It's not my wife I have to justify it to, it's myself. I don't have enough time to ride the bikes I already have. So when I do ride, I'm training, not fooling around with a project bike. I miss that, though, and I'd like to get an "art bike" or grail bike. I feel like I should get rid of a bike or 2 first. It's much easier to buy new stuff than get rid of old bikes.

+1

I've got rid of quite a lot over the years and it becomes easier. There's only one bike that, in hindsight, I regret selling. It was a racing bike from the 50's, a Rensch, my first ever expensive, 'proper' racing bike, as opposed to mass made bikes just having drop bars like my previous bikes.

As I've got older my priorities have changed and I have realised they are just metal/plastic/rubber items that can be replaced - except my Rensch :(

Yeah. My take on this is that at some point you don't own stuff, it owns you. When that happens it's time to trim the fat. Life gets easier.

Like the two Gerrys above, I don’t have to justify, but I don't have a compulsion to own.

bored w a cpl bikes, currently planning a radical N-2+1 for a net of N-1

Now that my son is tall enough to fit a 54cm frame, I justify a new bike by giving the old one to him.