Living Car Free - Are bicycles crowding you out?

Boy, some of you guys sure get carried away. You're kind of like the photography bugs who aren't happy until they own every kind of camera ever made. The owning is more important than the actual taking of pictures. Why don't you just simplify and concentrate on one good bike of each type that you actually need.

One reason to have extra bikes is to accomodate friends who want to ride with you. For example, I keep bikes at my house for my stepson and our best friend. Some of my best rides are with them.

Boy, some of you guys sure get carried away. You're kind of like the photography bugs who aren't happy until they own every kind of camera ever made. The owning is more important than the actual taking of pictures. Why don't you just simplify and concentrate on one good bike of each type that you actually need.

Ok...I will tell people to stop giving me free bikes that I can fix up (and use the others for parts) to give to people that otherwise wouldn't have a bike.

FWIW of the 30+ bikes I have I only purchased 7 of them, the rest were given or inherited. All of my bikes get ridden on a fairly regular basis, that would be 6 of them.

BTW many of the bikes I have were rescued from the dump, landfill or scrap bins (http://2whls3spds.blogspot.com/2008/07/teaser.html).

Aaron:)

Boy, some of you guys sure get carried away. You're kind of like the photography bugs who aren't happy until they own every kind of camera ever made. The owning is more important than the actual taking of pictures. Why don't you just simplify and concentrate on one good bike of each type that you actually need.

Good reasons:
1) If you have a couple of bikes available, losing a bottom bracket on your commuter won't see you traveling by bus for a week.
2) Having a couple of iffy bikes lying around gives you a chance to learn how to repair bicycles without the danger of having your commuter out of commission for a week because you foobarred a repair.
3) Like wahoonc, I like to give them away, too. Recently I gave a nice old Fuji to my son and he really liked it.
4) Last, but not least, I like to admire bikes, especially if they are a little unusual. Nice ridable works of art.

I myself Im happy to say that I am now a proud owner of a used Rocky mountain Fusion, which I plan to repair, upgrade some parts, as well as slap an xtracycle onto it! In total, that sums me up to 2 electra townies (one is electric), as well as a used folder, which is a raleigh twenty which I also plan to fix up this summer.

Like my roommate says, The best Equation for the number of bikes you should own is N+1

:D

I'm actually totally, 100% car free, but I still get along just fine with one bike. I did have 4 road bikes at the same time once, for a few months more than a decade ago. I blame the internet and newsgroups for that. But I quickly regained my senses and I sold 2 of them. My next life simplification may be getting rid of the internet :-)

Boy, some of you guys sure get carried away. You're kind of like the photography bugs who aren't happy until they own every kind of camera ever made. The owning is more important than the actual taking of pictures. Why don't you just simplify and concentrate on one good bike of each type that you actually need.

It is necessary to have multiple bikes when the bike is your primary mode of transportation. Having to use the bus when your "only" bike is out-of-service is not something that feels good to say the least. I am even thinking of getting a 3rd bike since it is quite stressful when one of the bikes is out-of-service and you don't know if the 2nd one is going bust as well. I feel that for every period of downtime a bike of mine has, I need 2 bikes as a back-up while I fix the problem on the out-of-service bike. In addition, it is good to have multiple bikes if lets say my relatives from Russia come to Toronto for a visit and I want to take them for a ride on a trail.

I've just got two bikes. There's my good bike, which I use from mid-March until the end of November (more or less, depending on when the snow is gone) and a winter beater for snowy conditions or if the good bike needs serious work.

I wouldn't mind acquiring one or more additional used bikes to fix up and then give or sell to someone who needs one.

Just an FYI...I had 2 more bikes go out of here over the weekend:thumb: I sent a Ladies Raleigh 3 speed home with a friend to Manassas, and placed another nondescript cruiser with a guy down the road whose BSO got stolen. But I also accumulated 4 more bikes for free:innocent::roflmao2: and so it goes.:D

Aaron:)

I have a touring bike on order, which will hopefully replace my hybrid. If all goes well, that should be for sale next week. I'm also going to sell my mountain bike, which will leave me with just two bikes - the tourer and my folder.

I've just got two bikes. There's my good bike, which I use from mid-March until the end of November (more or less, depending on when the snow is gone) and a winter beater for snowy conditions or if the good bike needs serious work.

I wouldn't mind acquiring one or more additional used bikes to fix up and then give or sell to someone who needs one.

Hey.. welcome back!

I have the same configuration. I just added a third old Fuji road bike that I'm calling my summer commuter. Basically a light bike that I'm not afraid to lock up downtown.... I have other bikes that I'm trying to get my children to take... but I have to fix them up first.