I know this is a bike forum and most of you have more than one bike, but what's the point?

I wouldn't want a second bike collecting dust in my garage. I understand how having a bike for all-terrain vs one for road riding could be helpful but wouldn't acquiring a second set of wheels/tires to switch off of one bike be cheaper? Perhaps I'm just not acknowledging the logic of having two bikes. You can only ride one at a time.

Lots of reasons. First,if you're commuting by bike,it's nice to have a backup. You get ready to leave and find out you've got a flat,you can mess with fixing it and be late for work,or just grab the spare bike. If you crash,the bike gets damaged,or stolen,and you only have one bike,you're hosed. Next,you can't always just swap the wheels to go from road to dirt. My BBU's and F600 were designed to swap from skinny 700's to 26" MTB knobbies;they have the clearance,frame geo,and disc brakes to make this as easy as a wheelset swap. If you've got rim brakes,swapping wheel size is a big deal. And there's a big dif offroad between 700c cross tires and fat MTB knobbies. Finally,it's nice to have a beater to lock up in sketchy areas. No way would I lock up my SuperSix in front of the Black Cat or 9:30 Club to see a show. Wouldn't sweat doing the same with my Pt Reyes.

For me I have a Trek Fitness bike and in September I will getting a road bike. Most of week rides are in the 20 - 30 mile range and usually on the MUP and I ride some on weekends with my wife exclusively on the MUP at very moderate speeds. The MUP's around hear can be a bit rough for a road bike and it is very difficult to get any speed. I plan on riding the road bike on weekends for longer/faster rides.

I have one bike with rack, rear baskets & fenders for rain/groceries.
It's HEAVY and not much fun for "pleasure" riding or simple commuting.
Thus the hybrid. There's no way I would have ridden the "grocery getter" 70 miles last Wed.

Lots of reasons, I suppose, but I find that in practice, my spare bikes do mostly gather dust, as I tend to be serially monogamous when it comes to bikes.

Some have bikes dedicated for commuting, touring, and shopping, with racks, fenders and pannier bags, and then have another bike dedicated for exercise and speed with the lightest weight possible.

Since a second bike collecting dust is something you wouldn't want, my guess a second set of wheels collecting dust would also bother you. You can only ride one set at a time.

Also, aren't a 2012 Raleigh Detour 4.5*and*'90s model Quest Sierra MTB two bikes? So what's the question again?

My story might enlighten you.
I started out 3 years ago with my hybrid.
Man, do I love that bike!
I designed it to be the most versatile bike possible and it still is.
It can do fast road riding and moderate off road riding.
It has various hand positions and an aerobar for even more comfort.
I loved it, I still love it, and it's the perfect bike for riding with my wife and kids or for taking on holidays in the woods.
I thought I would never need another bike.

Then ... after some time ... I got to know myself as a cyclist.
It turned out I had quite a bit of power and I found myself passing road bikes constantly while riding my hybrid.
Furthermore ... I started loving it.
I found myself not liking to ride in mud or sand ... no ... I like speed
My hybrid has a 52 chain ring and I liked to hammer it and ride 25mph with it.
I felt the urge to test myself and so I entered a local recreational TT with my hybrid and did pretty good considering the bike.
That's when I got the virus.

Not long after that I assembled a TT bike.
Man, do I love that bike!
It's fast, it's sleek, it's cool, it's aggressive, it rides and kinda looks like a fighter plane
I did some more recreational TT's and even got a disc wheel and everything.

Then a year after, I noticed how my legs had grown very muscular but my arms were still tiny.
Not that I care much for my looks, but it looked odd to me.
I started swimming more and one day I noticed a poster on the wall of our local pool advertising a new triathlon club near my town.
I joined and started doing weekly Sunday morning club rides.
First I started out riding my hybrid, but when the strongest riders at the club would hammer it ... I just couldn't follow.
At 22+mph the differences between bikes really start to show, you know.
Then I started riding my TT bike, which was fine for the first hour or so, but after 2 hours I simply couldn't take the aggressive position any more.

