orangeology

not as disciplined as you folks, i have only one:
1. do i want to keep it?

Kobe 

I only have 2 criteria. It needs to fit and be different than something I already have.

Being tall can really limit the number of different bikes available compared to average sized people. Once you run through all the mid range Japanese bikes and lower end Schwinn's, there just is not muck out there in 66cm and up. It does make the search more fun and I no longer waste my time trying to get 62cm Italian road bikes to fit.

Murray Missile 

I'm "almost" there, I've passed up a couple real nice bikes in my size the past couple weeks and a couple I have now are headed for CL soon. In the future it will take something pretty special to tempt me.

lasauge 

1. Does it fit right and ride well?
2. Will I actually ride it? (no wall hangers!)
3. Does it meet a practical need that none of my other bikes do? And if I do already have something similar:
4. Does it ride differently than a bike I already have?

The first three criteria are straightforward, it's the last one that gets fuzzy - having a CX bike and a touring bike and a winter beater bike, etc., makes obvious sense, but then I also have four 'keeper' road bikes that are just for fun rides, because they all handle differently and are setup differently.

Bandera

All of mine I built for a specific purpose, the most versatile have been modified to perform well in another.
Race bikes came and went over the decades. Track, MTB and 'Cross bikes went upon retirement from each discipline, a dozen or so over the years.

I mainly have survivors that are C&V by attrition.
These are the useful types bikes for me to have:

Town Bike: '74 Internatl' in it's 41st year of service. The definition of versatile.


Road FG: '77 Trek converted to FG > 20 years ago, nothing better than one's old road race bike converted to fixed gear.


Winter/Wet: Soma built to replace the Internat'l w/ modern-ish spec, useful and still versatile.


Road: Modified 979 Vitus to 10 cog and added the CF Merckx to see what all the shouting was about w/ CF & 'brifters.
Both in regular service, the Merckx for paceline work and the most challenging terrain, the Vitus for the hell of it.



Not looking for "Grail" bikes, collecting a missed relic of youth, a past generation's chic or filling a garage w/ miscellaneous CL "finds".

-Bandera

RobbieTunes

I have (had) no idea what my criteria are (were), so I just went out and looked at my bikes, for guidance.
I figured they'd speak to me. Here's what they had to say:

1-Scarcity/Uniqueness.
Some part of me wants things no one else has, and can't have.
Maybe I just want to fool myself into thinking they'll be valuable to my next of kin.

2-Usefulness.
Some part of me actually wants to ride them, in lots of places.
Here, there, and everywhere, Ringo.

3-Cool factor.
Some call is smugness. Some call it "compensation."
I prefer to think otherwise, but maybe it's true; I can't afford a mid-life Corvette.

4-Affection and magic.
Inner contentment, knowing the secret. The reason for one last Ironman.

Simply put, the frame has to appeal to me, even if I'm not sure why, and I have to be able to make it my own.
Even more simply put, my wife is beginning to catch on.

PBC peugeot

sorry, I don't understand the question

iab

Needs to tickle my fancy.

nesteel 

I don't have space for too many bikes. Slowly "upgrading" the stable as I go, and trying to maintain the number at 5 or 6.
If a new one comes along, and it's deemed a keeper, selecting one of the others to go has to be done.
The bike needs to be something I deem special. It also should be "better" than at least one of the current fleet. No reason to keep it if it isn't an upgrade.
Bikes that don't fit my size range generally aren't even considered unless they would be easy to flip.

leftthread

Fun level.
Uniqueness.

I want to reduce, create space and concentrate on finishing some remaining projects so cycling stuff that's "lesser" is being grouped for a donation to a local co-op.
A drop bar conversion to a rigid steel mtb is still on the to-do list.
But, realistically, the GT Tachyon with Col de la Vie 650B tires fits that gravel grinder model. And the red and white Prologue is staying.

ohjonnybegoode

I've had as many as 9 - 10 "keepers" at any one time, I'm down to five, one of which is for sale.

My criteria now are...it must fit, I must enjoy riding it, and at least for one of them, it must be somewhat unique. I also keep a couple for strictly sentimental reasons.

Current stable includes....

1988ish Davidson Impulse. My "unique" bike, especially because I'm on the east coast...thinking I won't run into many like it around here...plus it rides so nice.

