[Closed] Any one use one bike for everything

29er 🙄

Tried 29er much prefer 26er.

Yarrrr. My NS Surge with pikes. Use it for downhill, dirt jumping and xc (I don't do much road unless it happens to be in my xc loop!) ranging from short blasts to stuff like the dyfi enduro.

I wouldn't mind a lighter bike for the xc but I'm not that bothered, the surge does the job and is great for the downhill bits!

I have done, my Soul was my only bike for ages. But you know what? It's better having 2.

Northwind why do you think having two is better? can understand nice bike and pub/leave in town bike but two reasonable nice bike, why is that better? (bear in mind i don't mind doing 50-70 miles on the mountain bike on the road)

Something like a Ragley Piglet with 120mm forks would by choice, should take most of the abuse while still not sapping much of your energy on road

2 bikes for me - mountainbike commuterised, mountainbike for offroad.

I don't like wearing my knobblies out on the road and I like different gearing

I wouldn't

commuting takes it's toll on bikes, especially when the weather is crappy... if you are on a budget, get a budget road bike or similar secondhand, suspension forks on the road aren't needed

What an interesting concept, good luck.

2 - try 7 😳

DIS - Member

Northwind why do you think having two is better? can understand nice bike and pub/leave in town bike but two reasonable nice bike, why is that better? (bear in mind i don't mind doing 50-70 miles on the mountain bike on the road)

OK you're right, 3 is better than 2.

The reason 2 nice bikes is better than 1 is that there's no 1 bike that can do everything. So I've got a light agile hardtail, and a bigger blunter full suss. Going downhill racing amateurishly? Take the full suss. Going for a wednesday night pentlands ride... take... Hmm... Take the rigid bike.

4 is better than 3 it turns out!

i tried to do this a year or two ago.
lasted about a month...............went back to five bikes.

now got just two.
one of those i have not ridden since july............so might sell it and try the just one bike thing again.

One road/commuter bike - one mountain bike for me. I have big knobbly tires my mountain bike and riding it on the road is soul destroying.

Too late to edit my post... I should have said, one bike could well be fine if your chosen riding is more limited. Just having an XC bike was fine for me when I was just doing easier trail centre routes and the like, and there's nothing wrong with that but if you broaden your riding you start to hit compromises.

I could do every ride I've ever done on either of my bikes, but, it'd often have a pretty big impact on the ride. I'd have possibly not tried the fort william dh or the races I've done at innerleithen without the big bike, and it's a chore to lug around the extra weight, bike tyres etc for simple stuff- and less rewarding too, the Hemlock's a machine for making stuff easier and some trails just feel beneath its notice.

carrera fury.

I've had more than one bike for about twenty years but there was a period I rode only one bike, nothing else. I rode it everywhere, I rode everything.

On-one pompino. Cost me two hundred quid.

On-one pompino. Cost me two hundred quid.

Word to that.

I got a five spot. Had it since 2004. Its battered twice a week over alkes and rivi and commuted on as well and its still ace.Never let me down.

Any one use one bike for everything

despite the lack of a question mark denoting that the above is in fact a question, i shall endeavour to answer it.

yes. my DB Alpine. everything from pootling through the woods, guiding multi-day transalp tours, going to the shops, jumping and light DH.

oh, i do have two wheelsets, though. although, the lighter set haven't been used in ages; i too lazy to change wheels and tyres every few days.

One was all the bike I needed. Then I got my second. Then my third. My third, a Genesis Altitude, became the bike I rode 99% of the time, but now that I commute on a CX I'm riding all of them a lot more.

blue pig.

i've raced Xc on it, i've raced Dh on it, i've commuted on it, i've found that it even works quite well at the bmx track.

yes i've got a lighter xc bike, yes i've got a bouncy dh bike, yes i've got a commuter, yes i've got a bmx.

ok, i've got 2 bmx's, and a road bike... ok, i've got 3 road bikes, but that's not the point.

each 1 is better in it's niche than the pig, but i keep finding myself riding the stupid orange pig with a stupid big grin on my face when there's a 'better' bike hanging in the cellar.

maybe because it's the best bike i've got for wheelies...?

