perfect. im showing my wife this.

I collect drums and bicycles and ...There is always room for just one more until the walls and ceiling begin closing in.

All right, I'll bite (keep in mind, I've been car-free for over a decade)...

My sport bikes:

LeMond Buenos Aires (700c) #1 sport bike
Torelli Corsa Strada (700c) #2 sport bike*
Soma Smoothie ES (700c) All-rounder; rain bike

My Touring Bikes/ Townies:

Trek 820T (650b) All-rounder; touring bike
Panasonic CB620 (650b) Fully restored, unbuilt frame; possible (awesome) replacement for my Trek 820.
Univega Rover 10 (650b) Soon to be for sale (built to clear out spare parts, but I'm having too much fun riding it at the moment).

Bikes that are leaving:

Bridgestone RB-2 (700c) My first road bike, restored; currently for Sale.
LeMond Tourmalet (700c) Soon to be for sale (built to clear out spare parts).
Univega Rover Sport (26") Soon to be for sale (built to clear out spare parts).

Restoration projects:

Bridgestone XO-3 (26") Ongoing, with patience.
Trek 930 (26") Pending, with love. (My old MTB from my college years, and my only bike for over 14 years.)

* This is a 'rotating' position; that's to say, I'll eventually sell this one and buy another 'grail' frame, ride it around for a year or two, pass it on to a new rider (sharing bike-love, you could say), and replace it with yet another. I figure there are so many truly amazing frames out there, I could swap them out yearly and never tire for projects.

I figure I'll have it down to five bikes by next summer: the Buenos Aires, the Soma, the Panasonic, the Trek 820T, and whatever replaces my Torelli (I'm thinking maybe a Countach or a Merckx). Someday I might replace my Trek 820T with a 'proper' touring bike, say, a Koga or a Milholland, but it's done well in that role so far.

And drums take up much more space. I used to have a drummer that had a whole room that was dedicated to vintage snare drums. Shelves probably 5 high on all the walls- filled with snare drums.

Great re-visiting of the thread, because excuses change over time, if our wives don't.

"Everyone needs a beautiful shiny old bike" 1982 Lotus
"It only fits me, and no one will buy it" 1995 Hot Tubes TT
"I have to keep an old Italian steel around to ride with Rick" 1987 D'Arienzo/Basso
"It's rare, I've never seen another, and it's not new" 2006 Cinelli (carbon, requires multiple excuses)
"I'm going to sell it, don't worry" 2008 BMC
"I'm going to sell it, don't worry" 2011 Merckx
"This replaced 3 bikes, and has led to downsizing. You should thank it" 2014 Wraith Hustle
"This will replace 2 more bikes, and will prevent rough riding on my other grey bike" pending 2014 Wraith Paycheck

Interestingly long lists from some folks!

I have:
90s Bianchi SBX with majority c-record that was my racing bike - my not go as fast as I can because that fast as I can has gone away from me anymore.
2014 Velo Orange Campeur touring bike
1993 Bianchi Project 5, now Project Jr with many upgrades - back roads do anything bike
2000 Bianchi Cyclocross cro-mo frameset with upgrades. - back roads tear it up and commute bike
1980 Holdsworth Gemini tandem for my wife and I

my herd is really trimmed down. I am currently lining up a 80s road bike that will have 80s D-A group.
and missing from my list is a fixie. I've always had at least one fixie. But I narrowed my bikes down to the above.

Armageddon bikes to sell to desperate neighbors for hugely jacked up prices. this covers as many as you want

LOL! Brilliant

Since this is about excuses, my absolute number one is:

"It was super cheap, I mean fifty bucks? The derailleurs alone would get that on eBay!"

And then the flip side of that coin (like Robbie, above):

"Yes dear, I just paid $500 for that bike, but you should be happy because I just sold three other bikes to fund its purchase."

Heads I win, tails I'm victorious.

My wifey is quite understanding...so...my basic excuse is...

"I want it..."

Every year for the past 8 years, I've built up a wet weather beater bike...

Problem is, I no longer ride in the rain... Too old for that crap!

What it really comes down to, when I ride after it's rained, I don't like to get my favorite bikes dirty so that's my excuse.

My current wet weather beater project:



Maybe I'll get around to it before our rainy season ends.

verktyg

Chas.

I probably helped that guy's problem along. I used to run a vintage drum shop and narrowly missed being a collector, myself. Only got just what I need, drum-wise. Still figuring out what that means for bikes. I probably already have too many.

That's why I collect guitars instead. You can stack 'em like cordwood. Much more efficient use of space

Yeah, much easier to hoard! Of course, since I started this bike thing, I've kind of cleaned off shelves of guitar/bass/audio gear and replaced it with much bulkier bicycle stuff.

^ Something always fills the vacuum.

I just sold my 1966 Chevelle project car, which, as of next weekend, is going to leave a Chevelle-sized hole in my enclosed carport. That's a lot of space for new bikes, is what I'm thinking...

I better hurry up and get all my woodworking crap out there before I blow the Chevy sales proceeds on more bikes I don't need.

If that was the case I'd have to divorce my perfect wife and go through a series of long legged statuesque girlfriends before I ran out of bikes.

When I have sold bicycles my wife has always asked me if I had to do that and if I'd miss them... like I said... she is perfect.

Sounds like the perfect wife...but...so is mine! She has made almost the same comment! And...get this...she is willing to take bikes/frames/things to the post office/Fedex/etc. for me! And...she loves helping me unpack bikes that I have bought for me...

Back to excuses: "Because it was cheap and waaay different than all the others". (Pic after cleanup +a Brooks saddle) Don

My wife is always negative, when I buy a vintage bike but, even though I do care how she feels, I buy what I want, when I want and think no more of it. She gets upset when I buy, but says nothing when I sell. And, with three exceptions, in fifteen years, I always make a decent profit on the bikes that I sell, plus...

My sales pay for my hobby, food and, often times, a bit of rent. No one can argue with that so I buy what I want, when I want and that is that.

Nice bike!
The Brooks saddle is a lovely homage to the early klunkers , many of which had Brooks saddles, though you may not have intended it that way.
Brent

Fast touring bike/specialty commuter- Austro Daimler
Beater/normal commuter-C. Itoh

Bike-in-the-works (to be the zoom bike)-Cannondale R2000

[QUOTE=steppinthefunk;11969518]"the forever bike" - The bike that I plan on keeping forever. This is the worst excuse because it rationalizes spending a ton on the perfect bike.[/QUOTE
No room in the closet...Rebecca has all the space.
I will be using these!
Ben