Originally Posted by
Robert C
Right now I am getting by with one; but I am not really happy about it. My other bikes are in Salt Lake City. It is a good bike for commuting; but I really don't like it for distance riding. As such, I have not been going on many recreational rides. Obviously, this is something I intend to change.
I know what you mean. It sucks. Feels like a lot of missed opportunities when you don't have your preferred ride with ya
When I first moved to San Francisco, I left the rest of my bikes back down south and bought myself a city bike from a local San Francisco LBS for commuting to work. Did not like it at all for anything other than commuting to work, so I did not go on many recreational rides on it. Once I moved the rest of my stable up here, though, I got rid of the city bike (sold it off quickly on Craigslist). Now I ride my Surly Long Haul Trucker for everything I do: commuting, grocery shopping, errands, long road rides, bikepacking/bike camping/touring, off-road trail riding in Marin...
Well, I did that until California got hit with some rainstorms recently. Feels like it rained all month long this December (and the end of November as well)! Riding through so much rain and flooding has basically destroyed the bearings in my rear wheel's cassette hub. That's what I'm guessing, because none of the spokes are broken, nor is there any loose tension on them. So now I'm riding my
back-up bike!
So, to answer the thread title question, I think the minimum any car-free bike rider should have is TWO. One as your main/daily rider, and a second back-up bike to ride when your main rider requires maintenance and/or repairs. Unless you're okay with taking public transportation when your bike is out of commission, like my Surly is at the moment. I strongly dislike taking MUNI to commute to work, which is why I am glad that I have a back-up bike to last me until the Surly's wheels get replaced. I wore out the rims, so rather than fix the hub and ride on rims that are near the end of their lives, I opted to buy a new wheelset. Now I'm just waiting for that wheelset to arrive so that I can get back on my Surly!
N+1 for me, though. I plan on getting at least 3 more bikes in the future (one for mountain biking, one for long road rides, and one for...well, a lighter & more agile version of what I use my Surly LHT for).