Piff 

Let's see...

One pure roadie, one sports tourer, one 80s mtb commuter, one 3 speed for cruising. And then room for a 5th to rescue and restore (and later sell) the occasional Craigslist deal that's too good to pass up.

Could probably pare it down to: one pure roadie, and one sports tourer converted to upright north roads so it can handle cruising, commuting, and light touring. But only two bikes would leave me always pining for more!

friday1970

For me, it around 3 is a good number. But, I have 6 now, and I don't want to really part with 5 of them.
So, a good fleet would consists of:
1 road bike, your fastest and your flagship
1 gravel bike, not your fastest, but something to tackle the countryside and doubles as something to go into town with.
1 mountain bike, because jumping roots is fun!

However, this isn't my situation, because I'm not being logical.
I have three road bikes. Two that are 1985 steel bikes (one PGN10 that is my fasted, 1 P8 for gravel, and a 2014 Nishiki that I don't know what to do with)
I have one mountain bike, but with slicks to putz around town with, and optional trail tires in case I want to get dirty
I also have two recumbent low racers, fun as heck bikes that feel like the forest speeder bikes in Return of the Jedi.

I probably don't need all six bikes, and the Nishiki, with it's harsh aluminum frame, will probably be parted out to my other bikes and the frame donated to my LBS. I probably don't need two low racer bents, but in case one breaks down, I have another.

merziac

How many, reasonable, you must be joking.

phenry24 

If I move my couch a reasonable amount I can make room for two more bikes. There are benefits to living alone

RiddleOfSteel

I second this, as a single and living alone person. My small apartment is optimally setup for ten bikes max (or so...). Just "normal" enough looking to not totally scare people, yet totally enough capacity to enable me.

canklecat

42.

Or the same as my number of cats. At the moment, 3 of each.

Barrettscv 

I can justify any number from 2 to 5. Everyone needs a second bike. No one really needs more than 5 for personal use, unless the cyclist needs a Criterion, time-trial, Cyclocross, mountain bike or touring bike ;-).

#1: Modern Endurance road bike that fits 700x28
#2: Modern Gravel bike that fits 700x40
#3: disposable budget-build rain bike with fenders that can be locked outdoors in the city for a few hours without regret
#4: Exotic De Rosa/Colnago/Cinelli/Bianchi/Merckx or other scarce iconic C&V European road bike
#5: Eroica road bike built from Reynolds 531 with Nervex lugs. Simplex or Campagnolo Record with Centerpull brakes

Having said that I have more than 10 and I'm contemplating another.

vitaly66

Let's first start with some of the essential categories:

* beater/commuter
* vintage classic
* fast group ride/stage bike
* time trial
* loaded touring
* long distance/randonneur
* gravel bike
* travel bike
* off-road expedition/bikepacking bike
* single-track mountain bike
* forest road bike
* snow/beach/fat bike
* ...

Yes, some bicycles may be reluctantly pressed to perform service in more than one category.

This is always more than offset by the imperative of acquiring multiple bicycles per category ;>

wrk101

I went to the First Flight collection in Statesville, NC a few years ago. They must have had 500 or more bikes on display. He had the room, he had the money, seemed reasonable to me. Now if someone lives in a studio apartment, then maybe two is reasonable.

USAZorro

I think the OP is going to have to sort this out for himself. For example, I am happy with one three-speed for me. One MTB is also enough. When it comes to road bikes, different story. I have become excellent at rationalizing. Now, of course, my wife needs something to ride also - a 3 speed, and a couple road bikes (so there's some choice to coordinate with her attire). The overall number is something in the 12-15 range. I also presently have about 6 or 7 that I'm either in the process of trying to sell off, or am getting ready to be sold/gifted. Hopefully things will stabilize by the end of this year.

jimmuller 

Hmmmm. Don't count them by type. My bikes are all road bike nominally the same. But they all feel different. Some are better in small ways for some roads, but any of them would do. Still, it's nice to have the variety.

Cyclist0108

I recently told my wife I was down to two bikes (same as her). She thinks just because there are now 13 in the garage and a few more scattered around the northern hemisphere, I am being disingenuous.

