bikemig 

This makes sense to me. I think I own more like 20 or so bikes, though, and I stopped trying to rationalize my habit a long time ago.

If I had to pare my fleet down to 5, I would own

1. A road bike with eyelets that can take 700 by 28 tires
2. A cross bike
3. An english (or Dutch) three speed with fenders, and a generator (but with alloy rims)
4. A mountain bike
5. Some totally cool city bike just for fun.

lungimsam

I would only want 2 off the top of me head at the time being:

1.Keep my wonderful 2009 Giant Defy 3.

2. and get a:

Rivendell A. Homer Hilsen or
Rivendell Roadeo
or Rambouillet

Not for sure wihich of the rivs would be best for me.

chasm54

All you people who haven't included a touring bike on your list, need to take up cycle touring. It's the only way to travel.

Seb71

I have three bicycles:

1. Mountain bike (hardtail).

2. Touring bike (I would like a Surly Troll, but it was to expensive to me so I built something similar, using a cheaper hardtail frame and a Surly Troll fork).

3. Bicycle used in town and around town (I live in a plain area). It also serves as a winter bike.

In addition to the above, I would like to at least try:
- a fat tyre bike;
- Surly Big Dummy;
- a recumbent.

NightShift

My wife and I each have a "sentimental" bike. Mine is my first road bike, an old J.C.Penney's Foremost ten speed. Hers is a Huffy "mountain bike". The first bike she bought for herself was a Huffy Stone Mountain with her paper route money at 13. When she went to college it stayed behind, and was a pile of rust when she came back. I found an identical bike and bought it for her. It's since been converted to a hybrid. These bikes aren't going anywhere.

We have a BikeE that we currently share, but the plan is to buy another. That makes two each.

She has a comfort hybrid she loves for relaxing rides. My ten speed has me covered for that, but I have a hardtail mtb for harsher off road stuff then she has any interest in. That's three. I'll probably replace the current mtb with a 96'er. I have short legs and haven't found a 29'er that seemed like a good option.

I have a patrol bike. I work security; mostly supervision, training, and consulting work these days, but I keep one bike around for work. Right now it's a Schwinn Discover 69'er conversion. The upright position and low trail responsive steering work well for patrol, but I've been meaning to try a DK Xenia as a possible replacement. I also need to take a long look at what really durable low maintenance bikes will work well for this so I can make useful recommendations. She has a cruiser, but she never rides it, so probably shouldn't be on this list (or taking up space in the house).

I have a Diamond Back Traverse as a beater. I bent the seatpost and am trying to decide if a new seatpost (was 25.8mm, but I'm wondering if it should be a 26mm) or a replacement bike would be better. She needs a beater, but is averse to riding an ugly bike. How do you make people not want to steal a pretty bike?

I have a hybrid, Novara XR. Currently with bullhorns, but planning to go to woodchippers. Very versatile bike. If I was in a lower theft area and I had to I probably could scale back to just this and my ten speed (or, if I didn't worry so much about my ten speed, I could use the ten speed as my beater), but I don't have to. She needs some kind of touring bike.

We both have road bikes. I have more than one right now, but only plan on keeping one.


Ok, the dream list:

1: My ten speed.

2: A long wheelbase recumbent. Probably custom Ti if I could afford it.
If you haven't ridden a lwb recumbent go try it.

3: A serious off-road bike. Right now I'm leaning towards a 17" frame 26" wheel GT frame with a 29" rigid fork (suspension is over rated, at least for what can be had in my budget). But if money was no object a custom Ti 29'er would be great.

4: A CX/hybrid/touring/all-rounder bike. Steel or titanium. I'm pretty happy with the frame I have, but a lighter, stronger, rust-proof frame would be nice (and lugs, I love Lugs). Bar end shifters are fine, but if I wasn't afraid to break them SRAM brifters would be nice (I've tried double tap and loved it, but I'm not up on what the most durable version would be).

