I never planned to accumulate 5 bikes. Here's how it happened: I took a little while to decide what kind of riding I really want to do and find a bike that's well suited to it. Along the way, I somehow collected others. I don't usually buy new, but build them up and customize them to my liking. This process causes me to form an attachment to them, and then I don't want to get rid of them. If I were to sell any of the bikes in my current fleet, I probably could not get a price close to what I've spent on it, or what it's worth to me. Even if I could get past that, I would have a hard time deciding which one(s) to sell. For what it's worth, I've had 4 or 5 others along the way, and sold them. When I find one bike has a lot of overlap with others, or it doesn't suit me well, I offer it for sale. I wouldn't say I took a bath on any of them, financially. But nor did I make money on any.
I ride all 5 of my bikes, but some more than others. I could probably get rid of one or two and not miss them. There are at least two that I'm so attached to, I don't think I could ever get rid of them. I'm 53, and I hope to ride for at least another 20 years. Unless something changes, I'll probably own a few of my current bikes for that long.
The short answer is that I have several bikes because I really like them, they make me happy, and I get good use out of them.
Cars are another matter. Recently, my family owned 5 or 6 cars. How we got there is kind of a long story. They did not make me happy. They cost a LOT of money to maintain, register, and insure. They take up a lot of space at our home. They're a cause of many headaches. I'm now down to four, and plan to get rid of one more before long.
Last edited by Broctoon; 08-14-23 at 08:51 AM.