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).
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 correct answer is n+1; there is no such thing as a practical limit to the number of bikes you should have, it's simply a limit of your current situation. Just because you don't have the money or room for another bike doesn't mean you don't need another one!
Let's see, my garage currently looks like this:
FS 170 trail bike
SS HT
DJ HT
Cruiser
CX
First hand built frame: CX
Wife's FS 140mm
Wife's cruiser
Random WalSchwinn (in case of company needing to ride to dinner with us)
Need:
Wife FS 170mm (will likely replace 140mm)
DH bike, probably 2
To learn to fillet braze, build 650b AM HT
Wife should have a HT
If velodrome finally gets funding: 2 track bikes
Near future: kid's bike(s)
If I ever get to get a new house, I'm going to need a garage bay for bikes and bike building.
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.
Owning a single bike is infinitely better than owning none. Any number of bikes beyond the first, though rewarding and favorable, is relatively insignificant.
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.
I have currently three bikes - a 160mm FS 650b AM bike, a 650b trail-rated hardtail for bad weather and easy rides with wifey, and a 20" unicycle in the office. The unicycle is a loaner from a colleague and it is by far the most difficult one to ride.
29" hardtail for xc racing
Fatbike for the winter
Cross bike for dirt road rides, cross races, and rides where I want to combine some road and singletrack
Race road bike
Fixie commuter
So I guess five bikes would completely suit just about all of my needs. A DH bike would be fun and all, but I don't exactly live near anywhere with the elevation required for that.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Mountain Bike Reviews Forum
15.4M posts
515.2K members
Since 1990
A forum community dedicated to Mountain Bike owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about bike parts, components, deals, performance, modifications, classifieds, trails, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!