5: A go fast bike. Right now I'm going with vintage steel. I haven't found any mass produced modern frames with the geometry I want. The more relaxed seat tube angles and longer toptubes on shorter frames of some old bikes work better for me. But custom would be nice. Carbon tubes with Ti lugs.

cabledawg

I really only need one and that's my 2003 GT Karakoram with the Xtracycle long frame. SO here's my list of "must haves" if money was no option:

2. Terratrike Rover with the tandem addition and Nuvinci hub
3. 4 person pedal surrey
4. Monkey bike (already have but it's hard for me to ride)
5. **********

xenologer

only have 4 bikes so far;

Surly Cross Check
-off road/commuter

Surly Troll
-cargo/commuter

Trek 1100 Aluminum
-speed

Everest Altitude (mtb)
-beater

If I were to get a 5th bike....
probably a Surly Moonlander or other fat tire mtb

I could probably go as low as 2 bikes though, Cross Check and Troll, seeing as how the Troll can be reconfigured to do just about anything except race....

krobinson103

Cheap mtb with a rack and baskets for errands and general use
Nice mtb with nothing more than it needs for fun.

Don't need any more than that.

bikemig 

Agree with the sentiments; touring bikes are cool.

Arrowana

1. Awesome do-everything bike - Fuji Discovery
2. Road Bike - May be getting a Masi Vincere frameset
3. MTB - Bianchi Osprey
4. Single Speed/winter bike - Trek Cruiseliner
5. Beater Bike - Panasonic ATB, possibly to be replaced by an old mixte

And if I get into bike polo, 4 and 5 will be combined to leave a spot for a dedicated polo bike.

5 actually sounds like a good goal, I'll have to see if I can get it down to that.

Machka 

I currently have the following:

1/2 - tandem, steel
1 - touring bicycle, steel
1 - long distance bicycle, titanium
1 - racing bicycle, aluminum
1 - mtn bike, aluminum
1 - fixie, steel
1 - single speed, steel
1 - stepthrough, steel
And possibly some bits and pieces of other bicycles.

How many is that? ............ 7.5. Not all of these are completely built up, but I think there are enough parts around to build them all.

So if I could only have five bicycle, I'd have to get rid of 2.5, and I really don't want to do that.

I would, however, like at least three more ... a folding bicycle, a recumbent, and an ordinary are on my list. That would round things out nicely.

Sixty Fiver

Narrowing it down from the 18 bikes I currently have is tough...

Have wanted one of these since I first laid eyes on one... my new Pugsley.



My Ron Cooper road bike...



My Kuwahara Cascade Expedition bike...



My customized Phillip's 20... it can pretty much do everything except off road.



My 1955 Lenton Reg Harris Road model...



Thankfully... I can keep them all as after these I have some gorgeous hand built and much rarer bicycles but am really quite utilitarian when it comes to my day to day riding habits.

chris1548

I've currently got the following five:

A Seven Elium Race set up as a crit bike with Record and Reynolds carbon wheels for hammering,

a great Gunnar Roadie with Chorus and Reynolds Attacks for everyday training,

a Gary Fisher Genesis mountain bike for Utah mountains and deserts,

A Surly LHT with Deore drivetrain and Tubus racks for everywhere,

and a venerable Miyata 610 I've owned since new for thirty years.

On order right now I've got a Gunnar Sport in Quetzal Green Metallic which I will build up with a Chorus/Centaur mix and Peter White wheels for centuries, easy riding and light touring.

Number six was a bit harder sell with my wife. It's hard for people who don't ride a lot to actually believe that there really are specific differences between these bikes, but people who do know they're all different, and all well worth it.

If I was to buy number seven, I probably would break down and get a super carbon climbing machine. But, as you can tell from the list, I'm primarily, and quite contentedly, a steel man. Steel still is real. Even if I'm done, I'm happy with what I've got.

trackjunkie

I like to day dream about these type of things when I'm not riding

1. Leader 721 (first nice bike I built up) fixed 48/15 AlleyCat Racer
2. Bianchi Super Pista (sugino 75s, Philwood hubs, etc) Track & Occasional Street/Trail if I'm not locking it 49/17
3. Fuji Elios 2 (Messenger Cranks, H-Son hubs, Etc) Everyday Rider 49/17
4. NJS (Completely Orginal) For Display purposes only
5. Centerion (Budget Build) For friends/Rainy Days/Too tired to ride days 46/17

I've got 1 & 3 right now and a mongoose for 5 that I'd like to get Centerion in place of it..

guitarpah

1. My Surly Cross Check. It's so very useful and so mod-able. Actually, it is currently the only good bike I can afford. Really annoying when it breaks down beyond-my-ability-to-fix and I have to wait for LBS (like right now).

