I took my "wall art" out this weekend. It comes down real easy.

Yeah, I've been working on that too but there's a Paramount PDG Series 2 for sale locally right now for chump change. How in the world do I resist that**********?

I see by the list of bikes under your screen name that the cold turkey method has not worked well for you, lol.

Well, I do ride them all though. Usually....

I try, man, I try but I just can't do it. But if I went down to two nice road bikes, one MTB, just maintained those three forever and got rid of my 50 million spare parts I'll probably never use it would be refreshing. Like those people on that hoarders television show who clean their houses out haha. The main problem would be deciding which bikes to get rid of. I love every one of them.

At least half of my collection is based on the tire size of the bike. Some years I ride more dirt or gravel than pavement, other years it is the opposite. If a bike sits a lot one year, it may get ridden lots the next.

The other part of the collection is keeper road bikes that are also slowly rotated.

I also keep a bike at my moms house and sometimes rotate that out for maintenance.

All that said, there are still a few that don't get ridden much at all. Need to move those along.

Many times this past summer, I thought about how I'd be fine with just three bikes from the current fleet: my Lemond Buenos Aires 650B conversion for spirited road riding and brevets, my Rivendell Romulus for serious distance riding, and my V-O Camargue for commuting. But, instead, I have about 17 others; however, I do try to ride them all regularly, even if it's just in my annual 14 bikes in 14 days effort. Almost all in the fleet just need the tires pumped up to be ready to go. What I choose depends on my mood, whether I need fenders or not, whether I need two water bottles or just one, whether I need to carry stuff on my bike (and how much), what the terrain will be, what the people I'm riding with are riding, how long a ride it'll be, etc.

jamesdak;
I'd love to see close-ups of those hangers - very nice idea! Did you do those, or are they commercial?

I determine what to ride based on a few things. One obvious is with whom or what type a group ride. Though mostly rotate on my solo rides. Not bothered by weather elements either.

I also enjoy lower grade vintage bikes and taking the experience traveling point A to B. Have a few that I'm perfectly happy with and often grabbed.

Yet could jump on something higher end and get the wow felling all over again. Its like getting a new bike. Respect to those genius frame builders.

Then theres ones that have different shift mechanism vs. generic index. I get into that mood to grab that challenging machine.

There's an appealing nature and satisfaction mastering it. Its just another element to cycling that I'm interested in, curious of a design, a maker, etc.. Sort of like an old car, various transmissions, double clutching, getting the most out of it, or its handling quirks that takes a different thinking in controlling yet puts it at top competitive rank. Highly capable machine but a disaster if one doesn't understand it. Spending the time in that saddle, figuring it out, and not whining.

I like having a headlight I can count on. That leads me to ride my dynamo-equipped bikes more often.

Sometimes I'm riding a bike and think, gee, this bike isn't as comfortable as my other bikes. But often this is because the fit isn't adjusted well or the saddle is comfortable for the the beginning of the ride and then proves to be a bad match for me.

One bike or another always needs new tires or a new chain.

I've been using Wellgo pedals and recently got shoes and cleats that seem only to work with Shimano pedals. I realized Shimano pedals are just a lot nicer. So now I have to move pedals around unless I want to spend a fortune on pedals.

I made them. I used a 3/8" floor flange with a 3/8th" nipple and 3/8th" coupler. Then It's just a matter of inserting the stem into the pipe and tighting it down. I used heavy duty vinyl tape on the bars to protect the paint of the bikes.

Really simple way to use some old handlebars. A lot of my vintage bikes came with too narrow handlebars so as I swap on my preferred 42cm bars I wind up with some extra ones.

I want to get some cheap colorful cycling hats to and get creative to cover the pipe part of the hangers....

Here's a closeup pic from the cell phone. Sorry it's dark now so I couldn't get a better shot.

Jamesdak,
Those stem/handlebar bike hangers are incredibly clever and cool!

I'd be incredibly jealous of all of your herds, if I hadn't realized a while back that I don't do well with too many choices. So my bicycle fantasy herd is hugely embellished by all the many beautiful bikes I see amongst C&V-ers.

I don't need to choose based on who I'm riding with since my riding partner is also my excellent riding wife. We literally met in the middle of the 200-mile Seattle-to-Portland ride in 1993, and started dating a few months after doing the one-day version of that ride together in 1996.

So like my good friend, RiddleofSteel, my choice of bike is based on whether I want the fender-bike (extensively updated Miyata 912), typically used October through March here in the PNW, or the not-fender-bike (Marinoni) that also is so much easier when we put bikes in a car and drive to the start of a ride. When I had a third bike, a Rivendell Rambouillet, I fully planned that it would become the dedicated fender and touring bike, until I realized that the other two bikes could serve those needs as well and I enjoyed them more. So it's gone to a new home. And I'm looking into ways to expand the Miyata's uses as a Cino bike, and potentially as a travel bike with a front lowrider rack.

I'm in the final stages of the conversion of my wife's Redline into her fender-bike, since she doesn't want to get her pretty new Indy Fab so dirty this winter. And four bikes is pretty much the capacity of our smallish, garageless house. They all use the same size inner tubes, and the 3 of 4 even take the same size tires, chains and cassette cogs. I don't feel limited in any way, but thanks everyone, for all the great fantasy rides!

Interesting thread...while I have some where around 28 bikes, I only end up riding a handful of them! Each of these are dramatically different...some in size, definitely grouppos and some with different saddles (although I tend to try and have a Brooks saddle on each).


For storage, I have these PVC bike racks...I build these racks to hold 4 bikes...and they are very mobile, so I can move them around the shop, outside or even in my son's truck bed...very versatile...

I know it's not fashionable but I use a fanny pack. Got too many bikes to think about trying to equip each one. Plus it has a spot for a water bottle for the oldest bikes without water bottle cages. I'm also a mountain biker so I'm used to carrying a pack on rides.

I like the M530 in white on a road bike, $23 at Ribble. I'll have to admit I strip the pedals off anything that doesn't get ridden. Can cost that much to put water bottle cages on a bike.

Shimano Clipless SPD M530 Pedals - Pedals - Ribble Cycles