This is my new motto.I am currently parting two somewhat overlapping bikes built on lower end framesets and replacing them with one colnago that will cover both of their uses.

How many is too many? I have no clue...haven't reached that stage...yet! Current fleet is over 35 and under 50.

Aaron

pic request.

Therein lies the solution. We basically bought a warehouse, three houses down from our house. Now if we lived in the Twin Cities, such an approach would have been pretty costly. Here in BFE, not so bad.

2013 plan is to add on to the "warehouse".

I have 6 vintage Trek road bikes, 5 vintage Trek mtn bikes, 2 newer LeMond road bikes
also a Centurian Iron man frame that is the only one I need to part with. I am at the point where if I
get another bike I feel I need to get rid of one I have.
I have a problem turning away vintage Treks.

When you look at a bicycle in your collection and it no longer does anything for you. You dont get excited about it though you keep it anyway because you like to have a lot of bicycles, then you have a concern. If every bicycle in your collection means something to you then you dont have a problem. I have 13 bicycles, 2 are for sale that brings me to 11. 9 are Classic. I want more bicycles but they are specific bikes that I want. im sure that that number will grow. If I loose interest in the bike I should sell it.

Another good measure if you have to many bicycles is if you have bicycles in rooms that bicycles shouldnt be in. Another good indicator is if you have a bicycle where your wife used to sleep.

Not Gospel. just some thoughts.

[QUOTE/]Another good indicator is if you have a bicycle where your wife used to sleep.[/QUOTE]

I am reaching the point where I'll be running out of room. So my new year's resolution is to sell the bikes that are not going to be ridden or hung on the wall in the non-fixie household, which means almost everything between 52 and 59 cm.

I limit myself to three or four daily riders, one or two of which get sold and replaced each year. Those are the 'mine' bikes.

Then there is the never-ending stream of bikes I build with the intention to sell, this year about two dozen. Start building when the weather turns cold, sell in March/April (arranging bike viewings around nice riding time), pick up the inevitable custom builds in April/May/June. The rest of the time I ride. And think about bikes to build.

We had six of us splitting a little over 3,500 sq. ft.

It was like a big boy club house.

Bicycles, motorcycles, cars and a sailboat I was prepping for the market.

We had a full kitchen and access to the roof for bbqs.

It was a very sweet arrangement while it lasted.

That sounds very fun

um all of them

[QUOTE]This would have made me stop...so yea...maybe ya do have a problem.

It almost seems a little too simplistic, but I think these guys have it nailed.

I know I have too many bikes when it feels like my bikes feel like a burden to maintain and store. I'm currently attempting to get every bike I own into running order - no easy task when you have too many bikes! Luckily both mine and my wife's #1 and #2 bikes are very low maintenance and modern so they don't occupy much of my time.

This is too many:

4 maxes me out these days, unless I get a bigger space.

I'm good with that. 4. Yeah.

That's three more than I can ride at any one time ....

I'm glad others have the disease. It makes life so much easier. Like me just showing the pic above to my wife. Now she thinks there's 2 of us. Thanks lonesomesteve.

Once in a while my wife complains we have too many bikes, but i just have to show her a picture of something for sale that I know she will like, and she says,
"OH thats nice! How much is it?"

OK, so I decide to thin the herd to three categories
Antiques Highwheel. boneshaker(future), 20's bike, 30's bike, 40's bike, 50's and a tandem
Classic road two French, two Italian, two British, two Japanese, one Belgian, one Spanish
Evolution road two bikes with less than ten clicking cogs, made out of metal, one of burnt wood.
Modern one road, one MTB and a tandem and may be some type of toy or four (snow, BMX, trials, DH)
Fun one snow bike, one townie.

That would get me under thirty. I think that is a realistic goal.

I must have married her sister!

Just think how many more bikes he could fit in the yard if he just got rid of the pools!

+1 Guy has too many pools. Bikes, he is doing OK.

I'm glad we all can agree on that!

totally a personal thing. Depends on space, disposition of whoever you share your space with, your own preferences, and what you believe warrants bike ownership. I see all sorts of warrants here (you must ride it & if you don't then get rid of it, if it's different-keep it, N+1, etc.) and I'm sure they work in their own context. For me, it's about enjoyment - some are to ride, some are interesting in a historical or maybe an artistic sense, and some were just screaming deals that I keep around to have on hand to flip up as I evolve my collection to nicer bikes (ie, without spending more money). It's also nice to be able to build/rebuild/whatever bikes for friends which is something I've started doing on a fairly regular basis...so spares being around makes that endeavor extremely affordable. I've always collected stuff. It's quite possible that there will be a time when I prefer to have far fewer bikes (ie, limit them to singular examples to meet realistic needs) & that's fine. With other stuff I've collected in the past there has always been an ebb & flow of mass...which inherently takes space. In the past it was cars & obscure Italian car parts...so, from one perspective bikes take up *far* less space and are cleaner too! haha. Bottom line, it's a personal call (that also involves the persons you live with, of course)