I hope my next wife will be more understanding.

mobilemail

For me, it's
1. the number of bikes you have space to store and service "correctly" - as in you can get one in and out without fear of damaging the others or spend twenty minutes moving them out of the way.

2. the number of bikes you are willing to continue maintaining and stock parts for.

3. and of course, D-1 because it's just right.

Currently I have storage for 10. I currently have eight, but one is just hanging around until I can pass it on.

However....my wife currently has 6, (0 which actually get ridden), two of which are in my space of 10, so it's getting a little crowded. But if that's the biggest struggle we have...we're doing okay!

EchoBravo

As noted above--there are indeed advantages to being *and staying* single. I'm divorced and have 4 bikes and a projet 5th soon-to-be-a-bike. And I have two sons and three bikes between them.

bikemig 

or have a weaker grasp of math . . . .

Whit51 

If you are highly passionate about something reasonableness is irrelevant. Passion is inherently unreasonable.

jjames1452 

75....I can live with that.

bwilli88 

I have a Go Fast bike, a Go Long bike and a Go Anywhere bike that are keepers here in Cambodia. I also have a single speed and a Market bike (totally broken down into parts for a repaint)
In The States I want to get it down to a Go Fast & Long Bike and a Go Anywhere with a nice single speed for in town.

CliffordK

I'm with several of the people above.

No reason to have a lot of redundancy. But, depending on how one is riding, perhaps a bike in several different classes (which each person defines a need for differently).

• Old road bike (rusty steel)
• New-ish road bike (Carbon fiber)
• Rain Bike
• Gravel Bike
• Folding Bike
• Cargo Bike
• TT/Funny Bike

That will probably be a shifting target, perhaps as I add more classes, or split multi-purpose bikes into single-purpose bikes.

Hopefully I'll add a couple of homebuilt prototypes into that mix too.

Steve Whitlatch 

Married guys just need to use wife reason. Very reasonable. I need this bike when I want to wear this jersey. I need this bike for when I want to wear this other jersey. It also helps to tell them how much you saved buying all those bikes far bellow retail. I can come up with so many reasonable arguments for my bikes. The answer to the question is, however many you can get away with.

Cyclist0108

It is also critical to have multiple wheel-sets for each of the bikes, so that you can maximize their utility.

Cyclist0108

My wife complained that she never knows what to get me for Christmas, so I had her get me a steel drop-bar mountain-bike frame for a steal ($350, reduced from $1K). Now she can buy me a wheel-set, fork, drivetrain, brakes, handlebars, etc.

This gives her an important sense of participation, and helps her build up a sense of self-worth, empowerment and dignity in the process.

marius.suiram 

Let's see: 15 in the basement and 25 in my half of garage. I am waiting for the spring to get my wife's car out of the garage and take over the whole place. 😁
Till then still buying. It is the time for good deals.

Spaghetti Legs 

I have about 15 and I’ve found that, besides my space limitations, that this number leads to a couple that will get ridden pretty infrequently. The number where each bike will get ridden at least every couple of months is about 12. That being said, I’m holding steady at 15 (or is it 16?) right now. When I retire and ride more frequently that number might increase.

I don’t find the maintenance challenge of 15 bikes too difficult. It really is a mileage thing in my mind. Only problem is I sometimes forget about a bike needing some tweaking, only to remember the next time I ride it, so I’ve taken to keeping a maintenances to do list.

DMC707

If I just considered bikes to ride and ruled out a couple of sentimental wall hangers I have, I would say I could probably get it done with four or five

The fictional carbon road bike that fits me well and is ready to go for the odd criterium or non-gravel charity ride

Full suspension 29'er mtb

Track bike

Always wanted to try a gravel bike, -- i dont like "relaxed geometry" that much, so a 'cross bike with more braze ons may be more up my alley though


---------- i have plenty of space, but i dont want to ever have so many bikes that some nice ones never get ridden-- im already having that problem, as i'll ride one for a while, then another bike catches my fancy

Bikes are cheap and take up less room than old cars or motorcycles--