aliasfox

I have a primary road bike (Lynskey), two backup road bikes (Bianchi or Cannondale, depending on which coast), and a commuter bike that is mostly a flat bar gravel bike (road rear tire and cassette, easy enough to swap out if I wanted to turn it into a gravel rig).

It took 14 years to acquire my second bike, and only four years to acquire the next two.

Given where I am for the next year (Northern CA), I’d love to give gravel a serious shake at some point, or even dip my toe back into XC - haven’t done any MTBing since high school. But I don’t think my wife wants any more bikes in the garage…

MinnMan

I am fortunate to have the wherewithal to own however many bikes I decide I should have (except for the space limitations in my basement)

One thing I find essential is to have two road bikes, both ready to go.

For example, I wake up in the morning and am headed out to a group ride and find that bike #1 has a flat tire (even though it wasn't flat the night before). I grab the other bike and go, without missing the ride. Or, bike#1 has a mechanical problem and it will take a few days (or longer) to source the part. I'm still good.

Bike #2 was my main road bike until I bought Bike #1. i am very glad that I kept the older bike. It still gets used.

Russ Roth

Trainer bike just means finding a 15-20yo, 2x10 speed road bike in generally good condition. My wife leaves her 2006 trek pilot permanently on the trainer and hasn't removed it in 3 years despite how nice the bike is, and it is nice.


Getting by with three just doesn't work, you're missing the mtb, single speed, tourer, and track bike. Note, track bike and singlespeed are not the same thing. Track is for the track with narrow tires and no brakes. Single speed should be able to fit us to a 38c, can be heavy, and have brakes. A hybrid is also nice to keep around for those rides with people who just ride bikes but aren't into heavy or fast riding. I actually need that road bike though, I've got mine and my daughter's road/cross bikes set up with cross tires and would have preferred a road ride today but wasn't going to waste time swapping tires.

baj32161

No...for me, 3 bikes would be ideal. I do not ride MTB. I do not tour, I have no interest in single speed (or fixed gear) nor do I want or have ever wanted a track bike.

I was perfectly clear in my desires.

However, I absolutely agree with the requirements for a trainer bike. That is pretty much my 5hink7nf aoe9.

Kapusta

I now use an “All Road” bike (think Gravel Light) with fast 38mm slicks for all my paved and gravel road riding. Sold the dedicated pavement bike.

That got me down to 4 bikes

• All Road
• Commuter/utility
• Fat Bike
• FS MTB

choddo

And if the trainer is direct drive, even easier.

I have 3 bikes for this exact reason (well, and another one but who’s counting) but now my daughter wants to use the trainer so I have to keep swapping frames (my son does too but luckily he has the same size frame as me)

so now I’m thinking I need two trainers.

SurferRosa

Three has been the perfect number for much of our existence. It's a good number.

I currently have six, or two sets of three, which may be one set too many. But that number makes it more fun to both ride and tinker.

jpescatore

Another 3 bike data point: (1) Midlife crisis carbon road bike for hilly and long road rides; (2) What these days is called a gravel bike, for riding with my wife and doing rides/tours on gravel/rail trails etc. and (3) 30 year old Trek 520 that most of the time sits in the basement on a trainer for Zwift rides.

I did (N + 1 -2) to get down to 3 from 4 by donating some beloved old classic bikes - well, two old Schwinns that were classic to me...

Colorado Kid

Don't feel bad. I was lusting over a Red, restored, Schwinn Paramount I saw on E-Bay. You talk about sexy!!! Anyway, I told my wife and she did not think I was funny. "You have enought bikes now", she said. She is right. I have too many now. "I can look, right" I said to her. So it goes.

aliasfox

I think what you need is three sets of three to make it even. A primary road bike, gravel bike, and mountain bike. Obviously, a backup one of each. And then I would say a hobby/non sport category: a steel rim brake road bike for leisurely rides or touring, something that you can run errands in (with a basket or pannier), and maybe a cruiser for riding along the beach or heading to coffee in town.

Yes, three sets of three.

bruce19

Only three? Underachiever.

cweb99

I have 3 would like me more
Allez: My all round road bike
MTB: for MTBing and riding with family
Single speed: beater for around town short rides and going to the brewery. Although I recently stopped drinking so this doesn’t get ridden much
looking to get and endurance or gravel bike for long rides and uphills.

Steel Charlie

Yowza ! I could live with three. Well, maybe four. Yeah, I could live with four ..... or five. Six would be okay too .....

79pmooney

A thought that might require a mind re-train. Really good road bikes have been made forever. Bikes that ride like a dream, extract every fiber of muscle and will power out of you simply because they are are that much fun to ride fast. The 1976 Fuji Pro I raced long ago was one of those bikes. So is the '83 Pro Miyata I have now; a frame that cost me $200. The whole bike might be $800 (US) now. Now these bikes weigh 21 pounds, are not aero at all, have brakes that won't allow curvy downhills at F1 like speeds with last second braking and indexing is limited to your two first fingers.

I rode the Miyata for last month's Cycle Oregon. Sublime. (Well, the gravel they didn't tell us about that hit 17% both up and down wasn't on the 23c rear tire. Put a foot down going up and a body down on the other side.) The bike of my avatar photo; the fix gear has done Cycle Oregon 4 times. Yes, it is an expensive custom ti bike. (Fit for off the shelf bikes is an issue for me. Some pure race bikes fit me near out of the box like both the Fuji and the Miyata - with a 145mm stem - but not most bikes. And I fell in love with the ti ride on my quick spin on a Merlin 33 years ago. But a quality race frame of the 1970s or '80s; set up fix gear would have served me just as well if I have been issued standard length arms and legs. $200 instead of 4k.)

Another data point. Years ago, when I lived in Settle, I went to an event at the Marymoor Velodrome. At a slow time, spectators were allowed to take some of the bikes around the track. I did a couple of laps on a 1930s track bike. Miserable heavy clinchers and way too small for me but ... it was very obvious that bike was all there! Put race wheels on it (from any era you want) and it would be a flyer!

Do you have a coop nearby? Or quality shop with used bikes? Perhaps you can enlist them to have their eyes out for "the ride". And yes, a solo century on that ride will take 15 minutes longer than the same century on the brand new $6k bike. Fast group rides will be harder and perhaps not possible to not get dropped. Deal breaker? That's up to you. The grin after that6 solo century? Just as big, maybe more so with that 40 yo gem under you.