One road and one mtb for me - used to be happy riding the mtb for everything but the position and everything feels so inefficient after riding a roadie. Eventually I think I'll replace the road bike with either a cx or 29er mtb to get a bit more versatility out of it for riding local "trails". I would also like a short travel full sus mtb to compliment my hardtail!

Only a few months ago my bike collection consisted of a Litespeed Obed, a Pace RC200, a Rocky Mountain Vertex, a Hewitt touring bike and my Kona Big Unit.

I've since sold the Litespeed, Pace, Rocky Mountain and Hewitt and all my riding is now on my Kona Big Unit singlespeed.

I use my Kona for commuting to work, mtb rides and road rides.

I've found that I've grown far more attached to my now one and only bike and I enjoy my cycling just as much.

philconsequence - Member
carrera fury.

Was my one bike and did everything from 5 day unsupported C2C camping trip, to my first Merida Marathons, to C2C in one go and everything in between.

Since got my hybrid I loaned out back for commuting and a lovely Fuel EX9 a couple of years ago though so...

EDIT-Sustrans C2C, nothing too gnarr-y 🙂

I have a road bike and my 2008 fuel ex8. The mtb satisfies
Xc duties from trail centres to racing (nothing serious - usually finish just above mid pack). Realized that
it is the engine that needs upgrading.
However I've realized that life is too short to worry about
minor details like this. Do what makes you happy and just get out and ride.

3 bikes here

Road bike, 29er hardtail and 26" ute/parts bike. Pretty much covers it all although kinda thinking about a full sus...

Have gone in the last 6 months from having a road bike and 3 mtbs down to a single hardtail mtb, as I found I wasn't really riding any of the bikes enough. Was also finding myself thinking I was never on the 'right' bike; wanted the 5" when I was on the singlespeed, or the hardtail when I was on the 5"...

Now ride a retromod hardtail everywhere and without the choices I am actually finding I enjoy myself more. My handling seems to have got more consistent too, probably because I'm not having to adjust my riding style for each bike.

Your hummingbird is flexible if you're only having one bike. You can always make it into a 69er to give you another option

1 for me although technically I have 2 but the second is a keepsake so never ridden.

Ive never heard such crazy talk.One bike.Cant be done.

1 bike = too much compromise, no amount of xtr or whatever on the 1 bike would make up for that for me.

But I have 7 😎

I think it depends on what riding you do and whether your primary concern is going as fast and efficiently as possible or just bumbling around enjoying the ride.

I like having one bike (although I do have a 'spare' hack bike) but then I'm not a [i]'proper'[/i] mountain biker or road cyclist, I just pootle around on roads (mostly rough country ones), bridleways etc. for enjoyment and do the odd bit of commuting.

I've got a rigid mountain bike with semi-slick tyres which does me fine, it'd probably be hopeless in any sort of race but I don't do that and it's great for what I want from it.

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I use my endruo for everything, but my everything does not include any significant amount of riding on the road .

if I needed to cover soem road miles I'd get a bike better suited to it, but for all offroad duties and the very occaisional road miles the enduro does me fine.

Had one bike for all for years but bought a second bike (full sus) last year for off road stuff only. I wouldn't go back while I can afford to keep the two. For me it's the faff of constantly swapping wheelsets between commuter and off road use that was the decider. Now I just grab the right bike for the job - no faff!

Downside to more bikes is of course more cleaning and maintenance... two is all I have time for. 🙂

Tried to do everything with a hybrid and two sets of wheels for the last three years, but found it was really limiting the kind of trails I could tackle off road - just too stable and limited tyre choice. Now keep the hybrid just for road and have a hardtail to complement it, and gotta say I'm having way more fun off road now - though the MTB sucks big time on tarmac! Never felt the need for an ultralight roadie...so I'd say two bikes is the sweet spot for me.

For about 15 years I used one bike (Giant-mountain-bike-£300-job followed by a Kona Explosif....that's two bikes....I know, but I didn't use them at the same time!!!) for everything. Did about 150 miles per week commuting to work plus off road rides. At one time I did have two sets of wheels, one shod with Spesh nimbus commuter tyres, but after being caught in the snow and having the worst, coldest, longest commute ever I gave that up and just used mtb tyres for everything.

