WNG

I'm not a hoarder, I consider myself a collector, and part time flipper. Every thing is quite organized, but to the laymen's eyes, I have too much bike stuff. It is funny (and sad) how a few neighbors came into the garage when I wasn't there, but my wife was parking her car (in the garage!) and gasped at the number of bikes and wheels. One had the nerve to ask, "And you put up with all this?!?" My wife rebutted that there's no problem, I had all this stuff before we got married, and that there's 6 more frames in boxes in the corner. That kind a put the brakes on where they were trying to take the conversation. Dissing on husbands. It's really none of their business, but you can never make these people realize that. I've also gotten the "Why would anyone need more than 1 bike?" Or, "Bikes are for kids."

I agree with Thrifty Bill, I now try to keep my garage door closed from prying eyes. Funny thing is compared to most of the garages here, ours is not full of ***** and inaccessible. Just contains the 'wrong' stuff. So, we're now the eccentric family on our street.

nosefortrouble

I take this as the important lesson and I try to use it as a way to temper my various collections.. In the long run, it's not going to matter at all. I try to stick to just enough stuff as is enjoyable. Sometimes I'm faced with the feeling that if I had a nicer bike, cooler records, more expensive guitars, gee wouldn't that be great.. The list goes on, but it's all pretty futile. It can be a challenge, but one that's worth meeting.

robtown

I cycle between two extremes.
It starts with a surplus of bike parts, wheels, tires, chains - possibly from upgrades or buying an extra item on sale. I might pick up one or more Craiglist or free bikes.
Next, my bike fund is waning and items are clogging the work and storage area. I'll then see a new or different bike frameset and/or donor bike - and start thinking - "all I need is this frame and a rear derailleur and I can build a road/tri/cross/mtb bike". I pick up the frame and start ordering items.
As I wait I'll determine that some planned parts won't work - but if I order more I can make a second bike.
The parts and projects pile up - I have no room to store partially restored bikes. I suffer stress.
I start working off the bikes. First one, then another gets completed and posted on Craigslist. I sell them and start working on the remainder.
Eventually the last bike is sold. My bike fund is healthy.
I feel tense. The bike fund bloats my wallet and starts burning a hole. I start looking at component sales and double point events. All my bikes are tuned, cleaned, and waiting. I feel empty, I suffer stress.
I start trading, buying, putting out posters asking for bikes.
I move back to step one and repeat.....

auchencrow

I've studied what drives this C&V bike psychosis, where we need to have not one but several, or several dozen bikes, and I've concluded that it is nothing less than a very powerful and primordial hunter-gatherer instinct surfacing in us.

"Back in the day" - I mean WWAAAYY back in the day, our tribe relied upon us to hunt and gather, to provide sustenance.

Life was tough!

- There was no eBay or Craig's list or even a thrift store where we could buy mammoths, pterodactyls or brontosauruses, so we spent even more time then stalking such dangerous quarry as we do today looking for "killer deals".

Meanwhile, our wives would stay back in the cave, cleaning, minding the kids and cooking bronto-burgers in anxious anticipation of our return home. - And they NEVER complained about how many things we brought home either. No siree... (We were very chauvinistic back them. )

These instincts carry over in us today, but manifest themselves in other ways. Did you ever notice how your pulse will quicken, and how you will start to perspire, whenever you see that primo Italian road bike for $20 ? - Indeed, it has to be something innate in us, to elicit such a strong physiological response to an external stimulus, such as a simple CL advert!

Obviously - one must conclude that having a lot of bikes is essential to the human condition, and I have no doubt that if this impulse is denied, our very well-being, and that of civilization will most certainly suffer.

zandoval 

The equation will be of little value unless we can apply the Holtzman effect - "S" is really a factor of folding space, not really a matter of what it contains or its volume - Further more all income is disposable - Just look how much of it is disposed of before it ever crosses our hands... Maybe I should have gotten into micro folding bikes... Nano Bikes???

David Newton

I think the "hunter-gatherer" metaphor is flawed.

You don't eat bikes. You only need one bike to get to the hunting grounds.
In the Italian film "the Bicycle Thief" the protagonist can support his family, post WWII, because of his bicycle. Once it is stolen from him, he can no longer work. He spends the remainder of the film searching for his, or another.

I think it is more a condition of the luxury of variety, and having an almost endless choice in our rich culture, and the means to acquire them.

unworthy1

clarifying terms:
"hoarding" is only a problem if a man does it (with bicycles);
If a woman does the same thing (but with shoes or scarves) it's "retail therapy".

