Nitram

If you could buy any amount of bicycles and any type.......

How many would you have and what types for a car free life?

Cheers

wahoonc

Well I am moving along in my dreamland...
Xtracycle, Brommie, Bakfiets, a couple more Raleigh Sports/Superbes possibly a couple of the genuine old style dutch bikes. As far as how many...n+1...where n equals the current number of bikes. For the most part my current collection of ridable bikes are all in the utility category. Several can/are used as tour bikes. The only notable exception is my Redline 9.2.5, I normally ride it in fixed mode.

Aaron

Domromer

I'd be happy with one very comfortable bike. I tend to think less is more.

Newspaperguy

Right now I have two bikes. I use my good one for eight or nine months of the year. When we have snow on the ground (and a salt and sand mixture sprinkled on top of it) I switch to a winter beater. The winter bike is an old mountain bike with wide knobby tires, platform pedals and a more upright riding position than my good bike. If something goes wrong with this one, it's going to be quite cheap to fix. Next year, I'm planning to put a bit of work into that bike. A bike trailer would be nice for hauling larger loads in town.

Actually, I'd like to have twice as many bikes in the stable, but that will involve finding someone I love who also prefers to cycle whenever practical.

swwhite

My urban biker's basic five-bike stable:

1. Main commuter. Used for going to work, rack, fenders, good lights. (have it already)

2. Winter beater doubling as multi-modal summer backup. In the summer, this is a backup commuter, or used when it is necessary to take a bike on the rack on the front of the city bus (because it is lighter than the main commuter). In November, it gets studded tires and does duty as the winter beater. (have it already)

3. Urban errand bike. This is old/beat-up/dorky, has no quick-releases, and is something that, if stolen, one could survive without. (have it already, a broken but rideable Schwinn Suburban)

4. A folder. (do NOT have it)

5. A cargo bike. (do Not have it)

Roody

I have four bikes, but 90 % of my riding is on my trusty old hardtail MTB with slicks in the summer and studs in the winter.

Bikes I would like to have: a real nimble and twitchy urban FG streetfighter type bike; a slow and steady touring bike; something with an Xtracycle; an expensive cross country MTB or cyclocross; an expensive road bike.

Roody

True, but some backup is nice, like if you come down to ride to work and you have a flat tire. It's nice to hop on the spare bike instead of being a couple minutes late to work with dirty hands.

Lamplight

I have many more bikes than I need. If it came down to two, I'd keep my commuter/nasty weather bike, and my touring bike. If I could keep four, I'd keep my street-tired "urban assault" mtb and my Nishiki, which is kind of a mix between touring bike and regular road bike. This is where I'd start having problems, because I'd also want to keep my Bertoni, which is a classic steel road frame with modern Campy components. If I were allowed to keep it then I'd end up finding reasons to keep all of my others as well.

Domromer

Yeah thats true.

Ok if I were to give into consumer impulses.

1. A beater(dutch style) that actually rides ok( I live in a crappy neighborhood and don't want to leave my nice bike locked up.)
2. A recumbent (got it already)
3. A nice full sus mountainbike. Something with lots of comfortable travel but could still climb ok.
4. An ugly rigid single speed mtb bike with a rear rack. Something that I can ride around in Baja that won't be a thief magnet, no derailuer to crap out, and a rack for panniers to carry all my photo gear and fishing supplies.( could be the same as my beater)

gerv 

I have two bikes. One very solid commuter and a nicer touring-type bike. I try to spread out the miles equally between these two, so that they are both running pretty well.

More than two bikes means a lot more maintenance work. Less than two bikes means you don't have a backup on the morning you are heading to work and discover that your rear wheel has broken spokes (or a flat or whatever...)

The problem with having too many bikes is that they take up a lot of space in the house. I live in a house with 3 people and we each have a couple of bikes.

JeffS

Directly related to being car-free, or just the bike hobby in general?

for the second...

