I heard a quote on the news about discarded auto tires..........8 galllons of oil per tire to produce.......that's scary!!!!!!!

Mid-life crises take a lot of forms. My wife realizes that the "bike version" which has seized me in the last two years has a lot to be said for it when compared to golf (decent clubs = $1000, plus club membership/green fees); the need for a convertable (starting price = about $25,000); or the sudden yearning to climb Everest (last reported starting price for a guided trip = $50,000). Until yesterday, for about a thousand bucks I'd accumulated five quality road bikes and a singlespeed. They keep me healthy, busy, and amused.

Of course, that was until yesterday, when I won a 1985 Scapin on eBay. Apparently, the disease is not yet in remission ...

Does it stop? Magic 8 ball says: outlook does not look good. I have been doing the vintage bike and flip for profit thing for only two years now. I just looked at some of my records and I have purchased 99 bikes in that span. I have sold 60 of those, and the rest are hanging around mostly here in the basement shop. My personal collection of bikes is up to 11 (three non-vintage MTB and two slightly newer track bikes). The other 6 are vintage and were the top of the line or close to it in their day. The amount of money I have spent on those combined wouldn't buy me much more than a Shimano 105 equiped carbon forked aluminum road bike today.

The other thing is with all of these bikes comes more bikes tools!!! N+1 can be applied to tools just as well as bikes. My bike tool collection started off with buying a used Park repair stand and some tools from a bike shop that was closing. It has now ballooned into multiple repair stands, truing stand, peg board and tool box full of various bike tools, and I am often adding more. I just ordered another tool this week from the LBS that I don't have and needed to take out a BB. Along with the more bikes and bike tools comes more parts and with that you need places to store parts. The bike hooks, S hooks and pipes, file cabinets, plastic storage bins, and other stuff I buy to hold and organize my parts is adding up quickly too. My next project is to wire in some more lights into the shop area.

I say, "Hello my name is Matt and I have a bike addiction"

group of voices: "Hi, Matt"


P.S. Guitar collection is only at 3. I know I can't afford a vintage guitar collection.

I put a 3-bike rack in the back of my pickup truck just for yardsailing and hitting the second-hand shops.....and I wear my goofy cycling related t-shirts on my romps just in case someone notices or recognizes that Stingray and says "hey, I've got one of those in my basement! Wanna buy it?"

Ahhhhh tools..

When I started getting into this, a buddy listed all the specific tools I'd need.. Crank pullers, cone wrenches, freewheel tools,Workstand,..ect.

I said..."No way, I'm not going to get in to it that deep. " Wrongo.

BAS is like alcoholism - you're always on recovery, never cured.

For the longest time, my one and only bike was a fully rigid KHS Montana Comp. That got stolen, so I replaced it with a Specialized Rockhopper. Those were highschool and university days, back when I preferred to blow my money on, well, other stuff.

Then the bug bit me. The rockhopper went to the wife to replace her stolen bike. My giveaway dep't store mostrosity bike got upgraded to a semi-respectable fixed gear. And then I got a Samson track bike. Things changed in a big way.

Since then, I've managed to acquire a house with a basement, along with a Cinelli track, Pogliaghi track, Rossin road, Nobilette cyclocross, and a Mariposa rando, along with a Proctor for the wife. A Viner, Colnago Super, Gitane Kilo, Sabatini track, Motobecane touring frame, have passed through my hands. I've got an 80s Japanese built Bianchi an the backburner, and 3 decent frames on the wall. I'm also storing a 20s CCM track, 70s Nervex Zeus, 2 Motobecanes, and a ton of parts for a friend in need of space.

I realize I'm sick, and I don't really want to get better.

My wife thought I was nuts with the Paramount thing. Nuts as in why would anyone want or care about a 30 y.o. bike. I think she got a different perspective when someone stopped in a parking lot as I was loading our bikes in the truck after a ride and had to check out the Paramounts and tell us about owning one back in the day. 99.99% of the world doesn't notice, know or care.

But we do...........

I had to laugh when I read this. Sort of a "been there, done that". I started out with one cone wrench and Shimano freewheel remover three years ago.
Flash forward to now, Last week I picked up my second Wrench Force cycle stand and I've lost track of how much I've spent on tools.

[/QUOTE=moki] BAS is like alcoholism - you're always on recovery, never cured.[/QUOTE]

I can see me at a meeting with a bunch of C&V types saying:
"Hi, My name is Roccobike and I'm a recovering Bike-aholic".

Buying too many tools, unlike too many bikes, is not an illness. It's normal.

The only regret I've had getting back into the sport after a 28-year absence was the realization that I gave away all my specialized tools to a kid getting his first job at a LBS back in 1983. At that time, I figured I'd never touch a bicycle again. Well, I was right . . . . . . for 22 years anyways.

Figure I could have another mint Rossin frame for what I've spent replacing all those giveaways.

THAT!, my friend, is a sickness!!!!

The only way to see my "shop", is with a fisheye lens!
A friend of mine took some great fisheye shots of it, but I haven't gotten copies yet.
He was intrigued by the 3 dimentionality of it all.

I am sitting under Tigger and the Rock Lobster as I type.

Tigger (the tandem recumbent tadpole trike) has a motor hoist to park it. I just pull in, hook the 3 hooks and push the EASY button. VrrrRRrrRRrRr. There! Tigger at home in the rafters.
I hang my other recumbent trike flat up against the ceiling, but upside down on hooks.

