billmckay

I started riding road bikes again after my hybrid Specialized Sirus was stolen. (When we moved down to Florida I came with 3 bikes and there was no space in the condo.) So, I decided to get a road bike and looked around, finally finding a silver Cannondale 2.8 R 800. Did the usual repairs for a bike that has sat for 10 years and went at it. I grew to love that bike. That lasted until it was stolen. Someone always has a bolt cutter that is capable of going through your chain). My wife was moderately sympathetic and I looked around for something to ride. This was October 2020 and decent bikes were not to be found (the closest to my cannondale I found was a Caad 4 with a destroyed wheel, frozen cables and dry rotted tires and tubes; owner insisted on $500? So, I bought a lightly used Trek ALR 3. Nothing spectacular but it worked; I almost got to like it after 500 or so miles. Spent months looking through Craig's list, Ebay, etc to no avail. The other day I found an OK Lemond Buena Vista in good shape and bought it. Sold the Trek the next day. Spouse thought I sold it too cheap but she was still ok. Yesterday I was poking around Craigslist and what do I see but another LeMond, this one for $100. It was a Reno, maybe 2005 but it had been sitting outside for quite a while. What was not rusted was rotting. Of course I said I would be over to buy it in a half hour. Told my wife I would be be back shortly; explained I was hot on a 'good deal' The discussion turned testy with suggestions of my needing my own quarters to store this piece of junk bike, etc. So, how do you get the space to play around with old bikes while living in a condo with limited storage.

PS Not sure if I succeeded in getting a photo attached. While I loved that Cannondale, I am amazed at how smooth the ride is on the LeMond. Everyone who has raved about the steel frames is dead right.

Bill McKay

merziac

@billmckay

Welcome aboard, glad you found us.

You need 5 posts X 2 days for pics, so post away, you'll be there in no time.

Anti-spam security measure that serves us very well.

thook

do you have a garage? a yard?

merziac

My wife is fortunately on board for the most part, she has 6 of her own thanks to me so.....

She has plenty of her own stuff but it normally doesn't devolve too far, I had a lot of space before the bikes started piling up despite having a lot of crap, there's a lot less space now.

We'll see how it goes.

sloar

My wife doesn’t care because they stay in my shop. Also a few times I’ve sold bikes to pay for family vacations and a few other important things. Now, she is getting tired of all the guitars in the living room.

Bigbus

My wife actually bought my last bike for me and she gave up riding because of a balance issue. I have no where to put them except for under a huge tarp behind my truck. I am truly your fair weather mechanic, but I ride in almost any weather. I think my DW has come to look forward to the time alone as much as I look forward to the ride. It works.

SwimmerMike 

My wife likes that I really enjoy working on my bikes, especially with the "work from home" aspect of the pandemic since I spend more time in the garage and it allows her to have some more space. I can see being in a Condo would be tough.

delbiker1 

I have 8 bikes, a 3 bedroom home with large, enclosed front and back porches, 3 work stands and no wife. My bikes and I win.

droppedandlost 

I only have one bike. My wife has a bunch that seem to be too big for her, so she lets me ride them.

notthe1freeman

My better half ( my high school sweetheart whom I ran from until literally Xmas day this year) absolutely loves my bicycle proclivities. I am truly blessed. Past relationships ran from bemused to mortified lol

thumpism

"Where did that white mixte come from?" is what she asked me about an hour after I brought it home. I didn't think she noticed but I guess that jig is up.

clubman 

Sorry OP, I've got a house and a garage and a large shed so I'm not in your predicament. I've been committing an insidious form of spousal abuse for many years by filling up every nook and cranny with bike stuff. Fortunately, Stockholm Syndrome finally took hold and now she delights in finding derelict bikes put out in the garbage, phones with detailed descriptions and even brings them home to me to fix for her or the two kids. Her own fleet is currently at three and she likes them.

Seriously though (abuse is no joke). We met in a bike shop and she's tolerated my aberrant behaviour ever since. Some guys are lucky in love, not so much in cards.

Classtime 

Sounds like you have room for two bikes. That means you really have room for three😊
If you can sell one before or soon after you acquire another for more than you paid for it and let your wife know that, you'll be set.
Welcome. Oh, and don't make it obvious that you are obsessed about this C&V bike stuff. Act Normal.

sced

My wife shares my love of cycling. Here she is in aero helmet and pink cycling shorts at speed on her Ciocc this past August.

nlerner

This is why man (or woman) invented mini storage.

thook

i'd thought the same thing. only if you were to utilize the unit as a shop, they kinda suck in summer and winter. i guess that's what fans and heaters are for, though

scarlson 

No such thing as a lack of space, just a lack of creative storage solutions! I like simple ceiling hooks, but I also have a couple double decker floor stands and one device to lift a bike overhead on the level. Mostly just use the hooks though. Cheap and easy provided you can find a ceiling joist.

jaxgtr

My wife is a scrapbooker\card maker occasional bike rider. The money pit that is arts and crafts is mind blowing and far more expensive that all of my bikes I have ever owned. She never gives me crap about it, because if she did, I would just point to the craft room I just built out for her.

Wildwood

it is better to ask forgiveness than to request permission.....

move the bikes inside to the new bike room.

tell her Marie Kondo does not live at your condo.



if you are not a newlywed, just tell her bikes are fun and you obviously need more fun in your life. Why would she stand in the way of your fun?

jaxgtr

[QUOTE=billmckay;21862515] ... So, how do you get the space to play around with old bikes while living in a condo with limited storage./QUOTE]

Look into the Steadyrack's. They allow you to store on a wall, but they sling to the left or right to reduce the amount of space they take up. I have 6 bike on a wall in my garage, keeps them off the ground and out of the way.

Bigbus

Then hire a good divorce attorney because she's going to take your fun when she storms out the door!

eja_ bottecchia

Act normal? Seriously? Being a cyclist and acting normal seem to be mutually exclusive propositions.

My wife sews and she is a quilter; talk about a bunch of crazy, weird, obsessive people.

Compromise is the key.

eja_ bottecchia

My wife is a quilter...I feel your pain.

thinktubes 

We both have a lot of vices and similar hoarding styles.

Jeff Wills

A friend of mine is a cyclist and a quilter. She and her husband ride together a bunch. (He's not a quilter.)

My wife has 1 bike, I have 6. She let's me keep all the bikes in the garage, along with a workbench. We did Cycle Oregon 4 together before we got married. Nearly 30 years later we're still together.