1) fixed-gear (capable of carrying a rack)
2) commuter (light tourer)
3) xtracycle (like the big dummy)
4) bakfiets (sp?)
5) roadie
6) fs mountain
7) hardtail mountain

Strangely enough, I don't really have any of these bikes at the moment. My hardtail is in pieces, my fixed is a track-oriented bike, my commuter is a cross bike without rack mounts, and I sold my road bike.

I'd be happy enough though just having the right #2 and maybe #1.

lyeinyoureye

Lots of horses...

BarracksSi

Besides a few bikes, I'd also have a rail pass, subway pass, bus pass, friends who own trucks, a credit card so I could rent my own car or van if needed...

Frankly, if I want to fly a thousand miles away for six weeks and don't want to worry about my bike staying safely locked at the airport, or if I need to go a few hundred miles more cheaply & conveniently than by plane, I'm going to have to use some non-bike transport.

Smallwheels

I now have a comfort bicycle with a 32cc motor on it and a RANS Tailwind recumbent. The recumbent is for sale on Craigslist in Montana because I want to try something else. Since I like comfort I want another bike with a front suspension. I have a Thudbuster on my comfort bike and it is really good at stopping the thuds, so whichever hardtail bike I get it will get one of these.

Right now I'm thinking of getting a 2007 Dahon Smooth Hound because it has a front suspension. The small wheels appeal to me. They should make climbing hills easier because the smaller wheels accelerate faster. The terminology for these is "mini-bikes". They make sense to me. A Moulton might be a great bike to have, though I would change the riding position to be more upright.

One thing I would like to have is a fully enclosed velomobile. That won't happen because I live on the top floor of an apartment building without a garage. Having a recumbent delta tricycle is within reason because it could be carried up the stairs and propped upright with the front wheel in the air, which wouldn't take up much space.

Something more in reach would be a single speed 29er with disc brakes. It could be used for trail riding. For riding faster on the road I would have another set of road wheels with disc brakes. That way I could switch wheel sets quickly for different types of terrain.

I wouldn't want to have more than three bicycles. They take up too much space inside. Even with a garage I wouldn't want more than three. On another forum a member said someone he knew bought the house next door just to store his bicycle collection.

Roody

Cool--me too. But what kind of bikes would you have? LCF wants to know!

dougkran

- a vintage BMX at work for lunch / quick errands.
- a nice Cyclocross that I switch wheels on so it doubles as my trainer / road bike. I also spend alot of time just looking at this bike. Its truly beautiful.
- a hardtail mountain bike with child carrier attached, looking for trailer for this one.
- my commuter a vintage kuwahara road bike fixie conversion (exact match of my BMX). This one gets the most mileage, I doubt anyone would steal it. Its fast, light, comfortable.
And lastly, I am building a nice fixie conversion. Its been 5 months now. I have spent way to much $ and way to much time on craigslist and ebay. You could say this has turned into my pastime. I plan on using this one on the local community rides - Critical mass, ect...
Once that bike is done, I hope to be at the end of my bike collecting journey. Allthough I am keeping one eye open for a more unique frame.

tsl

My lifestyle needs are simple, so I don't need things like an xtracycle, bakfiets or something to pull trailers. I don't have room for an xtracycle's or bakfiet's worth of groceries in my apartment. Nor do I have anything I want or need to haul. Dutch bikes, mountain bikes (either 26 or 29), folders, recumbents, velomobiles, cruisers and fixies just don't appeal to me. It's personal taste more than anything.

My current stable works well for me. My Trek Portland is my primary bike. It fits my needs so well and works so well for me that wouldn't be a major sacrifice if I could only have the Portland. Fortunately, I can own more than one bike, so I have an older Trek 1000 for my fun rides and as backup fair-weather commuter. My hybrid is in the basement as a backup foul-weather bike. It hasn't been ridden since August.

So responding to the original question, my dream bikes are very similar to what I already own, just upgraded. I'm attracted to Seven for their made-to-measure Ti frames. I'd probably replace the 1000 with an Seven Axiom SG, and the Portland with a Seven Tsunami.

