Forget how many you want or how many you own. From a purely logical and reasonable standpoint, given how much you ride and how many different types of riding you do - how many do you think you should own?
I say three. One for on-road use that's practical for picking up groceries and getting places, one for off road use - getting to more remote places, enjoying the outdoors in general etc, and one for exactly the type of riding you like best - whatever that is - and this third one would be the less compromise, all-you-can-afford 'dream bike'.
In reality, I have four and would like to be at six. Here are three of them, the fourth lives in the parkade (bar bike).
That way you have one while you are repairing the other.
I violate this rule but I am unreasonable. I like having a trashy SS commuter bike and a long travel FS as well a a short travel FS.
But I could happily live with a trashy geared hardtail and a long travel FS, using my hardtail for commuting and smooth rides and my FS for big technical rides and as a commuter back-up when the other bike it in service.
I have the first three. The commuter is something I would love to have, I just don't know if it would get enough use to justify it. Of course, now that I have the Necromancer, my HT may also be relegated to that very thing.
I think this is based on geography. For me, four would be nice. I'm missing the gravel bike to complete my collection.
- XC (racing) bike
- commuting bike / grocery getter (I actually have 2 commuters right now, one for summer and one for winter)
- gravel road bike
- road racing bike
Trail bike
Downhill bike
Dirt jumper
Road (or cross) bike
Townie / bar bike
I have couple more than this (singlespeed MTB, singlespeed road bike) but those first five I feel are important, and the other two are sort of superfluous (but still fun).
I've always targeted three for me (as others have pointed out, 1 road, 1 mountain, 1 for errands), but I like the OP's idea of the third bike being for the riding you like best. That actually might be my errand bike for me-- I spend a lot of time pulling the kids around town, or using it for short overnighters.
I was briefly thinking about thinning down to 2, but now I'm ballooning up to six. It's like a diet yo-yo.
I like the idea of combining as many types of riding into each bike as possible - I was at two for a while, an all-mountain bike that sufficed on any type of trail and a touring road bike that could do everything from road rides to light trail use, with braze-ons for anything. It was a very well rounded pair.
Made-to-look-cheap bar bikes are key, I agree with the sentiment that it needs to be nice enough to be enjoyable to ride. My upcoming bar bike is a de-badged Long Haul Trucker with a parts-bin build.
Also, I'm currently selling said touring bike to fund a Salsa Mukluk + a set of 29er wheels, so I can use it with anywhere from 32c to 4.7" tires to ride and tour every type of surface. It will be the everything-tourer.
Townie bike
Full sus trail bike (~140mm)
More hardcore AM bike (~160mm)
Hardtail trail bike (~120mm for winter and as backup)
Fancy road bike
Beater road bike (winter/backup)
CX bike
DH bike
So. Eight bikes. Damn that's a lot. I only have the first two!
The truly appropriate number is 3 mountain bikes.
2 is the bare minimum for consistent regular rides until one bike breaks.
1 is never perfect and induces extreme bike anxiety.
Roadies add 1 road bike.
5 bikes total is too many, one will always be abandoned.
1 do everything full suspension.. (my mojo HD)
2 road bike
3 hardtail light 29er for racing
4 downhill/freeride
right now, I make the best of what I can with the Mojo HD, for racing I switch tires and forks, and same for DH and freeride. I have a road bike. It'd be nice to ad a xc racer, and a DH rig to my stable....
2.a commuter - because everyone who can should bike to work, simply because if your lucky enough to have an excuse to ride everyday you should. =p
3.secondary discipline aka the fun bike. Single speed, DH sled for parks, trials, BMX ect.
I think personal think anything more then that gets to expense in initial purches and upkeep.
I have my little AM monster, which i do all my riding on. Im getting a commuter in a month or so, and i have been looking for a Bike park DH sled for a while.
HT 29er , wouldn't sell for nostalgic reasons
Old HT 26", now commuter/lender
Road bike..not sure I'll ever ride it, but I bought it cheap
( gave away another 26" HT to a deserving fellow sothe bike storage area looks less over-the-top)
(near future purchases...)
FS 26" all-purpose
Fat Tire bike cuz I live in the frozen tundra and I don't want to wait until June to ride again
Wonder when the Hubs is going to stop turning a blind eye to my bike habit...
Several theories can be applied.
1) You can only ride 1 bike at a time so 1 is sufficient
2) 1 bike for every discipline I ride
3) 7 days in a week, so a different bike for each day
4) 1 bike for every discipline I ride with a backup bike for each
5) I ride a bike everyday and I never ride the same bike within a month
6) I'm a collector
7) I'm an obsessive wack job who likes to build bikes as much as I do riding them
The list goes on. Im sure I missed some. Its all good.
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