Three bikes to rule the world

Are you replacing the Shan or is this to be a 4th bike?

Are you replacing the Shan or is this to be a 4th bike?

I've no real desire to replace the Shan, but I guess if I got a HT, then it would be natural selection. I do fancy trying clown wheels though

Singlespeed 29" hardtail! I'm loving my Pipedream Moxie in that role. Or a short-ish travel 29" full-sus.

120mm travel downcountry for me.

I do fancy trying clown wheels though

Penny Farthing - you used to see loads around Matlock, but not so much now! You could start a revival. 🙂

Three? That's barely enough to cover the full sussers I want. You poor, misguided fool.

a tandem for comedy pub crawls

a tandem for comedy pub crawls

You haven't seen my wife try and ride a bike. I'm not sure comedy is the right word...

I'm not sure if a tandem or a double sea-kayak is the quickest route to divorce but having done both very badly, it's a miracle we're still together

I don't think I've heard the term 'clown wheels' since Dirt Magazine circa 2011.

An MTB has 29" wheels. Anything smaller needs special justification.

a short-ish travel 29″ full-sus.

This, basically.

Would be the perfect companion to the eeb, and you just wouldn't ride the hardtail any more so you could flog that.

It's a different answer for everyone. I've had different three (or more, or less) bike garages over the years.

My current choice is Enduro MTB, gravel bike, Brompton.

Each are so totally different from each other, and can do things that the others can not. If I were too add a forth bike, it would be a rigid MTB, or maybe a pumptrack bike. Or maybe a singlespeed station bike.

Everyone knows there are 5 bikes to rule the world.....

full suss mtb, pick your travel if your HT is hardcore then trail or XC FS

hardtail mtb, pick your travel? Hardcore HT if your FS is trail or XC.

gravel bike, you choose

winter road bike

summer road bike

nothing electric till your over 55 or have a restriction of some kind

after this its a proper trials bike or motorbike with a real engine, I'm still not allowed one of these so i bought a canoe instead its really not the same.....

Only 3?

Current shed:
140mm singlespeed HT
150mm FS
Touring/winter Fixie
Track bike / summer fixie (with brakes)
Road bike
Gravel/CX bike
Commuter

I could probably rationalize either the commuter and tourer, or the commuter and SS, or maybe the gravel bike and SS (into an XC hardtail) but I found that a faff last time as I'd inevitably want to do a 100km gravel ride on Saturday, then need slicks and guards to commute. Or do I want an SS over winter, or an SS over summer to get some practice in for SSUK. So at best it's those 4 into 3. Everything else* is used for it's intended purpose.

*apart from the track bike, I've not got the legs for that at the moment.

Mountain bike. Hardtail is fine for 95% of my riding.

Gravel bike. Instead of a road bike because roads are shite and there a decent amount of suitable tracks round here to make it useful.

Utility/commuter. Trek with a hub gear, belt drive and all the practical additions. Does by far the most miles so why not ride something nice?

That's all I need, but I also picked up a 90's Orange P7 this weekend. Need to decide how to proceed with that.

Currently have three modern, 29er full suss 150/135mm, 650b HT 150mm, and gravel bike. Reckon my bases are covered although the GB is at risk due to looking at XC HT's. I could also fancy a shorter travel full suss but by that point everything is overlapping so I'll probably stick for now.

Retro is a different conversation.......

I have way more than three in the garage, but if I was going to rationalise down to just a trio I reckon it would currently be...

- a big, burly FS for big mountain days, uplifts and enduros (my 29+ RocketMAX fits this bill for me ATM).

- something more all-roundy (was my ancient Epic 29er for a while, but have just started to get back into the 27+ Transmitter so I'd say a rufty-tufty HT fits the bill here).

- a road or gravel bike (I'd do gravel type rides on my all-rounder so for me it's currently a flat-barred road bike in this slot)

(that all leaves the singlespeed play bike (BFe), klunker/cruiser pub bike, old-school hardcore HT (Trailstar) and my kickbike languishing in storage)

chromag darco ti is a fine looking and unusual choice and titanium.

a custom full suspension frame from one of the many custom builders, such as Daam Built, Walt Works, Sycip, Egerie or closer to home would always be a fun to own

or an orange 5

My 3 bikes rule the world

Ibis Ripmo AF, coil, custom build
Orange p7 29 140mm smashpot Pike ultimates
Transition Spur custom build

Happy chappy
🙂

I’ve got 3 bikes currently. 150/160mm fs, old 140/140mm fs and a gravel/commuter drop bar.

In an ideal world I’d replace the old fs with either a rowdy hardtail or a downcountry bike.

My 3rd bike is a Canyon Dude fatty on Jumbo Jims. It used to be on Minions but on JJ's it has replaced the gravel bike because its way more fun offroad and rolls almost as well.

I swapped the gravel for a Crush so that can do winter duties.

No idea why my font has changed 🙁

Hardcore HT – PP Shan with 170mm forks. Short and 26″, but still good fun. Getting another HT would probably make this obsolete.

I had an 27'5 orange clockwork with 26" wheels bodged  in. Mostly it got used for rides with my 3y old on a kids ride shotgun seat.

That was nicked, now he is on my hello Dave hardtail. Even at 3 y old friendly speeds the long low slack 29" Dave is more fun.

So I'd suggest a new(er) hardtail.

I had a gravel bike for a year and a half. Though I'd love it as there are wee bits of single track near me that need linked up on the road. I didn't like all the compromises. On the road I wanted a road bikes speed. On anything rougher than graded paths I wanted fatter tyres.So the gravel bike been replaced with a rigid forked hardtail.

a short-ish travel 29″ full-sus.

custom made from steel?

For me I've settled on 3:

29er Trail/XC bike, does everything locally and with a wheel change, big xc days.
29er Enduro bike, when I want to pedal or the holiday bike
29er Half Fat EEb (kenevo SL), this is the go to bike for the weekends as I can just go a lot further in the day (7000ft climbing)

Pump track bike is for sale as I've ridden it once this year and maybe twice last year! Probably use the funds to buy a road bike, maybe.

I'd say you've got the bases covered already unless you want to dabble with curly bars (which many seem very averse to).

Unless you absolutely must have another bike why not simply stick with it as is for a bit?

a tandem for comedy pub crawls

Amateur. This is a pub tandem.

2 x E Bikes + 1 Road Bike.

I have chosen to only have three bikes simply because I have no more space! But my three are;

1. Airdrop Edit (150mm travel FS)
2. Cotic BFe (rigid, singlespeed, messsing about bike)
3. Ti Road bike (< 8 kg Van Nicholas with Shimano 105)

I've been working like this for about 5 years now and I don't feel the need for anymore - I know, I know: heresy :o)

At a basic level, for me, my three bikes need to satisfy the following criteria-

One that’s suitable for a 30-40 minute commute and that can have mudguards and a rack, and that I can ride on bridlepaths and towpaths.

One that’s fun in bikeparks and the alps for big mountain/enduro/easier DH riding.

On that’s suitable for longer XC type rides - 70-100k over mixed terrain.

In theory a trail bike can fulfil the last two criteria, but I think that two separate bikes make each use case more fun.

@TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR Budget and intended use?

A DH bike.
A ff kenevo.
A ride to the shops e-hardtail, but I don't count this as it's a tool rather than a hobby bike.
Trying to stop myself buying an SL kenevo to complement the ff.