How Many Bikes Is Too Many?
My son is fast approaching the age when everything dad does will be completely uncool. He's close now, but not quite there yet, and I can see it playing out when he has friends over. They'll be standing in our garage, looking around and see all my bikes (four) hanging up on our walls and ask with some amazement. . . "Why does your dad have so many bikes?"
He can still answer without too much embarassment that the one with the fenders is the one he uses for riding to work, that one is his road bike for going fast, that's his mountain bike . . . " and so on. But somewhere deep in his mind I can just tell the question is brewing: Is my dad (gasp) weird?
Well, the answer is probably "yes" in the way that we're all kinda weird in our own lovable ways, but to the point at hand, I think the number of bikes I have is about right as I ride all four of them regularly, so it's not that they sit idle.
But it made me want to pose the question to you (especially as I still see other bikes that I like and would think about buying if the spouse were not opposed, money no object, etc., etc):
How many bikes is too many? What do you think? Comment below.
Comments
If you enjoy cycling and like bikes then there really is no such thing as too many especially since it costs next to nothing keep a bike, not like you have to buy batteries or insurance or tags. As a hobby I enjoy restoring old bikes, have 26 right now.
If you own Ritchey’s one can never own enough!!
Help your son by giving him questions he can ask his friends such as:
Does your Dad hunt? If so how many guns does he have?
Does your Dad play golf? How many clubs does he have?
Does your Dad fish? How many poles and lures does he have?
I think you get the idea.
Instead of letting his friends make him think something is wierd, put it into some sort of perspective that they can relate to.
When it comes to bikes, you “can” have too many…even a Ritchey. However, you seem to have the right amount seeing as you ride them all on a regular basis.
HUMMMM, tooo many bikes…
I do not speak your language…
Seriously, I mitigate my son’s embarrassment by fixing all of his friends bikes. Now, I’m cool not weird. The boys (my son and his friends) just got old enough that they can join me on various rides. I have road rides for some groups of my sons friends and MTB rides for another other. I no longer have too many bikes. I have cool bikes and get to spend time with my son at a point in his life were it would be expected that he would think I am weird.
I enjoy reading your stuff… keep it up.
{editor’s note – I have 6 (4 – I ride regularly)}
Happy Holidays
Talk to any avid cyclist and you will discover they own several bikes. I, myself own 2 road bikes, 1 touring, 1 mountain, 1 communter and 1 fixed. (And none of these are department store bikes!) I ride them all, based on the type of riding I am doing. Presently, my Grandson, the athlete, is currently using my 2 road bikes for cross training purposes. 1 is on the trainer and the other for road riding. As soon as he out grows them, the road bikes will be back in my garage. Happy tail winds!
i live in a 2 bedroom walk-up and have 13 bikes hanging from hooks in my apartment…a true cyclist has a bike for EVERY type of ride…climbing road, time trial, winter road, beater, cyclocross, mountain hardtail, mountain dualie, retro fixed, track bike, collector bike, guest road, retro road, project bike…etc…not to mention the unbuilt frames…it never ends
I live in 2 cities. In city #1, I have a road bike, commuter bike, winter beater, and a restored Schwinn. In city #2, I have a road bike, a single speed commuter, and a restored 70’s French road bike. I keep track of my mileage and bike, and they all get ridden. The winter beater and the Schwinn see the least action, but I even got 300 miles in on the Schwinn in 2008. I could easily see having 3-4 more bikes – a single speed in city #1 and mountain bikes in both.
I believe the correct answer to this question is one more than you currently own. In other words, if you own six, the correct number is seven. If you own ten, the correct number is eleven. And so on… I don’t know that there is any therapy for “too many bikes”, so it must not be a problem.
I think as long as you have the room, 50-100 is enough. Any more is just silly.
After reviewing all the previous comments, I don’t feel weird anymore.
Keep riding them all in ‘09
I have three bikes for riding. Trek Discovery Channel, Trek MBK, Restored Ernie Clement’s Falcon and I ride all of them. A lot of riding in my studio on Japanese rollers in this freezing weather on my Atlantic cliff with an easterly gale !!! I’ve made a track for the MBK on my place. I’ve given two bikes away but sadly haven’t produced another cyclist and I have no local riding companions.
I am located on the South East Corner of Ireland and a 75year old Vet. Any suggestions??
“you never have enough bikes “toys”
Since I am only a beginner commuter, I have only one bike at the moment, which is a 33 year old Sears and Roebuck 18 speed. The poor thing was left abandoned in my sister and brother-in-laws front yard.
In the next couple of months or so, I plan to buy a newer bike. I’m leaning mostly towards the Jamis Allegro I, but have not made any definite choice as of yet. When I get the newer bike, I’ll be keeping the S&R to use as a back-up, just in case. It’s a crappy bike and is murder on my knees, but for some reason I love the d*mn thing.
My opinion is that two is fine for the basic commuter like myself but three would be even better. I’d like a road bike for fun, a hybrid for commuting, and of course a back-up. Since you’re probably a more involved cyclist than what I am, I’d say having all four are fine, you could probably even get up to five or six without an issue. And of course, You could always use the excuse that you’ll pass a couple of the fixer-uppers down to your son when the time is right to help teach him the basics.
Further to my previous comment Vet. means a veteran cyclist.I have one more cycle to restore.I am in fact a sculptor.
Happy cycling in 2009 to everyone on the Blog.