Yeah, I know that I have too many bikes right now. In addition to the eight bikes shown here, I have 4 complete framesets and several wheelsets and other large items that are just taking up space at my house. I have been going through my bike room the last week or so and organizing what I want to sell. Some of the items in the sell and donate piles are pretty easy to part with, like the old Trek frame that I have on eBay right now. Others won’t be so easy to let go, like the 1984 Pinarello track bike that I have owned for 20 years. Still, I don’t need 3 fixed gear bikes and that frame is a little small for me, so it has to go. I don’t live near a velodrome, so I would rather have a practical fixed gear/ singlespeed for the road with water bottle mounts and a rear brake bridge than a true track bike.
I am going to pare down to 6 bikes that I want to keep based on the different types of riding I do. That is still a lot, but this is my list of bikes to keep. Your list may vary, but these are my must have bikes (for now at least).
1. A good road bike, currently my Specialized S-Works E5
2. A commuter road bike, I ride my yellow Cannondale CAAD 4 to work most days
3. A full suspension mountain bike, currently my K2 Razorback
4. A cyclocross bike, I love to ride my Trek cross bike on easy trails and dirt roads
5. A fixed gear road bike, for fun rides and short trips plus occasional rides to work. I have to keep one fixed gear.
6. A rigid singlespeed mountain bike, this one barely makes the list, but I enjoy riding the singlespeed Cannondale with my kids. To me it is like an overgrown BMX bike. (Note from the picture that you don’t always need a chain tensioner to run a single gear on a frame with vertical dropouts. Sometimes you can play with the chainwheel/ cog combination to make it work).
Ok, that is about it. I am sure someone will point out that owning 6 to 8 bikes is excessive and that I am a typical materialistic consumer (I am basing that assumption on similar comments I have received in the past). While it is true that I don’t NEED 6 bikes, those are the ones I want to keep. I love bikes, so I won’t apologize for wanting several of them. Besides riding a bike beats driving everywhere, right?
So, what about you? I’m just curious how many different types of bike all of you have or want. Let me know the number and types of bikes that you own (or want to own).
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