Five bicycles is nothing, unless you're really, really desperately tight for space or cash. They're so small and light and unobtrusive, five bikes adds up to about a tenth of a car. If you need an airplane hanger to store all your bikes, well OK, then you have a problem, but if you only have five and you're really into bikes, you should probably get a few more.

You can consolidate: commuting, hauling and long distance touring. Just keep the best touring bike. BLAM!!! Three bikes turn into one.

1. Fast road bike and racing bike
2. Cyclocross bike for actually riding and racing cross and winter road biking
3. Commuting and quick get around bike (fixed gear fenders and brakes)
4. Light touring, day trip errand bike, beer getter.
5. Full blown expedition style touring bike
6. Mountain bike (many possible sub categories may exist
7. Polo Bike

I only need 7 but have 3 (8, 9, and 10) more, 2 vintage road machines and one vintage track machine. 3 and 4 could be combined is necessary (but it is not necessary bikes are my life and I enjoy my life). Likewise, 1 and 2 could be combined but it is much more enjoyable to have 1 as well. 1-4 could technically be fully combined but there would be a lot more parts replacement and there would a lot of taking on and off of tires, racks and fenders. The time required to do this would be quite impractical. 1 through 4 could not be substituted for 5 6 or 7 which all highly specialized and could not practically cross over. 8 9 and 10 are completely frivolous.

531phile, that's what I'm doing. My Cross Check is a cyclocross design, and it's super versatile. I weighed it yesterday, and it was 26 lbs with fenders and super light wheels. So it's a heavy frame, but it's comfy. Every so often, I put out a message saying I'm looking to trade Cross Check frames. Mine is a 58cm, and I really need a 56cm. That will take off a little weight.

I put a rack on it last night, and it gained about two pounds, so it's up to 28 lbs.

I just found a pair of wheels in my basement. Never used, 32 spokes, room for an 8-speed cassette. Excellent. All I need is a cassette now, and I may have one lying around.

The Raleigh International I'm building will basically be the same thing, so after some fun with it, I'll probably sell it or the Cross Check. The Raleigh is getting drum brakes.

My McLean is my lightest bike, and it's about 26 lbs. I ought to get a light bike one of these days.

Why a separate polo bike? What advantages does a purpose-built polo bike have over any other bike?

kroozer, that's an excellent point, but money is a motivator. Maybe I'll turn my Super Course into a fixie. Its ride is absolutely lovely, and my fixie got stolen recently. Riding fixed isn't a religion for me, but I do enjoy it from time to time.

What is the compelling reason to thin the herd? If your reasons for riding are narrowed down, the question of the kind of bike you need answers itself. For many years I had "only" 2 bikes, a racing bike and a touring bike. I got away from riding much for a while, and I was down to just 1 mountain bike. Getting back into it as a hobby and riding for fun/fitness is when the sickness started for me.

But a friend of mine, who doesn't drive, gets by just fine with a hybrid. All the immigrant workers I see in my area ride around on dept. store mountain bikes, and I doubt they get up in the morning and wonder which bike they should ride to work.

If you have the space and the money, though, keep everything and buy more! There are common themes around here that selling leads to regret, and everything is getting more expensive and harder to find.

We might move out of our fairly large house and into a smallish apartment. But that may not happen for a couple of years.

More compellingly, I'm burning through money, i.e. spending faster than earning. I'm working on both finding more clients and reducing expenses. I'm currently in debt and just about out of cash. I'm not sure how I'll pay the energy bill and health insurance bill this month. I barely was able to pay mortgage this month.

Over the years, I've indulged myself on bikes, and it's a good time to cash out on that for now. The cash will be useful.

And I can make more money while I'm not in a hurry than when I am. Better to get money for my extra bikes now than when I have to do it quickly, i.e. when we move.

I do errands with occasional hauling. I work from home, so I can't exactly say I commute by bike, but I'm on it at least 50% of my days, and that's increasing.

I take occasional "club" style rides at about 17 mph and will always have at least one nice bike for enjoying them.

And sometimes I go on group rides where the riders are slow. My wife is also slow. She goes about 8 or 10 mph. So it's good to have an upright bike which is more comfortable for slow paces. Leaning forward and going slowly is uncomfortable for me.

I haven't taken a long tour since 1983, but my wife is open to trying it this summer. Of course, her first will be short. I'm sure my errand/hauling bike will be fine for that.

Also, I already have about 30 bikes in the garage and basement. I collect them from various sources and fix them up and sell them. They are taking up too much space now, encroaching on my wife's exercise area in the basement. Moving bikes around has gotten hard now that there are too many. I also took in some real clunkers I never should have taken in. I'll soon be stripping off the useful parts and tossing the rest.

Sounds like you have a far more serious and pressing problem than too many bikes. Keep the precious ones and sell the rest PDQ before you have to have a fire sale. As to the clunkers and parts, donate them to Pedals for Progress and at least get tax deductions.

Thanks for the questions which clarified my own thought process.

Does PfP really take bike parts? I thought these programs want only bikes that are ready to ride.

If you decide to cash out it might be worth while to wait till the weather improves.

Tom, so sorry to hear your finances are that bad. But do you really have enough assets in bikes to make a mortgage payment??? Unless you are a skilled used-bike salesman, I have to wonder if trying to convert them to one-time cash is the best use of your time. One could argue -- and only you know your own situation of course -- that your time would be better spent figuring out how to enhance your income from your real business and just forgetting about the basement full of bikes for now.

Free advice, yeah, I know, it's worth what you pay for it. But I do feel bad for you, you've always impressed me as a mentsh, trying to help.

Pfp will take parts (at least they took mine when I was helping out with collection drives). The bikes & parts go overseas and get rehabbed for sale by their partners in the destination country. I think they're doing a collection in Livingston this spring, check their website.

Some of those categories can be combined, for example touring and hauling can be combined, commuting and errands could be combined with folding, winter and 3 speed could be combined, since derailleur and snow/slush/ice don't really get along well. That would leave you with:

- commuting and errands / folding
- club rides
- hauling / touring
- winter / 3 speed

I would add one extra category, off-road.

You keep ONE bike in each category, plus one working on bike, once the working on bike is complete you sell either in or use it to replace the bike in one category and sell the one your replacing. My own herd is pretty small, one for the road and one for off-road, I could see adding one more, probably a bike with a triple for hauling, touring, errands and commuting when I need to.

That's really touching. I thank you very much. You're a mensch, too, my friend.

I do have to sell bikes, not only because I own too many, but also because I have 20 or 30 bikes I collected for the sole purpose of reselling. And no, the entire bunch of bikes I call mine and are salable would not make a mortgage payment, but every bit helps. It's true that working on increasing my income is more fruitful, but I don't think it means it's the only important thing to do.

Good news: I got a call yesterday from a recruiter about a part time job. I'd love a part time job rather than a full time one, so I don't have to give up my business. Unfortunately, it's every Saturday and Sunday. That would be a sacrifice, but I'm willing to do it for now.


Very clever. I think I've stumbled upon this just now. I'm building up a 1970's Raleigh International. I'm putting drum brake hubs on it because I've always been curious about them. It will be a duplicate of my Cross Check, and I will probably sell it when I'm done.

I'm not selling in a hurry, because I think getting the most I can for the bikes is better than hurrying, especially since they're not going to help my finances all that much.