I rotate on three bikes really depending on the mood and time and the route. I have many varied local routes so each one gets ridden at least once a week.

For a fast well known route - Peugeot Dolomites (Columbus Steel, Continental 28mm tiers)

For longer route possibly doing some exploring far away from the house - UNIVEGA (ChroMo Steel, Long Touring Frame, Ride Tour 34mm tiers, Big tool kit, extra tube)

For a nice easy slow ride maybe even doing some light single track - Peugeot P6 (Carbolite 103 Steel, Smaller frame, Kenda K184 Tires,Two water bottles, Big tool kit with extra tube)

Note that all my bikes are set up dimensionaly the same for my body. I have had to do this over the past few years so that I am ridding easy instead of fighting my arthritis. So which one do I ride the most? Duh... Its the P6! Its not fast or pretty, but its very comfortable. All the other bikes are for when the kids come in. As of August 2024 I have not ridden since June. My wife is laid up and I cant risk an injury. But December I'll be back to my local up and down rides. Yep... Plan to get some bugs in my teeth. What about the Wall Hanger? It stays on the wall. Everybody needs a Wall Hanger... Ha

Sometimes selection isn't simple. For example, on Saturday night I set up my alumicruiser to take on the weekly club ride I lead very early each Sunday morning. Chose that bike because there are several 3-6% grades on the route, it has a wide gear range, it's efficient, and it was "its turn". That bike has fenders and is rain-rated, but not my first choice in wet conditions because I don't like getting it too messy.

Wake up at 4 am Sunday morning to steady rain (which wasn't in the forecast). Under these circumstances, I'd typically switch to a different bike that handles mucky conditions better and is easy to keep the drivetrain clean, such as the chrome cruiser with its IGH or the fixie. But I remembered the climbing I'd need to do, which those two bikes are definitely not optimal for. So I stuck with the alumicruiser, had a fine ride in the rain, and gave it a thorough cleaning & on-bike chain flush with WD-40 at the end. So it's nice to have overlap in capabilities.

Yep... Sometimes we forget that there is a place for WD-40.

I'm a huge nerd, so I have a spreadsheet that I use to track the mileage on all my bikes and the consumable components on them. I used to have a mental rule that if I went a full year without riding a bike I'd sell it, but then I had a couple that I really liked go unused for over a year, and I realized that was more of a guideline than a rule.

I just looked at the spreadsheet to see which ones I haven't ridden yet this year and was surprised to see several of my favorites in that state. They are:

1973 De Rosa -- This one I don't ride a whole lot because I keep mostly period-correct patts on it and that gearing doesn't suit me. It's one of the bikes that disproved the one year rule.

1975 Motobecane Grand Jubilé -- This is usually one of my most ridden bikes. I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't gotten around to cleaning it since riding it at Cino last year, and the moon dust necessitates more than my usual brushing it off.

1975 Stella SX-73 -- I crashed pretty hard on this one last year and damaged the shifters and rear wheel. I've been meaning to fux it up, but with a stable full of bikes that are ready to ride, I just haven't gotten around to it.

1989 Cannondale ST400 -- I have a pretty good excuse for this one. It's the "zero bike" I keep at my sister's house in Maryland and I haven't been back there in over a year.

1972 Motobecane Grand Record -- I don't have much of a reason for not having ridden this one. It has fenders and I don't ride much in the rain anymore I guess.

I don't keep a ride chart, but I do keep an excel type spreadsheet showing the last time service was performed. I can't remember all the different work I have done, so the chart helps. I enter the month and year the last time each type of service in the list was done. I also enter whether I want to buy, sell, or keep a particular bike in the list. I also put in the wheel and frame size, and general notes. Feel free to use mine if it helps.



https://bikeshedva.blogspot.com/2024...ds-charts.html

Um, no.

Too many bikes, yes maybe I should get rid of some but again, no, not yet.

Maybe I can get 2 or 3 others ready to go and work them in but its so much easier and better to grab the best one that is ready to go.

Many are not rideable, I do plan to work on that, many are not setup well, maybe somewhat period correct so they can't go on a real/regular ride. Many are off size but hold down a particular place in history, etc so they occupy a bit of a purgatory, so it goes.

The flagship Strawberry is such a better rider that its almost impossible to grab another, it is also setup with, gear, bag, GPS, lights, etc, the only one truly ready to go at any time. At this point in my life the bike that goes the best is the one that gets to go.

I get the consternation and do not begrudge it, my "collection" is what it is and suits me just fine even if it is too much.

I do ride most of the bikes I put together a couple hundred miles when I build them.

And don't worry about my pile becoming a burden, my son knows exactly what to do as he has been instructed to dispense with them however he sees fit, he knows what they are worth to me, him or others.

I try to take a different bike each time, but I don't have any sort of rotation. My choice might be influenced by what the ride conditions are or I'll just grab one that I haven't taken in a while. Sometimes one will get more attention for a while if I have made changes to it. I use a Garmin, so I can periodically check the activity record to see if one is getting neglected. I don't worry about tracking the maintenance, but I feel I have reached the point where it could be a chore to keep them all current.

I can sorta understand oiling an IGH, but what are these other two categories used for?

Some of the older English and American made bikes have oiler ports for adding oil to the front hub and bottom bracket. The ones that don't have the feature get an "N/A" in the box. The ones that get periodic oil get the date of last oiling.

What goes on Tues. nights at the Velodrome? I know about Thursdays, I frequent on Thursdays to watch racing.

I have the opposite problem. I have 5 road bikes. I ride them all, but I ride too much and don't have the time or energy to properly maintain them. So, I do "breakdown" maintenance just to keep them all going.

Got any stainless Submariners?

Tried to rotate as grocery getters, but our local store has sophisticated thieves. They were cutting cables and stealing them in 5 minutes. I have had to resort to a mountain bike I rescued from a dumpster to go to the store. It’s a cheap old Giant, but even if that got stolen, the 30 buck chain still cost me 30 bucks. Grrrr…..

Open training night. They let most any yutz like myself onto the track.