Originally Posted by prathmann

What's the advantage in reducing the number of bikes? Do you have serious storage space issues so that an extra bike or two is really a problem?
Otherwise it seems to me that having at least one spare bike makes life simpler rather than more complicated. With a spare bike available a problem with the primary bike is just a minor inconvenience that I can deal with when I find the time rather than something that must be solved immediately. And usually the second (or third) bike has some different capabilities that make it better than the primary bike for at least some trips.

For a few years my folder was essentially my only bike, so it was used for utility shopping trips, fast group rides, and camping tours in addition to travel or multi-modal trips where the folding feature was essential. But I've since added a road bike and a touring bike so the folder is now used almost exclusively for trips where the folding characteristic is important. Getting by with only the folder was certainly doable - but the other bikes do have some advantages for their respective applications. And having them available makes me much less concerned about any mechanical problem that they may develop since I know that I have redundancy in the form of the folder.