mschwett 

i have come to realize that however little or much I’m able to ride, I’m a serial monogamist. I bought a bike, rode it 6,000 miles in a year, decided I wanted something different, bought that one, rode it 10,000 miles in a year and a half, couldn’t ride the same way any more, got a different one and haven’t ridden anything but that one. every period of overlap between the last four bikes has seen only one get ridden much, except for the one which has a child seat and has seen low mileage but continuous use for several years.

do people with 5+ bikes ride 5 times more, or 2 times more, or does each bike just not get ridden very much? is that why everyone says old bikes last so long, because most of them sit in garages and get ridden a few hundred miles a year?

cyccommute 

I ride different ones for different purposes. Some sit in the garage and don’t get ridden many miles per year while others get used more. My touring bike, for example, gets very little use between tours but it gets lots of use in a single year. My mountain bikes (which are also my bikepacking bikes) get ridden more for fun but they, too, can go for a while before I use them. Nearly all of my bikes get at least some use per year.

DangerousDanR

One main road bike in the summer. It does most of the miles in any given year. The tandem for when Mrs. Dan wants to go riding or if we go touring.

My old primary road bike is now a backup. The solo Ritchey is a break away and for travel if Mrs. Dan isn't going or doesn't want to do any riding.

Winter commute is determined by the amount of snow on the road: fat bike for lots, MTB for medium, and gravel bike for minimal snow. Also, the fat bike is just a hoot and a half if there is a lot of snow on the riverfront trail. MTB gets some miles in the summer as well.

So that's how I divide up the miles. I could get away with just the fat bike and the MTB in the winter, but I have the gravel bike so why not? The gravel bike came to be because I thought I might retire and do some solo adventure touring with it, but that thought didn't last long. Someone offered me an opportunity that could not be passed up.

plumberroy

I'm just getting back to riding after a few years because of health problems. I have 8 bikes
Surly LHT and Cross Check get 70% of my miles. A bikesdirect gravity 29 plus gets 15% , anyplace that might be rough terrain. The 5 others get ridden at least once during the summer. Surly Steamroller doesn't see as many miles as it used to because I am not back to single speed strength. Electra loft I was kind of an impulse buy love the chrome finish with black same though it's a single speed Mountain bikes ,Univega Alpina and a Specialized hard rock mostly taken when we go on short trips so I can ride around if the opportunity arises. When wife sits and talks to friends or family I often ride around. The Univega may see more time this summer because I remodeled it into a cruiser. Last is a 75 Raleigh Sports looks like a new bike bronze green although the tires on it when I got it were like new I didn't want to ride around on 1975 tires . It now has cream tires on it. It's my cruise around with the grandkids bike.
if I get my strength up the Surly Steamroller will see more time
​

Troul 

weather, location, & some other factors at the time of deciding to ride goes into selecting the chosen one. Even then, I at times mid ride I may have rather taken the other.... that ship has sailed at that point, hopefully with a tailwind

3alarmer 

...yes.

Steve B.

I ride my light carbon road bike on weekends with a group, ride my gravel on the road when solo, either my HT of FS mt bike when I feel like mt biking, like when it’s too cold to road bike. My tourer gets used less often but does the multi day trips. They all get used

seypat

I rotate through mine. Once I get to the end I start over. BTW, what's the reason for your question?

WaveyGravey

I have 5 road bikes. Enjoy owning and riding each of them. I also rotate riding them depending on my mood. Try to ride 100 miles a week equally between all of them.

13ollocks

I can’t get my head around having more than one bike for a given purpose ( eg road vs gravel vs whatever). Unless they’re identical, one’s going to be more fit for purpose than the others, so why would I ride any but the “best” one?
At one point, there were three bikes in my garage. Didn’t sit well with me, so I gave one away. Now I have a good road bike and a retired road bike-turned-commuter. Enough for me.

staehpj1

In my case there is no one answer. In the past some of my bikes have been for a different purpose and got used without impacting how much existing bikes got used. In other cases They took up more of my time. In some cases I may have had a major shift in interest and a particular discipline went on the back burner. Then there are a couple bikes that I keep and ride for nostalgic reasons more than anything else...

Currently I have been riding only MTB trails and the two road bikes haven't been on the road in ages. Since I bought a new fully suspended MTB the older hardtale and the much older rigid haven't been out much at all.

