How do you convince those around you that...
 

...collecting bikes is not the equivalent to collecting cats?

I've built up my first classic bike and loved the process to death. Love the finished product, too. But now I want more, more, more!

What sort of reasoning do ya'll use when space is limited (I live in a Manhattan one-bedroom with an apartment-mate) but your love for messing with bikes isn't?

Just tell them it's a vehicle for your artistic expression seasoned with a dash of eccentricity.

Rent an extra space. I have a machine shop and you don't really see vintage bikes till you go beyond a set of closed doors. Once beyond the doors, it goes from a room packed with old bikes to another set of doors that lead to the sail boats, kit cars and fork lifts. Beyond that? you don't wanna know..

People collect pictures of celebs with no apology. Bikes are practical and in NYC more useful than a car and legal to boot.

Wall racks are the ticket...(oh and the artistic expression line.)

We do, we do!

All good ideas. I'd love to have a separate space just for bikes, but am paying out the arse enough for rent as is...

I have two cats. And three bikes. Resist the urge. Concentrate on quality. ...not quantity.

I too suffer from bicycle-spatial discrimination. My girlfriend demands that we each only have one bicycle in the apartment. Yeah like my beautiful Columbus SLX with Campy 10 speed Record/Chorus is going to be locked up outside in a carport. She can go sleep in the carport!

Anyway...I want a garage. i also want a better work area than my living room. That and the towel closet has turned into miscellaneous bike part/tool closet that have spread to all the shelves like a plague.

Some day :)

How do you have a one bedroom with an apartment-mate? unless your apartment mate is your mate mate.

To answer your original question. #1 exercise. #2 each bicycle fulfills a different role (how many pairs of shoes do they have?) #3 It is a rewarding and socially acceptable hobby. Would they prefer you collect cats?

Rootboy: I too have 2 cats and 3 bikes. One cat i love and 2 bikes that i love. As much as i wish to rid myself of the others...My S.O would be less than thrilled ;)

Because bikes don't stink. Just kidding. I live in a one bedroom apartment also and the place gets smaller each time I get another bike/wheelset etc. I just say that the bikes are decoration.

try selling a used cat.

Compared to the boats, ATVs, motorbikes, campers, ect, etc that so many collect, bikes are clean and healthy - the more the better!

I find it helps if you try not to count the bikes.

2 cats, but I don't have too many bikes...I've got one for groceries, one for commuting, one for fast riding, one for ladies to borrow, one for nasty weather, one for touring, one for the beach, one that's Pre WWII (everyone needs a pre-war bike, right?), and 3 project frames.

I've got 2 roommates and I figure as long as I keep it to one rideable bike and one project in the main living area i'm well within the limits of Polite Roommatery. I stash the rest on the porch, in the basement and in my bedroom.


Bikes are cool, but they're just things. When the house caught fire I grabbed the cats first and went back for my guitars. The bikes would have burned if they didn't put the fire out.

I think my signature answers this one for me.

Also 2 cats and... Well, lets not get into how many bikes. In your situation, I agree with the advice to focus on quality rather than quantity. Venture more into bike Parts than whole bikes. It's hard, but that's what I'm working on myself. Something about my girlfriend not liking our downstairs littered with bikes. This will also give you more time putzing with the bikes, since you'll end up swapping out brake-sets, crank-sets, etc. Find yourself a nice frame and go from there. Still feed the addiction and end up with a really sweet bike in the end. You can probably limit yourself to two bikes if you try hard enough. A daily beater and a nice bike. ...though if you're like many of us you'll find that your beater keeps getting nicer and now it's hardly a beater and you worry about leaving it locked up places too.


:lol:

Yeah it must be awful wading through that pile of Team Miyatas and DeRosas to try and find a decent bike to ride to the store ;) :lol:


to be perfectly honest I've never tried to convince anyone of anything related to my bike collection. Ya don't like it? too bad, thats me. Same with the cats.

actually I've found it harder to convince people that riding l'Eroica would be fun.

Take up collecting cats.

^ Yeah, I've never worried about it either, except the one factor that my girlfriend does share living space and expenses. She has some right to how the space is used just as I do, so I try not to go too far with quantity of bikes taking up living space. Right now I'm still averaging around 6, so...

Tell your friend that aliens are coming to NYC, and only those harboring other life forms (bicycles) will be spared.
(works for me)

Hey that's pretty good.

If you need more space for bikes though, its pretty easy to see what's gotta go :lol:

Limit yourself to 1 or 2 bikes. Use them. Sell them. Move on to a "new" bike.

Three cats, with another possibly on the way, 11 bikes (not counting one for my wife and one her brother stored here) means I might not be the best judge. The difference is your bikes won't effect other people who live nearby, the bikes don't require a sitter when you're on vacation and the bikes don't scratch your furniture. I'll disagree with my other esteemed colleagues here; if you don't have the space for multiple bikes, and in a Manhattan shoe box you probably don't, just focus on one AWESOME bike. Join a local co-op or work part time at a bike shop to address your blossoming obsession.

I had four bikes in my largeish one bedroom pre-wife apartment and it was definitely a problem space wise.

I'm so lucky to be in a 2200 sq ft house. Yeah, the wife grouses a bit about the bikes, but I try to keep them confined to the family room and she's mostly okay with that.

Seriously! We have similar footage and it's heaven...though I feel like I'm maxed out now.

Zaphod, I didn't know what a L'Eroica was. I found this video...too cool.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcTV9FBHOlM

Several of us leased a cheap warehouse space. Let's just say I have some nice bikes there.

I think Aaron and maybe one more person on this forum know the depths of my OCD.

Lately, I have been on a very quiet selling spree and demonstrating remarkable self control when it comes to acquisitions.

I still have a bike or two around the house as well.

If I had limited space I'd focus on one or two bikes Maggie. From the pic I saw of your fetching Raleigh, I'd say you get one more.

Choose wisely!!