So ... two weeks ago ... I got myself a road race bike
Man, do I love that bike!
It's the perfect compromise between my hybrid and my TT bike.
It can go very fast, but still remains comfortable enough.
It's light, it shifts like a dream and it absorbs road buzz much better than my stiff aggressive fighter plane.
Once it'll be outfitted with an aerobar ... it'll be even better.
After 2 hours of riding 20mph with the club I still feel powerful and I have transitioned from being one of the normal riders to being one of the stronger riders.
Being strong on a bike has everything to do with position and comfort.

There you have it ... N+1

N+ how many? I have a bunch of bikes. And still had nothing to ride last week!

I have my original MTB from the early 90s. It needs a head set and a bunch of other parts have worn out and been replaced over time. I have a sentimental attachment to this thing and don't want to ride it into the ground so I "retired" it so to speak. Being "retired" there is no "need" to replace the headset so it is not really eligible to be un-retired.

I have my Trek 820 Wonder Bike which is set up to haul groceries and pull the kid trailer. North Road style bars, super wide and squish and comfy gel-seat with springs. Basket, rack and all that jazz. I'm riding that thing more than 5-10 miles? No way!

I have my Gary Fisher low-level hard-tail. Geared like a goat 2.1 Veloceraptors. Pretty good off-road but on road? I got stuck last weekend and had to peddle the thing 4 miles of street. The whole thing was like riding through sand.

Then I have my "road" bike. Specialized Tricross. I love this bike and of hem all this one is the one that I am referring to when I use the phrase "my bike". It was in the shop, out of service, for a week last week.

I have my C&V Marathon. She got called up to the Bigs while the Tricross was in the shop and promptly broke a spoke at the furthest point from home on my favorite loop.This is a chronic condition that I though was fixed. I think that this is the injury that gets her put out to pasture. Even if I get the wheel rebuilt, I'll not likely trust her again for any sort of serious ride.

So, there you go. A whole bunch of bikes and nothing to ride the roads on for a week. So that's N+ a whole bunch and I was still on foot! Now, if I had a bike that was "similar to" my Tricross it would have seemed silly, right until the point where I "needed" it.

Also, keep in mind that this is from the point to view of a totally recreational rider. If I were commuting I would DEFINATELY have a spare ready to go and people who race have several similar bike ready to chose from depending on the even.

Sorry if my first post was misleading, I wasn't necessarily saying it was a bad thing to have more than one bike for back up.

As for the two bikes in my garage, that's where the idea for this thread came from, I'm tired of seeing the big box MTB (quest..) just sitting and collecting dust so I'll be giving it to my uncle who's looking for a cheap bike. And next year(or the year after) I'll probably be looking into a road bike(something lighter, faster) and I'm sure I wouldn't want the Hybrid just sitting around either but I'll cross that bridge when I get there

So far I'm a just a one-bike guy. I love the bike, takes me just about anywhere I want to go. However, a couple weeks ago while riding through a local Metropark I noticed the signs for the mountain bike trails and instantly got an itch to check them out, but knew my bike wouldn't be able to handle them. I've been monitoring Craigslist since, hoping to find a bargain. After that though, I can't imagine wanting another bike, but then again I never know what will pique my interest next.

Functionality is the point.

Bike #1 : Town bike: set-up to carry groceries & run errands.
Bike #2 : Fixed gear road bike, old school effective training and fun.
Bike #3 : Road bike: I don't race anymore but I do ride for fitness and fun.

None will substitute for any other and all get ridden.
I do have several versions of #3 just because.

-Bandera

If I didn't have n+1 I wouldn't have been able to ride today. I own a Trek 8.4 DS which I use for light trails (with an extra set of wheel with wide tires). If I'm out for a leisurely ride on MUPs I use it with the 700 x 38 tires that came with it. I put it in the shop last Friday for some tune-up work amongst other things. Today I rode my Felt Z85 and was able to ride more miles before it got too hot.

My n+1:

Hybrid: Great to get a few groceries, has a rack installed with a bag and panniers. Handles bumpy roads, dirt, and rain well, goes moderately fast. Good for commuting. Not good for long rides.

Road: Great for everything else. It's lean and fast, and doesn't have many accessories. Good for exercise and accelerates much more quickly than the hybrid, and I can ride it for a long time. Terrible on bumpy roads, dirt, rain.