2. Brompton. Travel and multimodal commute. 6-gear cuz my wife's fam. lives in mountain country.

3. A nice Raleigh DL-1. If you have to ask....

4. Pashley Roadster Sovereign, for winter and transport.

5. Rivendell Bombadil. If your gonna mountain bike, do it in style.

Never abandon style for function, or the other way round. Life is balance, don't go to extremes.

bikemig 

These are really beautiful bikes. I'm not sure which one makes me the most jealous; it's probably a toss up between the Ron Cooper and the Lenton Reg Harris.

Bikepacker67

I think the more interesting question is if you could only have one.

In that case, an old school Cro-Moly hardtail MTB (sans front shock).
You can do just about anything on one of those.

robbyrocks12345

Hmm... if I could choose 5...
1.Trek Madone, not sure what model but I want to go fast, next season I will be buying one.
2.Trek 1.1, set up for touring, front and beck panniers, ect... (Already have)
3.Trek FX 7.1, winter/beater bike (Already have)
4.Cyclo-Cross or Mountain bike I Have'nt tested any yet, but I want something for offroad.
5.Older bike, I like to ride around town on them, I alreadys have a late 70s Ross Road Bike frame and parts I'am slowly building it up.

katcorot

1. Velomobile -need it
2. Big Dummy -need it
3. Giant Rincon mtb - have it
4. Apollo Deelite road -have it
5. Tall Bike -need it

Singlespeed92

These (I recently sold the Jabberwocky,my SS mtn bike though,time for another to fill the void?),my current stable:






.....of course I could rattle off UMPteen bikes I'd LIKE to own,from a classic ol Raleigh 3 speed to a...........

drmweaver2

Easy Racers Ti-Rush
Easy Racers Carbon-Rush
Easy Racers Tour Easy
Catrike 700 (trike)
Bacchetta Ti-Aero

(and if I win the lottery, I will have them all)

SurlyLaika

okay, so we're making Christmas wish lists early, huh? I can play along.

1. Surly Cross Check with fenders and rear rack (commuter/kick around bike) [already have this one in black and probably always will for sentimental reasons. One day I'll be able to call it my beater bike)
2. Wabi Special FG/SS with custom paint job, either polished finish or the Desert Turqoise of their Classic model.
3. Salsa Vaya in Agent Orange color, custom build up for touring.
4. BD Motobecane 700HT MTB, 'cos it's cheap and I'm not sure how much I would get into it.
5. Folding bike (not sure which brand or model, but I've heard good things about Bromptons)

So this list has me covered for a commuting bike, a FG/SS, a touring bike, a MTB, and a folder. I know this left out recumbents and go fast road bikes, but I'm not much into either of those varieties.

SurlyLaika

Your stable is pretty damn cool, 65er.

RaleighSport

This seems amusing... I think atm I'm actually near 5 main riders but.. I'll pick out 5 from the herd.

1968 Racer Deluxe


1987 Schwinn Tempo


1992 GT Tequesta


1972 Raleigh Super Course


1978 Sekai 2500 GT


And then I'd have this as a wall hanger, if only 5 riders.
1977 Sekai 2700 GT Deluxe

Arrowana

Alright, think I'm actually gonna go for having just 5 bikes, and now I have all 5. 4 are just frames at the moment though.

1. 1993 Giant ATX 780 - Awesome do-everything bike
2. 2011 Masi Vincere - Road bike, just a frame and a few random parts right now
3. 1995 Fuji Discovery - I have no idea how I will build this up... Maybe a really classy looking IGH bike.
4. 1994 Barracuda A2E - Polo bike, I might actually have enough parts to build it up
5. Late 70's Motobecane Super Mirage Mixte - This will be a hideously awesome winter bike, 26" front, 700c rear, probably a 2 speed kickback hub, and garish colors everywhere.