Koyote

When I was riding road exclusively, I had two road bikes. (Still have both.) It was nice to have a backup in case one had a mechanical issue - which happened occasionally.

wheelreason

Some cyclists think they are golfers...

RH Clark

Some don't get as much use as others, but each one is for a different purpose. I ride about 6 different bikes and own 13 including bikes for my son and wife. I have super light racing bikes, mountain bikes, gravel bikes, endurance bikes and touring bikes.

nathand

My problem is that I don't like getting rid of bikes, particularly ones I built up myself, but I keep acquiring new ones as projects or because they appeal in some way. For example I have a decent steel gravel bike that I thought I'd use as my one bike for everything, and it would be fine for that. Then I starting seeing all these drop-bar gravel conversations of mid-90s steel frames and thought they looked fun, so now I'm building up a Trek 790 that when complete will probably end up very similar to the gravel bike I already have... it's a hobby and gives me something bike-related to do when I can't go for a ride.

mobilemail

Which leads me to the question, how many is "many"?

I have several bikes. I rode about 2k miles last year, the highest mileage bike had about 600 miles on it. Chains and tires last forever!!!

calamarichris

Everyone's different. For me it was avarice.
While experiencing life astride bicycles, I developed emotional bonds with these inanimate objects. I developed a deep love of the shapes, the colors. and the feel of these things. Life is suffering, but life astride a bicycle is suffering gleefully and triumphantly.
The longing started when I was young and poor and could only afford one bicycle. Many times I felt my bike was my best and only friend. It helped me travel to places I'd never have otherwise seen. It helped me accomplish things I'd never have accomplished. Addicted.
Then I got older and was no longer poor. More of these things suddenly became attainable. It was glorious! I could relive the youth and recreate the longing. And the meaningless accomplishments. We're only allowed one spouse at a time; why not have a harem of these unjealous beauties?
Then I got older still and had a house & garage full of beauties. To me they are art. More gorgeous than any painting in the Louvre. Every lug, curve and line about them is voluptuous.
But now that I am closer to the end, the beauty has become bittersweet. I am surrounded by reminders that I am no longer what I was.
I've given away a few of my masterpieces to brother cyclists who will never adore them as I did. One of them just yesterday. He's probably going to sell it on Ebay so he can afford the latest plastic-fantastic. I just hope that masterpiece of human sport and transport ends up in the hands of someone who gets as much joy from it as I did. It was so majestic and we accomplished so many things together.

delbiker1 

I don't know that this is a question for others as much as it is a question for the poser. I have 5 bikes, I like riding all of them, and they all get miles. If I was to have bikes that did not get used, but I still wanted to keep them, I would. I actually would have no issue with going to 2 bikes, however, the low dollars likely to be gained from the 3 bikes I would sell, considering the quality of the bikes and the hassle of selling/shipping, I would rather have them to enjoy when I do.Even if that means just sitting and looking at them. I won't even try to make the argument that they all serve a different purpose, though they are all different.

sovende

This is pretty much the situation that I’ve been in for approaching 30 years! I doubt that I’d need more than the fingers on one hand to tally up the bikes that I’ve “gotten rid of”! I only have 3 bikes that were purchased “new”, the rest being rebuilt rescue bikes or build-ups. Some of the rescue bikes have become “donors” for potential build-ups. I do have several bikes that come out of Winter storage in the Spring that get ridden in a random rotation during the cycling season and this group isn’t always the same every year. This random rotation of a variable group keeps the “Fun Police” at bay (at least it has so far)! My F-I-L summed up my “problem” with the term Sweat Equity. I generally put a fair amount of time and effort into the rebuilds and build-ups leading me to assign even a low end, big box rebuild (to original specs) a dollar value that no one that knows anything about bikes would be willing to pay. Up until now, it hasn’t been much of an issue but with the specter of downsizing looming in my future, I just may have to reassess my thought process. We’ll see ;-).

