SurlyLaika

So I presume that most of us living carfree are doing it because of the environmental toll of oil, because of minimalism and frugal living, because of some spiritual aspect like say increased mindfulness, or simply because it's fun. That being said, how many bikes do you own or do you want to own?

I have a CC that doubled as a touring bike but is now back to road bike commuter duty. I would like a Salsa Vaya or Surly Ogre as my wet weather commuter/heavy duty touring/mountain bike, and finally, I would like a beater, perhaps a fixie or single-speed. I hate to admit that I fantasize about these bikes more than I'd like. It goes against my minimalist convictions, my desire to be more mindful, my belief that things do not make you happy, experiences and being content with what is makes you happy, etc. I wish I could just be satisfied with my CC but I'm always looking at other bikes online. Does anyone else have a similar problem?

Caretaker

I'm not car-light for altruistic reasons but because I'd rather ride than drive and living in a city where everything is accessable by bike I don't really need to use the car hardly ever.

How many bikes?

I've got three and my wife has one. Altogether, we have storage space for four so if I did buy another bike I'd probably need to get rid of one to make room. Sure I'd like to buy a new bike but don't really need one so I'll keep the money and probably spend it cycletouring.

SurlyLaika

what bikes do you have? are they all different enough to justify having three? not judging you btw.

tiberon

I have twenty three bikes, I ride all but three and just one of those is not rideable.

chewybrian 

I guess I'm the exception, as I'm car free just because I'd rather spend the money on other things (and because I'm willing and able to log all the miles on the bike).

I only have 5 bikes now: touring, racer, hybrid, city, beater.

Yes, I want more! I really want a chrome rando bike, or an old Hetchins. I spend time on Ebay and other sites looking at vintage racers that I might like to have someday. I find it easy to justify buying more bikes, as I've only spent a fraction (so far) of the money I've saved by not driving. If I can keep on riding, I can save enough to pay for some very special bikes, and I imagine I will (keep riding AND keep buying).

Caretaker

My main bike is an Orbit Expedition (sig. picture) steel frame, 26in rim touring bike that I've had 10 years and wasn't new when I bought it. This bike I go touring on, mainly in France.

Everyday commuter/runaround is a Giant CRS3 that's about 4 years old.

I also have a Giant OCR3 roadbike that I do my 'fred' thing on at weekends especially in the summer otherwise in bad weather or winter weekends I use the Orbit.

Why not just one? Well, I'd be afraid my tourer would get stolen if I used it daily and the road bike which I only bought because it was in a sale is light and helps me keep up with my cycling friends when out at weekends.

My wife has a Giant Halfway folder.

harshbarj

I myself am car free simply because it is a cheap way to get around.

I have 4 bikes, of which 1 is in good rideable condition. Another can be ridden but has shifting issues as well as a lot of broken spokes. The other 2 need a complete rebuild.

Ideally I would have 3 bikes. A commuter, a cargo bike, and a recreation bike. I would not rule out a 4th bike to act as a backup commuter, just in case.

jr59

I am car free because I want to be. It's fun and I like the idea of riding a bike everywhere.

I have to many bikes. A custom Spectrum Ti road bike ( campy 11 speed chours)
A mid 80's Davidson Impulse road bike. (restored with C-record)
Custom Davidson Touring steel (campy 11 speed chours)
Trek Sawyer, 29er, ( rholoff and chris king)
Trek 620 ( this is a mixed bag of stuff, Phill wood hubs and bottom bracket, sun tour brakes, and shifters, and a bunch of other good stuff)
Thinking of getting Retrotec to build me a Fat tire touring type bike, but seeing his long tail, I might talk to him about that.

Sold my Trek FX, Surly CC, Rivendell Ranmolette and a bunch of others

Booger1

I build cars for a living and don't have one that I drive.I like bicycle riding,keeps me slim and trim.......and sane.

I've had the same bike for 33 years.I take care of this one,it does what I need it to do,don't see a need for another.

It's gone every place I've asked it to go and some places I wished it wouldn't have.....

zeppinger

I have never owned more than one at a time but am currently in the market for my first, second bike. When I was a poor college student I rode a pretty nice Giant hybrid (FCR3) that did everything I wanted to do, including the entire Pacific Coast Highway over the summer. Now that I am a working adult I can afford just about any bike I want because I don't spend a lot of money on anything else (besides traveling and student loans of course). For the last three years I have been perfectly happy with my Surly LHT but my new location has changed my needs. My new house is not within good walking distance of the subway system so want to buy a beater of some kind that I can lock up and not worry about outside the station. I would never do that with my LHT. Not because its the most expensive bike in the world but it is the most expensive thing that I own!

Artkansas 

I have a utility bike and a recumbent that do most of the riding chores. The recumbent is for longer cruises like doing the Big Dam Bridge 100. I got it as a present to myself when I had paid off all the debts from my divorce. The utility bike started its existance as a hard frame mountain bike and now has a rack, fenders and trailer hitch. I have a chopper that's strictly for fun and mostly riding in parades. Then I have two classic ten speeds. One I've had since the 70s and have put many miles on it before it reached retirement because it just wasn't set up for my current needs. The other I got when a co-worker moved away. I'm slowly working towards making it into a touring bike.

tsl

Four. One four-seasons, all-conditions commuter, one three-seasons commuter, two roadies.

