I've studied what drives this C&V bike psychosis, where we need to have not one but several, or several dozen bikes, and I've concluded that it is nothing less than a very powerful and primordial hunter-gatherer instinct surfacing in us.
"Back in the day" - I mean WWAAAYY back in the day, our tribe relied upon us to hunt and gather, to provide sustenance.
Life was tough!
- There was no eBay or Craig's list or even a thrift store where we could buy mammoths, pterodactyls or brontosauruses, so we spent even more time then stalking such dangerous quarry as we do today looking for "killer deals".
Meanwhile, our wives would stay back in the cave, cleaning, minding the kids and cooking bronto-burgers in anxious anticipation of our return home. - And they NEVER complained about how many things we brought home either. No siree... (We were very chauvinistic back them.
)
These instincts carry over in us today, but manifest themselves in other ways. Did you ever notice how your pulse will quicken, and how you will start to perspire, whenever you see that primo Italian road bike for $20 ? - Indeed, it has to be something innate in us, to elicit such a strong physiological response to an external stimulus, such as a simple CL advert!
Obviously - one must conclude that having a lot of bikes is essential to the human condition, and I have no doubt that if this impulse is denied, our very well-being, and that of civilization will most certainly suffer.