PeteHski

Same here. I ride 1 road bike and 1 mountain bike. I do have a spare road bike, but I never used it last season so it's up for sale.

fredzyn2

I have a couple "redundant" bikes. If I was pushed for a reason for why they're worth keeping, it would be a "best tool for the job" sort of idea. For example I have 3 "primary" road bikes. One is a great climber which I usually use for races, and more recently is dedicated for Zwift. One is an aero road bike and more comfortable, so I use it for longer rides or certain flatter races. And one is sort of a beater that I use for any foul or potentially foul conditions, oddball solo rides etc. A big thing I find is that cleaning and maintenance events between the three end up much further apart because the wear and tear is being spread across all 3 bikes. It's the same with my 2 main MTBs but they are much more situation specific: an FS geared 29er and an SS rigid 29er. Going to waxed chains on everything has helped a lot, especially MTB. No need for deep-cleaning drivetrain after almost every ride.

I don't think having multiple bikes drives me to ride more, though it might help. At least when they're clean. There is something about looking at a bunch of dialed-in bikes waiting to be ridden that inspires me to jump on. When everything is grimy and in need of attention it might have the opposite effect

Sierra_rider

I think I'm up to 7. They all serve a purpose, with only a lot of overlap on 2 of them...I like to specialize my rides and ride too many distinctly different discipline to pigeon-hole myself into 1 bike. My main road ride is Canyon Endurace, my secondary road bike is a Canyon Ultimate...the Endurace is my "daily driver" for long rides, crappy roads, etc. The Ultimate is a bike that I built up myself and is skews heavily towards weight-weenie status. I ride it whenever I feel like it, but usually take it when I'm planning on an "uber-climbing" route(125'+/mile.) I've got the 2 set up fairly similarly, so it's easy to swap between bikes. Major difference is the Endurace runs wider tires and has disc brakes. The rim brakes on the Ultimate are ok in the dry, but I won't ride it if there is a decent amount of moisture on the road.

I've got a Canyon Grizl gravel bike. I could set it up for bike packing, but it's in a fairly "racy" set up ATM, i.e. long and low. I live up in a very rural part of the mountains, with an absurd amount of logging/fire roads available. Truly a prime spot for gravel riding, assuming you don't mind having the golden ratio of climbing on every ride.

I've got another Canyon Endurace. It's another used frame I built up...originally as a light-duty gravel bike, eventually converting it to 1x and dabbling in cyclocross with it. As of now, I leave it at work as my trainer bike. I spend 3 days/nights at work a week, so I keep the bike down there and bring my smart trainer with me, as going for a real outdoor ride is almost out of the question at work. I don't really ride it off the trainer nowadays. I'm thinking of acquiring a disc-brake steel CX frame and swapping the components on to that.

I've got a couple of mountain bikes. I XC on a regular basis and my current race bike is a Santa Cruz Blur(full-suspension, 120mm travel.) Most of the miles on it are from racing, but it's my choice for riding moderately technical singletrack. For very technical singletrack(granite hike-a-bike trails in the Sierras,) I ride a Canyon Strive (29'er 160mm travel F/R.) Even though it's a carbon frame, it's a heavy, slow-rolling bike. Climbing on it takes patience, I just use it as an opportunity to better appreciate the scenery. However, it shreds rough descents and is even capable of doing downhill bike park stuff. It usually only gets ridden from June-October, as my preferred trails for it are underneath snow the rest of the year.

Final bike is my Cannondale CAAD5, it hardly ever gets ridden. It really doesn't serve much purpose in my line up, but it was my old man's bike before he gave up on road riding. It's painted up in the Saeco team colors and is fully Dura-ace, except for the custom wheels he built. I keep displayed on the wall in my pain cave, along with some racing memorabilia, as my little "racing shrine."

mpetry912 

I rotate thru 3 or 4 bikes, and it's nice to have a choice. Once in a while something else gets into the rotation

/markp

katsup

Getting into old rigid mountain bikes had me aquiring a lot of bikes as it became easy to justify when you find high end bikes (of their time) for $100. I ended up getting down to around 5 total during covid as it was easy to sell them. I purchased newer bikes that best suited my desires in the meantime.

Now with a young kid, and changing to work from home, my riding has taken a huge hit. I'm now down to 3 bikes, MTB, road/gravel, and cheaper rigid MTB that gets used with the trailer and other misc things I don't want to use a nice bike for.

curbtender

Asked my wife this question about shoes in the closet. I've learned to keep my mouth shut, lol. Have a friend who has a few bikes and he moves a set of wheels between them. Makes no sense to me other than they take up less room hanging in the garage. Myself, I don't ride any extra but appreciate the characteristics each bike brings. Guess I just don't like looking at empty spaces in my storage.