Since then I became a bike aholic and now I have 7 bikes. Up until last year when I went out with a lady who was doing the Fred Whitton they were all 26" mtbs. Now I have a 700c hybrid/cx thing which eats the road WAY better than a mountain bike.

BUT

I still prefer mountain bikes and even on road rides on them I'm not craving for a 700c bike.

Keep the two. Having several bikes does tend to keep you interested.

Being drawn in the direction of just using the hummingbird for everything with two sets of wheels. I have tried road bikes in past but just prefer the mountain bike set up. I relies not as quick but that does not really bother me to much and i regularly ride of road on my way home when able.

I used to have one and now I have three. Yes you can make do with one, but if you ride xc, downhill, dirt jumps and road then it is more fun with a few different bikes.

I have 3 bikes - Giant Defy for the road, Cotic Soul for trail/xc/razzing round the woods etc and a Specialized Pitch for when the terrain gets a bit more demanding or i want to push it more.
Even with 3 bikes i feel compromised at times, missing from my collection are a 4x style bike and a dh bike but i cover most bases with the 3.
The idea of one bike to do it all is a moon on a stick scenario imo unless your riding is limited to one style. You can do it all on one, i'd choose my Cotic Soul if i had to only have one but hopefully i'm never put in that situation!

I used to have a road bike, an everyday commuter type bike (fixed) and a singlespeed On One Inbred. I sat down and thought about it recently and tried to work out what I liked and what I didn't, as its the commuter that gets the majority of the work. Being 6ft5" means I can't commute on an MTB even with the post right up, I just find them too small. I came to the conclusion that I liked singlespeed but liked having the option of gears at a future date. I also wasn't too bothered about suspension and enjoy riding rigid, so I consolidated to an On One Pompetamine (the availability of future gears as its got guides for a hub gear) and built it up using most of the parts from my Inbred and building some new wheels, though still based around singlespeed Pro2's from the Inbred.

It's a really great crossover bike, perfect for the sort of riding I do (primarily rubbish London roads due to commuting) but also capable off road with clearance for about 42c tyres at the weekend. Also, the feeling of Mono Mini's in central London is second to none to be reassured.

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not really tbh I suppose you could have a road bike that you can take off road if required ..like the poster above...but you are compromising massively IMHO unless you love rigid off road riding or dragging suspension forks everywhere on road.

The Pompetameanie's a nice bike but it's only a do everything bike if your idea of everything is not very everythingy.

CF Roadie/cotic soul/glory.

jobs a good un.

many moons ago I had a sh#t job and not much money, so economics dictated that I could only have one bike. Orange Clockwork - couldn't drive so no car, worked shifts so no bus/train. Used to run worn out nobby tyres as semi slicks during the commute and then remove the mudguards and rack and fit decent tyres for the weekend rides/races.
So it'svery doable , but to be honest its a proper pain in the ar#e - getting back from an epic ride on a sunday evening knowing that before you go to bed you've got to clean the bike,change the tyres, fit the mudguards/racks etc. 'cos you're back out on it at 5am, can be a bit dreary, especially mid winter when its raining.

I've now got a better job, 5 bikes (can drive but choose not to).
TBH - two bikes is probably the best option, one to fuel your passion (either very nice road bike, or very nice mtb etc.) and one for the daily grind ( in my case a Kona Sutra, for the commute, shopping, and some camping trips and a Sanderson Life for real off road riding etc. Theother 3 are more sentimental value , Clockwork that I've had for ever is now SS, Scott racing hardtail,son uses it and cheap road bike on turbo trainer - probably gets more use as a clothes prop TBH)

The Pompetameanie's a nice bike but it's only a do everything bike if your idea of everything is not very everythingy.

I completely agree. Living in London at the moment made me try to be realistic, however, and it fits basically everything within 80 miles of my house. Anything beyond it's means and I'd just put everything back in the Inbred for the weekend (convenient spare wheelset).

Gone from 4 to 1.
The bike I have now suits 95% of the riding I like to do.
Started to feel a bit silly having thousands of pounds worth of bikes, sitting in my studio, not being ridden much.