1997 Cannondale R500 CAAD3. My "new" bike. Just bought this at a yard sale around the corner from my house....fits me perfect and rides great...I've read a lot about the harshness of aluminum frame/fork bikes, but it's really no worse than the Davidson...maybe a touch harsher...I think C'dale got this one right.

1990 Schwinn World Sport. I bought it new and my then girlfriend now wife gave me a significant amount of the money I needed to buy it for my birthday when we were both poor college kids. I dug it out of my moms garage several years ago when I started riding again, and it led to me starting down the wonderful C & V road. Will never sell it for sentimental reasons.

1973 Schwinn Super Sport. Growing up, I rode my grandfathers Kool Yellow Le Tour all through high school....got into an accident with it and stupidly threw it away. Once the C & V bug bit me, I was feeling nostalgic and started looking for a Le Tour, and found this Kool Yelllow SS....close enough....won't ever sell it....

jimmuller 

Not to be pedantical or anything, but, um, if you had 9-10 and you are now down to 5, then 4 or 5 weren't keepers! And if 1 of your 5 is for sale then it isn't a keeper either!

treebound 

I recently got rid of a keeper that did fit simply because I wasn't riding it and hadn't really taken it for a ride in so long that the new never ridden on tires were starting to crack from age. Replaced it with a bike that I will ride and hopefully ride a bunch and fully fills a "always wanted one of those" category. I've also skimmed off some redundancy that did fit well and were rode a bit but lost out to a functional/emotional coin flip.

The opening post sort of basically hits the main points of where I'm going with my stable of bikes, collection or accumulation is open to interpretation.

RobE30

Fit
FUNction
Form
Variety
Frequency of usage

Currently all my bikes fit.

Fun, my favorites are my Gunnar CrosshairI and my 81 Trek 710

Form, my 74 International Rando project is my favorite to look at but I need to pull the freewheel off and have it rehabbed so I can ride it more.

Variety, currently I have 1 cx bike, a tourer, a fancy Rando, sport tourer, skinny tire fast bike, an adventure bike (rigid 29er w drop bars), a hard tail 29er mtb and a trek 950 mtb. The cx and sport tourer are setup with similar gearing but one is dt 8spd vs 10spds barcons.

Frequency of usage, the Crosshair and the Trek see the most road time.

I'm keeping them all....

Henry III

I've got one bike that I'll hand down to my son or daughter. I spent three weeks away from them building the frame and fork in the middle of a midwest boiling hot and humid July. I have another frame in the works but there's just something about the first one. It was so hot our instructor finally installed an air conditioner in his shop after thirty some odd years.

The other four are just passer throughers.

RobbieTunes

Hey, he used quotes: "keepers."
That removes him from pedantipurgatory.

Murray Missile 

Wish I had said that........

Sidney Porter

purpose (Right now I am duplicated in mtb. I need to decide if I am keeping both or converting one to a winter commuter with studs and fenders or getting rid of one)
size (butI will start a project that my kid's will grow into, so I will go smaller than my size but not larger).

I only have 5 bikes right now
1 vintage road
1 vintage city / commuter
1 modern mtb
1 vintage road converting to "gravel grinder" (in process of build)
1 modern mtb (in process of build, this one is hard to justify)

brandon98

Ok, fellow twelve-steppers....I'll admit I am/was on the trajectory for "hoarder" but the realities of life (an electric word, life, it means forever and that's a mighty long time ), put the brakes on that.

Some of ya'll are enablers (WRK101 and RobbieTunes are responsible for five of the bikes in my garage).

A lot of the bikes are rarely/barely ridden but as the money's been spent and will be nigh-well impossible to recover. There's a limited market for 60-63cm vintage mid-tier steel frames with semi-modernized components. The date-coded NR crowd doesn't care for my Dura-Ace/Tiagra/Veloce/Tektro mix bikes. (I'm also the guy who'll put modern distributors and electronic ignitions into vintage cars, damn you numbers-matching breakerpoint afficianados). Some of them are family member bikes that might not get ridden much but are sentimentally important to them. Everyone in my house has at least two bikes. That means I've a minimum of eight in the garage.

So what does this ramble mean: I've managed to get rid of some! And some will probably stay. Here are the bikes on the hit list or got the axe this year.