SurlyLaika

so the consensus seems to be that I need more bikes! haha, well...maybe when I get a job cos being broke sucks. My gloves are beat to hell, so I'll need to buy those immediately. My front fender snapped so I'll need those for the rain, too. $80? doable.

wahoonc

Car Light...number of bikes...too damned many! According to the head bean counter (my bride) there are 31 bikes in my shop, but I think she missed a couple of frames

Primary riders are old Raleigh 3 speeds, followed by a "City bike" with a 7/8 speed IGH happens to be a Redline R530 (no longer made). I also have a couple of bikes set up for touring the rest belong to my wife, kids or are just for messing about with. I enjoy working on bikes and like vintage stuff. If I actually lived car free and had to cut back on the herd we would probably have 6 or so for the two of us. FWIW my DD has 2-3 bikes and live car light in Keen, NH. DS lives car free in Boston and only has one bike that he is waiting on dear old dad to finish building up for him. IF he is lucky it may be ready by Christmas, if not the Spring Thaw is the alternate date.

Aaron

gerv 

Ironical being attached to detachment. Amazing how vices rear they heads up in so many forms

That said, I really get a kick out of looking at bikes online too. The only thing that prevents me from going completely overboard is a general sense of laziness. Tracking down fine bikes and fixing them up is a lot of work.

I do have 3.5 bikes at present. I have a nice 6 year old Bianchi Volpe tourer, a late 80s low-end Fuji frame that I've just build up for commuting and a souped-up hybrid I use for winter commuting. The half bike is a Mercier road bike from the 1970s. Lovely bike. But I'm a few parts short of a complete bike.

jr59

I love half bikes!

Is it the front half or the back?

(sorry)!

Roody

I'm down to two bikes now and both could be described as beaters, I guess. I have a Haro hardtail MTB, about 6 years old, and a Fuji foad bike from the late 1970s that's in excellent condition with original components. Hoever, my son hs been riding the Fuji a lot lately, so I think he wants to adopt it away from me.

I usually only have a bike for a year or two. They wander in and out of my life, no questions asked.

bragi

I've never had more than one bike for any length of time. I've tried having multiple bikes, but when I find a bike I really like, I just want to ride it all the time, and having a beater around just takes up space. For the last few years, I've been riding a touring bike (LHT), and it serves my purposes well. It's an excellent commuter, a tolerable weekend fun bike, and of course very good for touring. However, my bicycle interests are narrow. I don't do roadie club rides, nor am I any longer into serious MTB; I just want to get around, sometimes for long distances, on paved roads, or at least decently-graded dirt roads, and I'm not usually in a huge hurry. The vast majority of the time, I'm just going to work, to the grocery store, or to meet friends, and one well-maintained bike is enough.

ro-monster

You know, I've been told I'm a few parts short of a complete bike, too.

I have three bikes. There are three or four others that I'd like to have; all but one are folders or mini-velo, and all of them are at least moderately expensive. What can I say? I've always loved beautifully designed weird things.

My bikes:

• Giant FCR3, your basic entry level hybrid, which I'm planning to sell soon. I bought it when I returned to bikes after 30+ years without one, and wasn't sure how much I would ride. (Little did I know...)
• Pacific Reach City, nominally a folding bike, but really more of a mini-velo that can be broken down to pack in a suitcase. 20" wheels, full suspension, integrated rack that pivots to accommodate the suspension. This is my main transportation bike.
• Specialized Myka Expert. In spite of the name, an entry level full-suspension mountain bike. I will never even begin to use it to its full potential, but it's so much fun to ride that I often ride it places this kind of mountain bike was never intended to go, such as my commute to work. My only regret is that I didn't spend a little more on a lighter frame.

dahut

Ill go with The Rules:

========================================

Rule #12The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.

While the minimum number of bikes one should own is three, the correct number is n+1, where n is the number of bikes currently owned.

This equation may also be re-written as s-1, where s is the number of bikes owned that would result in separation from your partner.

========================================

I like to have the required three:
1. A road bike, as in a racing-type road bike.
2. A "heavy duty" road bike, like a touring style bike.
3. A "hauler," suitable for grocery getting and so on.


I also keep a mudslinger around, too, for off-roading fun.

SurlyLaika

now that I think about it, a huge reason I decided to go carfree is it's just so damned expensive to drive a car in gasoline, insurance, maintenance, and tickets. Also, driving stresses me out and puts me in a crappy mood.

Sixty Fiver

17 bikes and then my wife and daughters have 8 more between them.

Besides being a car free cyclist, bicycles are also my business although the bikes I have are my own and all get ridden and / or used for teaching tools as I also do a lot of classes on maintainence and include a lot of history.

trike_guy

We have two street/commuter bikes and a cargo/children trike. I would like another box-style cycle so that the wife and I can each ride one when we want to take the kids and a pile of crap somewhere. The trouble is deciding between a two wheeled (ex: Bullitt) or a three-wheeled (ex: Nihola) solution.

Stealthammer

One for covering most of the riding that I do here in Indiana:

- Fisher Opie used for freeriding and winter commuting with updated wheel, disk brakes, drivetrain
- Serrota T-Max used mostly for daily commuting equiped with mostly XTR and carbon part and Spinegy wheels
- Salsa Campion updated with full 105 group and lightweight wheels and other parts
- Pake SS/FG old school build with a parts group selection that "won't break"
- Redline Monocog SS primarily built fo Indiana's "no real mountain terrain"

dahut

Which would explain the tickets.....