

I have only one bike. My life is dull and cheap.

i thought that n+1 was true, but i've achieved satisfaction with 7.

1)full bounce xc bike
2)steel singlespeed
3)Dh thing with granny gear – f'pedlin oopills.
4)trailstar playbike
5)bmx cruiser
6)road bike
7)commuter

(i could probably lose 2 and 4, 6 and 7 could turn into 1 planet x kaffenback)

1. Hard tail mountain bike.

2. Hybrid commuting bike.

3. Nice road bike.

4. Singlespeed commuter being built up because I had an old frame sitting doing nothing.

5. Dirt cheap crappy bike indoors and hooked up to turbo.

I'm in the market for a full suss bike and cross bike. I don't actually need all those bikes, but it's my main hobby and they do all get ridden. And a couple of them were bought just because the government lets me get them for half price on the bike to work scheme.

1. ex MTB for road/town/commute
2. 5" FS primary MTB
3. HT as backup and winter MTB

currently happy with my set up as is dunno how long that will last tho as ive said that before lol.

Currently got turner five spot, ragley blue pig, sabbath september ti roadbike , surly crosscheck and surly karate monkey 29er. Road bike has guards and rack and cx takes guards rack and can be geared or ss and use up to 1.8 29er tyres for the monster cross feel 🙂 and the monkey can be run ss or geared so a nice mix i think 🙂

The sensible person who knows what he likes, and has the kit to suit, his perfect number of bikes is N…

For the rest of us, those who are less than sensible (christ, MTBing has got to be one of the least sensible sports going right!), those of us that are honest with ourselves about wanting more material goods despite what we're told… Correct answer is always N+1…

I've given up trying to justify bikes or apply logic to what I have.

Good. You'd go insane otherwise. 😉

I just need one more bike now, a very posh and fast roadbike and then I'm done. Honest.

I would like to own more bikes but thinking about it more paractically I could probably own less.

1 – commuter – ridden every day
2 – hardtail – night rides + winter weekends
3 – full suss – summer weekends, races etc.
4 – winter road bike – was ridden a lot but likely to be retired
5 – nice new road bike – not ridden yet but probably weekly

I would always keep the first two, the full suss might be replaced with a nice hardtail but I like having a posh mountainbike for bigger days out and racing and a cheaper one that I ride more but clean less (currently singlespeed). I like having a road bike. The only reason I have a winter road bike is because I would get virtually nothing for it if I sold it. I don't ride on the road much during winter so I could happily live with one and the extra cost in maintenance.

It depends on how much you ride as to how you justify the number. I ride 5 days a week to work and occasionally to the shops at weekends. I ride Thursday nights off road. I try to ride at least one day at the weekend, two if I'm lucky in summer usually alternate MTb or Road depending on mood. I also do a mid week road ride in the evening when the days are longer.

Money/space aside, I could never have enough bikes.

As it is, I have two in working order (hardtail, cruiser), three in varying degrees of build-up (hardtail x2, BMX racer) and a few frames lying around.