-I got rid of the Madison fixed gear. I never really rode it (age, hills, etc) and my last non-running profile physical fitness test was last year, so I couldn't hold on to it for "I'll need this one for a PT test")

-I built up a "winter bike" (Schwinn World DBX aluminum frame) under the auspices of "I'll get in some training over the winter." It never quite fit right; TT seemed short/awkward even though the tape measure says it's OK. I also had to be honest: I gain little out of riding in cold, rainy conditions other than "this sucks" and feeling mildly hypothermic afterwards. I've got a Kurt trainer in the garage that I much prefer to cold water running down my neck. So it's going to be either sold complete or stripped of it's 105 triple build and the frame disposed of or discarded. There's a very limited market for big-boy sized aluminum touring geometry frames.

-The 1980 Raleigh Super Course 12 that WRK101 horsetraded me. It was a pretty copper orange but it doesn't fit without some money spent on it. Who the hell specs a 25" frame with 40cm bars? And those Raleigh-labeled Weinmann brakes aren't confidence inspiring. After some wider bars and some Tektro nutted dual pivots with KoolStop pads, I'll reassess the bike. I'd call it a potential L'Eroica bike except the bar-cons disqualify the bike. As I recall, I traded some Mavic drivetrain parts for it so it isn't a pile of C-notes taunting me. But anyone with some good trade bait or money is welcome to make me an offer. I just don't want to expend the effort to market it. Hoarding via sloth, I suppose.

-The 1987 Paramount with Mavic SSC is too pretty to get rid of, even it it's best suited for someone 40 lbs lighter. Clydes like me can get that bottom bracket swaying with the standard-diameter tubes on the standing climbs. 39/26 and rolling hills don't always allow seated climbs for me.

The two daily riders are the 2010 LeTour Classic and the 1999 Peloton. The Letour is just a supremely comfortable "all day" bike with room for fat tires or fenders. Not the lightest, not the fastest but it just works. And like a good horse, it'll get you home, even if I don't do my part. The 1999 Peloton is Paramount/Bianchi (parallel 73-74 and square st/tt geometry with shortish stays) and like most bikes made of 853 is fast, responsive and rewards fitness and aggressive, focused riding. It will also scold and scare you for sloppy bike handling. I'm lucky that I'm permitted to rack them on the wall at work and a shower's available for lunchtime rides and can pick on a near-daily basis.

B

auchencrow

1) Is it cheap?
2) Do I want it?

These two criteria have been sufficient to prevent a hoarding* situation at my house.


* Define "hoarding".

Pompiere

I think if you are hiding bikes from your spouse, you may need to evaluate whether you are a hoarder. Of course, for some, this could mean any number more than one, if they don't understand bikes and their various uses.

My wife tolerates my bike hobby pretty well. I spend less on bikes than her brothers spend on golf and alcohol, so she encourages me to go ahead and buy something if she sees me trying to decide. I still try to keep things reasonable, and only bring home bikes that are different from what I already have. I currently have a newer road bike, a vintage road bike, a tandem, a vintage ATB, a hybrid, a folder, and an old Kabuki that currently has a 3 speed hub and flat bars. The hybrid doesn't fit well, so it may go, but it was cheap, so I may just strip the parts for a different project. I am always on the lookout for something good to fall out of the sky, like the Club Fuji that my son now rides. I live in a land of Huffys and Murrays, so when a decent bike comes along, I jump on it.

MZilliox

reading this thread makes me feel okay about my recent dive into bike buying. I was shopping for my next bike, found a great deal on a serotta CRT thats fits awesome. i thought wow, i can make this a do it all bike. then one starts to try and build a do it all bike when the perfect french Rando bike comes along. i just got offered a Berthoud Randonnuese full bike in my size (maybe one size small?). damn it. this is the sort of bike that does not ever become available here. So reading some of your posts where they start "i only have 5 bikes" makes me feel okay about buying a second bike. Plus it fits a lot of the mentioned criteria, it fits (maybe), its rare, its gorgeous, its functionally different, it makes me smile, i want it.

thanks, i thought about it all last night, now i have some clarity. Bike number 2 is gonna be mine!

PaintItCeleste

This is where is starts.

Lascauxcaveman 

I have this problem with @Wildwood. We ride the same size and he thinks of me first when he's shedding bikes. Nice bikes, good prices, installment payments; why say no?

I've re-sold three of the bikes he's sold me over the years, and I still have four left. Now, he's threatening to bring me his tandem "to try out." Help!

thumpism 

Don't do it. Spend all your money on other stuff first and you'll be fine.