I am going through the same thoughts on my bikes and alot of my other posessions. I have too much stuff. I decided to just make a list of the stuff I actually need and then see if I have everything. I did this for my clothes and shoes and I have almost 3x the stuff I need. After buying some good shoes for work last week I don't want to go shopping for like a year and probably shouldn't. LOL
So yesterday I made a list for bikes and this is what I came up with
1 road bike
1 mountain bike
1 commuter bike
1 backup commuter bike
1 fun bike
Thats five bikes maybe less if I have a overlap. Lets see what I have that fits and then see what I might be able to cut.
Road bike
Lemond Victoire Nicest bike I own and probably will ever own.
Mountain bike
Diamondback Vertex WCF Love this bike
Commuter bike
Trek Police bike from the late 90's. The more I ride this bike compared to others the more I like it.
Backup commuter bike
Folding bike or mini velo. I have a couple to choose from here
Bianchi folder
Dahon Boardwalk 6 (bought this for my wife)
Windsor Shetland mini velo I just bought
Fun bike
Redline Monocog Flight I have had this on Craiglist for a couple months now, but nobody seems to want to pay my price. I like the bike.
This still leaves me with a number of frames I would like to build up
Ross Signature Road Criterium frame I stupidly repainted. It has some setimental value becasue it was my first thrift store find I have built it up in a couple of configurations.
A couple of mountain bike frames for possible backup commuters
GT Bullet kids mounain bike frame that I plan on making into a BMX type cruiser
Takara Road bike that I have mostly built up into a ghetto tri bike that I will proabably never use
Hercules 3-speed frame maybe good for a downtown bike idk
Specialized mountain bike frame that was converted to track dropouts
I am probably forgetting something else
Then there is 20+ other bikes/frames that I am planning on flipping or whatever.
My guess is that some of the bikes that I end up building up I won't like. I bought a nifty 80's Fuji lugged mountain bike a few weeks ago and it seemed like nothing I did to it made it that comfy. I decided I might as well sell it because I didn't enjoy riding it. Its too bad since I liked those suntour powershifter thumb shifters. Although I was dissapointed I guess thats a good thing in some ways since I obviously didn't need that bike anyway.
I have realized over the past few months that although I like tinkering and working on bikes I like riding them more than working on them. For this reason I am trying to tighten up my fleet and upgrade some of the bikes I really like. I am also trying to get out of the bike flipping game, but its hard to stop looking on CL or in thrift stores. Its an addiction or at least a big habit. I guess I could try selling some frames, but I have doubts I am going to get enough for them to be worth the trouble. I should just build things up and go from there and sell what I don't like. I am pretty fortunate to have the bikes I do. Sometimes I dream of owning only 1 bike, but its pointless to try because I have plenty fo space for more than one and I can afford more than one without being extravagant so I think its ok.