Why is it I have such a hard time selling my vintage bikes? I know they must go, don't have room, wife is tired of them hanging about the house, but when prepping them for sale, my mind starts looking at them as precious pieces of functional art, crafted not just to use, but to reflect timeless workmanship in their build. Each part had to look good as well as function well. They don't even need paint to dazzle the eyes!

Am I a hoarder?

Yes.

This informative article from the University of Calif at San Diego says that you are not a hoarder unless you experience significant distress as a result of your behavior.
If your behavior distresses your wife, then SHE is the hoarder, and needs to get help.

Are you looking through my stuff? Don't look through my stuff. It's MY stuff.

Are we gonna haveta talk about this out back?

OK. Outside. Let's go.

Some great insight on hoarding v. collecting from this thread

Both should probably be in my sig, but I'm kind of attached to my campagYOLO image for the moment.

Don't worry about the latest epithet-du-jour.
"Hoarder" is like "dysfunctional" is like "codependent"--just a bunch of words used by people who are unhappy in their lives who watch TV shows like Dr. Phil and the latest cr@p "reality" shows.
Live your life, enjoy your bikes and scr3w the labels. If your wife wants you to get rid of some bikes, and you want to stay with her, find out how many she's okay with, and do it because you want to keep her, not because you're worried about being labeled a "hoarder."

you ought to sell one of the inexpensive ones to a friend for a modest price and get him/her started in the same hobby. it will feel great, and you'll get rid of a bike. this way, you'll be keeping the psychological problems 'in the family,' so to speak.

yoloooooooooo

How many bikes do you have? Where and how are they stored? If they are infringing on your wife's space and you value them more than her feelings, you might have an issue. At the end of the day, they're just bikes. There are a lot of them out there and there are always others...try selling a fixed number - like four - and get one nicer one to replace them.

Quality over quantity.

I worked my way up to almost 70 bikes. Slowly, I've depleted the inventory down to 48 bikes. Now, we want to move to a house with no basement. Although I've secured an additional garage space for the bikes, I have to rent a storage unit to store the hoard while we sell the current home. Hoarding has it's down side but it's fun when someone asks about a bike, and all that has to be done is go to the basement, take a picture of the brand and model in question and post it.
I don't know that we are hoarders as much as taking advantage of buying what we could not afford years ago.

I feel lucky in this respect. I like bikes. But I don't like every bike. I'm highly selective.
Concentrate on the finer stuff. Or a particular niche.

Touchdown.

I've been selling like I was having a fire sale.

Treated myself yesterday to a new one though, so never forget to have fun with this hobby.

Remember, life's too short to ride crappy bicycles.

+1

After visiting photogravity and observing his 40ish bikes, I feel much better.
One tandem on the porch
2 in the entrance
2 in the livingroom
3or4 tandems in the dining room
i am sure there is at least one upstairs!
and the basement is almost wall to wall.
dallas has a great wife to allow all this,
It's a mixed blessing, I told him to thin out his fleet,
in my opinion if the bike don't bring joy, let it go.
i need to do some serious thinning when I go back...

Nice answer!

The only thing I'd really like is a more modern tandem - my wife has an only one tandem rule (very reasonable). I just can't see letting the triplet go, it's so unique and fun.

One potential solution is a tandem with couplers that can live in the basement, but that's serious $$$.

I will let other be the judge of that, but I am just like you!!

I have what a true hoarder will never have -- enough.

I like that idea of selling some off and getting a nicer one. Been thinking of treating myself to a Colnago , Pegoretti , etc. (just one) . As you can see from my modest list of cycles , I may have to dump 5 or 6 . Yikes !!

don't think i have a prob yet, though i remember i bought this shelves for 'books'...

I'm like John I have enough, I do however have a prodigious stash of parts that I will probably never use
And I just can't let them go. Doesn't everyone need 6 or 7 pair of Mavic GP4 rims?

+1 !!!

I'm not sure what I'd get rid of. The smaller Pugeuot is going to my niece for graduation present; the mongrel Pug is my bar bike. I've had the Super Course on CL for a bit, I really don't like the way it rides. The Allez is my fixie, the winterbike is just too handy to get rid of, my Trek 560 is probably superfluous but it just rides so nice, the 616 is my all-rounder daily bike. I loaned the VeloSoleX to my sister, so at least that's one out of the way. There's NO way I'm getting rid of the Professional. And I have two more inbound fairly shortly; both 531 Raleighs, both as bare frames, which at least lets me use some parts.

I dunno. It's cheaper than a nudie-bar habit and healthier than crack.

I could sell any bike I own tomorrow if the price was high enough; realistically I need two bikes and the tandem - maybe a third as a beater. I have the space and I enjoy the ones I have - but at the point where they impact my life, or my wife's, sianara.

My old vinyl habit was far worse than the bikes from a space and PITA perspective. The day I abandoned my vinyl was liberating.

My problem is that I always end up buying hard luck cases and bring them back to life and beauty. While that's probably a good thing I get so invested in them (and I don't mean financially) it's hard to let go. I don't have a huge herd, gomango has seen all of them in 5 minutes! , but they all occupy a place in me and the thought of any of them "going" is really, really hard.

Is that hoarding? Probably not. Is that psychotic? Maybe.