CommuterRun

In this daydream I would have a Surly Pugsley or/and a Electra Townie8 700c in addition to whatever other bikes. A touring bike built to my specs, which would make it a touring/cyclocross. Maybe a couple something elses, i.e. road bike, MTB, etc.

ralph12

My current bike, plus...

A 3-speed classic raleigh, 3-speed beach cruiser, a racing bike I could ride while leaning, but not hunching over forward, a touring bike, and a recumbent. Oh, and a trike of some kind, pref. with electric assist.

discosaurus

I'm very happy with what I have and I have simple needs, so given the fantasy I'd only add one bike.

*My current Trek 7.2fx Maybe a fancier hybrid if we're talking pure fantasy here. (but not likely; this bike is perfect in so many ways) with two wheelsets--on road and off road. This is the main fair weather commuter and all-around fun bike.
*my current beater, an old Raleigh Record mixte updated with modern components and fenders, rack, basket, flowers. The happy rainy day bike, also the preferred grocery getter and (soon to be) beer hauler.
*I will eventually add a sturdy, steel, small-wheeled, diamond frame, road bike capable of long distance and perhaps loaded touring, maybe a Surly LHT with a custom paint job--red or black/pink.

BarracksSi

Heh... oh, okay...

A fast road bike, a downhiller MTB (might as well go all-out, iMO.. lol), a fast city bike, and a step-thru ("girl's") commuter with rack, fenders, generator hub, and multi-speed hub. Plus a beater POS for winter and parking outside a downtown theater.

Abneycat

A new frame for the Xtracycle, as i'm having *lots* of problems with chain clearance now. A shim for the old seatpost would be nice too. Otherwise, my "dream bike" is as close enough to finished as i'd like to see. Sure, there are always things to improve, like moving up from Acera to Deore, or getting a nicer hub motor like a BionX instead of a Crystalyte, but these are things which fall into the realm of "always more" rather than meeting what my needs really are.

I'd also like to have a recumbent bicycle to enjoy going out with the local bike clubs and enjoying time riding around next to the girlfriend on. Nothing fancy, maybe an Actionbent Rail Metro. If I was really into it, maybe a Rans Stratus. I hear you can fit the Xtracycle onto those, so then i'd be able to just have one bike (aside from the winter bike) again.

Oh, and a winter bike. Already have that

Ideally, i'd also like to find homes for the bicycles that don't get used, like the FS bike or the old Peugeot. My dream stable has what I *need*, not what I don't really want to ride, but still have to maintain. Ah, the spring gear swap is coming someday!

Roody

I want to add to my list. Two bikes for my stepson and our best friend to ride when they're visiting me. Make them hardtail MTBs--one with a big frame and one that's little--for this Mutt & Jeff duo.

M_S

In terms of pure utility:
- A touring bike always set up with front and rear racks. For long distance load carrying (and touring, duh). Moving backwards on this one...selling my touring bike since I don't have the time to tour much.
- Xtracycle. Missoula where I live most of the year is flat so maybe I'd do a 1x9 or internal hub. Definitely 26 inch wheels.
- A rando/sport touring bike. Would be my main bike. The other motive is I'd love to do some rando riding eventually. This would be for light loads/commuting too. I think it would have caliper brakes, not cantis like the tourer.
- Ultra beater singlespeed. For those really nasty winter days.

Branching into purely recreational riding:
- Nice cyclocross bike. I'm quite happy with my current one, but titanium would be awesome.
- 29er mountain bike/moster cross with disc brakes and dirt drop bars. Steel or titanium.
- light aluminum hardtail mountain bike. Or maybe even a full squish.
- Carbon road race bike


n+1, as they say...

gerv 

This hints at my problem. I feel I have enough bikes for myself, so now I'm constantly advising my kids and wife on what they should be buying. Last Fall, I picked up an old beater Fuji MTB from the early 90s and now I'm trying to upgrade it a bit for my son.

The result of all this is having too many bikes in the garage.