I guess the funny part for me was that there is floor visible in your picture!

In my 2+ car garage, there is a narrow 10" wide trail through the middle. Need anything off the trail?
You have to climb or dig!

Basically Syke, you illnes can be at least somewhat releived by getting more bikes!
Fill all that cibic footage with bike happyness!

And add a recumbent while you're at it!

No....it doesn't stop

I could if I didn't have a train collection!

2 actually! One is the G scale LGB trains, the other is the wooden Thomas the Tank Engine collection.

Thomas the Tank Engine?!?



You laugh?!?

I have (and am the original owner of) the "Holy Grail" of TTTE!....Sir Topham Hatt's Car!!!!
First generation WITH the box, both in MINT condition.
Could probably get $300 for it on eBay.
That's ONE character.
I have the whole Island of Sodor! And most of it is installed in my daughters' room.
As in on a shelf that runs around the entire room. With track that runs all the way around so you can set the battery powered loco on and it goeas round & round the room. There are buildings and many other characters all the way around. The blue sky ceiling extends down the walls a bit and has scenery painted behind the layout.
The rest of their room is custom painted pink & purple.

And the LGB...I have train cars that cost as much as nice bikes I've had.
Somewhere down the line I hope to install a backyard track for it all. Yeah...someday.

I must say, I'm not just a member of Bicycles Anonymous, but Collectors Anonymous as well.

Say, did I mention my RoadKill Collection?

NO silly, not dead critters!

Loose coins!

When cycling, I always stop for money on the ground. It's a personal testing of Matthauser brake pads.
Will I find enough money to buy new pads before the old ines wear out. (from stopping all the time to pick up stray coins)

That's about all the derailing I have time for.
I'm going to go bake some Snickerdoodles.

(red & green ones of course)

Somehow my bike tool obsession has led me to owning tools I've never used for parts that I've never owned and, in some cases, that I've never seen.

Good one! You've got me beat!

I funded my getting back into cycling by selling off my Lionel 027 Union Pacific train layout - dad got it for me for my first Christmas (1950 - I was all of five months old) - and I realized that I was never going to run it again. In fact, I hadn't since sometime in the mid 80's.

About the only collectible I've got that is in the absolutely-will-not-sell category are my Chevrolet dealer promotional models. Just about the complete set from 1953 through 1965, heavy on 63-65 Corvettes. Dad was a Chevrolet dealer up until the end of the '65 model year, and of course he got out of the business eight months before my 16th birthday .

Often wonder if that didn't have something to do with it.

hmmm... 12 pairs of stereo speakers (some of them 'large' like JBL L166 & AR3a), 4 receivers, 5 integrated amps, 5 tuners, 3 turntables....

I used to have 15 or more vintage tube amps and boxes of parts, but sold these because I thought it wasn't 'right' to have all that stuff sitting unused on shelves...

I now have 4 road bikes, 1 mountain, and enough parts to build 3 other bikes (except for frames and wheels..I'm short of wheels!!!) ...2 bikes are going this spring, I hope

Nooo...the trains don't count... I can rationalize the trains, besides.. Most of my train budget has been sucked into bike parts....
My Portable '60's Marklin HO layout.





All my British Tri-ang/Hornby and my Lionel "O" are safely packed away at the moment..

It doesn't stop. I have the acquisition problem, but no drive to retain what I acquire. I just like working on them, so I flip. Waiting for a sweet old italian find, though....

My name is Ozneddy and i,m an addict !

I don't have a problem...even one like skyerocker (BTW I have straightened up quite a bit since these were taken)

Aaron

I need to get the number for that organization.............
30+ bikes
70's and 80's stereo's
I don't even know how many camera's I currently have.
And now I bought a 72 datsun 510 to restore. Maybe it can keep my 1975 FJ40 company.
My poor wife.........

She have a sister??

I'm getting a good larf outta all these posts but I'm also feeling guilty that we've all got BAS but you guys all seem to have garages and I have a one bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. Yeesh: talk about self-limiting. I have to move 3 sets of wheels if I want to get to my canned goods. I've got a foothold in my girlfriend's apartment (with the practical reasoning that I need a bike for work commute at both of our places). If I ever get a garage my BAS is going to hit open water and never look back.

The question that needs to be asked is if there's a support group for the wives/girlfriends of BAS sufferers. "It looks like garbage" "No baby, I swear - this chainring is really sweet and I need it because...wait - did I ever explain Biopace to you?..."

Now, this is where I'm lucky - my wife makes a point of driving through the transfer station every time she goes into town, and has been given the quick course in differentiating worthwhile from WalMart. She realizes that I'm funding this obsession with flippers, and is overjoyed that it's not taking from the mortgage payment. Now, if I could only teach her about getting a bike into the back of the Mazda without scratching the hell out of the back bumper . . . . .

What I find difficult is trying to pair down the herd. I give a few away or sell some off, but that then represents spaces for new acquisitions. The bike that gave me the collector's bug was my search for a Raleigh Clubman. It took awhile, but I snagged a 1951 model on eBay a few years back. Since then, I've bought a '49 and a '51 (with the last one essentially given to me). A little while back, I came very close to selling the '51, even offering it to someone to whom I had sold a few other things, but then another bike buddy reminded me that I might be the only person in the country with Clubman bikes from each of those model years (and '51 was the last year; in '48 it was first produced as the Lenton Clubman). So I'll hold on to them. For now.

Neal