Oregon Southpaw

Anytime I see pictures like this (or see hoarder's lots like this)

I feel like I can hear summer trapped; cannonballs at the local pool, baseball cards clothespinned to spokes, hamburgers on the grill, the crack of a baseball bat, the ice-cream truck's warbling melody. I bet the hoarders do too.

WNG

I don't believe it's the hunter/gatherer theory either.
I'd venture to state it has to do with how our living conditions were during our forming years. Were times tight? Constrained budgets, denied desires and wants? Had to go out and earn and save for what you wanted? People who answer yes, will know the value of a dollar early and appreciate the cost of things. They say those who lived through the Great Depression end up unable to throw out anything. "Might use it someday" is the excuse.
Maybe something in our past triggered our behavior.

I know I can't turn down a bargain when it's anything I like or familiar with. I know what said item(s) are worth, then I ask myself will I be using it someday. Then can I afford it?, will I profit from it?, and any negative impacts (storage, expiration, opportunity costs, arguments).
The more disposable income I have, the more lenient my checklist gets though.

mazdaspeed

Don't worry, we will all be vindicated once gasoline becomes less and less affordable, and all of these extra bikes will have real value.

bikenut2011

Bicycle Hoarding = OK

Old Food/ Trash hoarding = Bad

EDIT: Oh, and PET hoarding = Very Bad

matt0ne

Very, very bad.

auchencrow

In my experience, people who lived through the depression did tend to hang on to the things they had, but were very much dis-inclined to purchase more of anything than what they needed. (Certainly my folks would have considered it frivolous to have more bikes (or shoes) than you could wear out.)

- So what other explanations are there?

ftwelder

I have to admit, I hate seeing bikes get scrapped. I have may be 6-7 bikes that are crap columbia whatevers that were usable, and therefore had to be saved. I wish I didn't care. My stuff would look like a "collection" if it wasn't for those things.

It's a darn good thing I didn't get into used bikes earlier.

RobbieTunes

I don't hoard. I'm just the guy the neighbors call "that guy with the bikes."

revelstone

this may not be strictly true. given enough time i can come up with about a 100 reasons to have more than one bike. i can't come up with any reasons at ALL to have more than one wife :-)

bbattle

If only those were Colnagos instead of Muffies. I once talked to a man at a yard sale that said his son used to race bicycles and that he'd moved out and left a bunch of bikes and components and stuff in the basement. I finally talk him into letting me check it out only to find several Kent, Murray, Pacific, Huffy and some other unknown but equally junky brands. Not even a Schwinn or Raleigh in the pile.

531phile 

I agree with you. I remember shopping for my second bike as a teen with my dad. We went to a Bridgestone dealer but I was intimidated with the price for a mountain bike which was about $300-500. I knew it was a quality bike, but I didn't want my dad to fork over so much money so I settled for a Huffy Mountain bike we got at a local wholesale club. I've been trying to make up for this Huffy experience ever since. I don't think I can wash this Huffy stink off my hands. I wash and wash to no avail. :-(

Funny thing is I got a Bridgestone RB-1 later on in life. I sold it like an idiot. :-( It was my size too. For some reason I held onto a Schwinn Prelude that was one size too big for me instead. I don't know what I was thinking.

unterhausen

I keep thinking I'm trying to keep the number of bikes down to a reasonable level. I was trying to find the story of the guy that bought new cars and a complete set of parts for them and stored them in semi trucks. He used to sell parts, but then he had a bad transaction and stopped. He started filling the semi trailers, backing two together and then welding them together. As I recall, the collection sold for quite a bit of money.

3alarmer

knoregs

Step One: "We admitted we were powerless over (old bikes)—that our lives had become unmanageable."

Step Two:"Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."

...

There are 10 more.

~kn

onbike 1939

Not always. My friend owns around one hundred vintage and classic bikes. These are the ones made up and ready to ride and include all the best known names. In addition he has hundreds of parts also including tandems and trikes. All are classics with no trash allowed. To store these he has strengthened his loft-space and has also filled two large wooden huts and a garage. I can't understand it myself but I suppose it takes all kinds.

KonAaron Snake 

Do us a favor...convince him that he has a problem and needs to get rid of 90 immediately. We can all split them up

-holiday76

it's only hoarding if they don't neatly fit in the space you've got alloted for them. Also, that space should not dirctly compete with your normal living space.

At least that's what i tell myself.

frenchbikefan

Hi, i'm a friend of Sheldon B