Originally Posted by
AdventureManCO
I like the somewhat philosophical direction this is going. For someone that has access to roads, gravel, mountains, snow, etc. just what would be a good number?
Now, I've seen that joke cartoon (or is it just a diagram), showing 10-20 bikes, each one for a specific purpose, but assuming a bit of overlap is realistic...
Could one (again, assuming 'one' is an individual that loves bikes, loves riding bikes, wrenching, etc), potential get away with:
1) Road bike with 2 sets of wheels - 1 for road, 1 for gravel
2) Some sort of atb / mtb for when the desire hit to go a bit more off the gravel road
3) Some sort of Sat/Sun ride 'collector' bike that is fun to take on the retro rides and get all nerdy over?
4) Some all-weather commuter type bike?
You could even get away w/ combos - 1 and 3, or 1 and 4. 3 and 4 are polar opposites, so not really anything there.
For me personally, I like the idea of a do-anything, bugout bike - something that you could take, throw in the back of a vehicle, and no matter what you'd face, you'd at least have some sort of 2 wheeled transportation? An older 'atb' would be perfect for that. I like the idea of a fast road bike that is exhilarating to ride, something that reminds you of why you ride. I like something of an older collectible bike, but obscure enough that you don't see them often. A commuter, yes.
I could probably come up with another two dozen random idea for bikes, and then I'm sort of lost in it all again.
The bike I own that could cover the greatest usage range is probably the Bike Friday. It can carry stuff front & rear, it folds small for travel, it has a low straddle height in case I ever have joint problems, but it's not fast or as efficient as my other bikes.
I bought the Ross Mt. Cruiser in 1995, but then picked up the Nashbar cruisers in late 1996. The plan was the Nashbars would be his & hers mountain bikes, but she decided she had no interest in bumpy offroad and I didn't have the time for MTBing, so they sat in their boxes. I was happy with the Ross, but was thinking it wasn't right to have a lighter bike just sitting in a box unused, so in 2010 I built one of the Nashbars as a more-efficient version of the Ross. And in summer 2010 we took the Ross on our Big Road Trip, and the rear truck-mount bike carrier broke, and the poor bike got dragged for miles at 65 mph. But I couldn't bear to have a possibly-useful old friend permanently retired, so I straightened & rebuilt it. So now there are two bikes in nearly-identical operational niches, both of which I really like and don't ever want to part with, only one is slightly lighter & more efficient and the other might be less attractive to thieves.
In 2017, I decided I wanted to finally start mountain biking, so I took the other Nashbar out of the box and built it with a suspension fork and a Thudbuster, and it worked adequately well. But then I happened into a dual-suspension Haro, so I stripped the Nashbar back down again and built it as a fast road bike that can carry more and is a bit more comfortable than my old Raleigh Pro. But now those two bikes occupy a near-identical niche, both of which I intend to keep, differentiated only by slight weight and carrying ability. But I find I use the Nashbar more, as it can carry more bottles on hot days or from a breakfast stop, and carries my "ride leader" tool bag which can't be taken by the racer.