[Closed] What bike for person with too many bikes?

That's nowhere near too many bikes.

Next question.

I just knew someone would say that

Tour de Fer – flat bar, kid transport, touring, commuting. Gets a good amount of practical use.

A practical/utility bike will always have some annoying compromises if you want to use it for "fun". I'd say keep this one as the sacrificial lamb/workhorse, otherwise the others will start getting upgrades like kid seats, mud guards, puncture proof tyres and so on.

Or, get rid of the look and cotic, but get a spare set of road tyres wheels for the Ridley.

I'm a former roadie, I still beleive that someone who is not competing does not require more than one drop bar bike.

You are sorely missing a fuss suspension mountain bike though...

Thanks for that. I know the genesis makes sense short term - you’re right I’d just compromise the others. The cx could double as a road bike if I ever need it, can switch it back to 2x10 easy enough, and another wheel set is a good call.

Had full sussers in the past, but the hard tail is fine for the moment...

Look 555 – never ever gets ridden, but one day I might want to go for a road ride… mightn’t I?

Sell this, your not using it and your not likely to use it.

Tour de Fer – flat bar, kid transport, touring, commuting. Gets a good amount of practical use.

This is probably worth very little but is very useful so you might as well keep it.

Ridley cx – 1×10, mini-v braked, 35c shod gravelish bike. Gets used quite a bit.

Sell this, with the money from the road bike and this buy a gravel bike of some description.

Bird zero tr – not selling, love it. Gets loads of use.

Keep this obviously

Oh yeah, I also accidentally bought a soul26 frame in the recent Cotic clear out.

This needs to get built up from your spares bin. You can either keep it or sell it to help fund a better gravel bike.

I’ve just got rid of 3 of the fleet, I feel a lot better
I’d made lots of excuses for years as they were high end parts and worth pennies

Damascus - might see how much the look goes for and then decide whether to sell the Ridley for something posher.

Deserter - yeah, exactly where I am. As much as I love bikes, some are just gathering dust on the off chance.

I’m a former roadie, I still beleive that someone who is not competing does not require more than one drop bar bike.

Nonsense, road commuter bike, fixie commuter, cx bike, spare cx (default winter grot cx Bike) custom steel best road bike for sunny days and carbon road bike. If one commuter is broken I can just grab the spare, same with cx and road bikes

Why have a spares bin when you can have a working spare bike?

How does this happen to us?

My N=4, and has done for a while now. But I have gone from:

- 1 FS MTB (old, 26er, never got on with it)
- 1 steel HT, set up SS, for short local stuff and winter slop
- 1 alu cross-type commuter bike with rack & mudguards, set up SS
- 1 Ti gravel bike, with an extra set of road wheels/tyres.

However, after some breakages (commuter) and some changes, I seem to have ended up with 3 steel HTs and one gravel bike ... 🙄

I'd decided I didn't need a FS bike, and the Ragley BigWig that is being built up will do me as my 'big' bike. But it does have a lot of overlap with the 45650b SS I'm running, and plan on keeping (cos it's fun, good for winter, and I like SS)

And the commuter is having its parts transferred over to a Genesis Fortitude frameset. Mudguards and Rack. Bit of crossover with the On One (esp if I run it SS, which I might). And quite a bit of crossover potentially with the gravel bike eg for bike-packing. And, in any case, I'll likely not be needing a commuter bike in the same way as before, because I'll now be mostly working from home ...

I think I've become a victim of rather muddled and unplanned thinking ...

Or when someone else could have a working bike.

Hardtailonly - unplanned thinking but also a bit of circumstances too for me plus some changes in the riding I enjoy.

That all? Amateur hour. Seriously though, sell the look, but some quality lightweight road wheels for the Cx or upgrade the Cx to something nicer.

You really only need
Gravel/Cx/Road with extra nice wheels.
General transportation bike.
Bird zero.

I just knew someone would say that

Yeah, thought I'd get in first. But you didn't saywhy you wanted n to reduce.

Among my bikes are a fast-ish road bike, a 43c shod Gravel bike, a rigid SS 26er and a 27.5 hardtail. These are sufficiently different for me to think that they cannot be combined into one bike. On the face of it the gravel bike is the most multi-purpose - but if you forced me to choose to have only one of them, I don't think it would be that one.

Onewheelgood - fair point! Space mainly, but also a bit of guilt that I just don’t get the most out of most of them. Well, the look really and the random cotic purchase (why oh why did I buy that!?)

Unless you’re struggling to store them, just ride them!

When you have five sizes of kids’ bike, wife’s mtb & drop bar bike and a three seat tandem to put away somewhere as well it gets more tricky!

I’m a former roadie, I still beleive that someone who is not competing does not require more than one drop bar bike.

I don’t race, but enjoy the road - surely a good bike plus a nearly-as-good-bike-with-mudguards is a better plan. Don’t be a fair weather roadie!

Space mainly, but also a bit of guilt

Space is an ok reason, guilt less so. Assuming you don't need the money to feed starving children, why should you not have many bikes?

I tried to get rid of a knackered hardtail and also replace a lost tourer by buying a monstercross (Vagabond) to be my One Bike To Rule Them All

It was very close to perfect for a mid-range Deore equipped steel multipurpose bike, but now have a Longitude set up as a . Go figure. Would probably have a drop-bar gravel bike too if I could, but as of now happy with the ‘Tude as an ATB and also retro 531ST tourer as a stablemate for road, distance/multi-surface touring.

Have looked at Fugio and Hook EXT with view to, er, looking 🤣

Dedicated MTB duties (rare as they are these days) are served by a (26er) P7 in singlespeed. It nowadays feels like a mad hardtail/bmx combo compared to the 29ers 🙂

Why not squash bikes AND car - get a gravel whatever, and also a cargo/utility/modern Dutch town bike? Something totally different and useful? I have one in bits for restoration, but miss it a LOT. Car-replacement for local trips/groceries up to 15 miles out or so. Super relaxing like a feet-fwd cruiser, hub dynamo lights etc. Full-guards, kick-stand, roller-brakes. Utterly maintenance less. Always ready. Just ace.

I would sell the road bike if you are not using it I sold mine because I had not used it 18months just use gravel bikes on the road I have sold 5 since March still have to many did buy a Trek checkpoint SL6 which is great on and off road I sell them because I fancy a change will not sell the Fattie use that in the winter always makes ramblers smile at the big tyres 27.5 wheels which is not easy to do.

I sold 3 bikes earlier this year - 2x road bikes and a rim-braked CX bike and bought a Specialized Diverge plus a pair of carbon wheels. Carbon wheels are shod with 32mm tyres and great for fast road rides and 'smooth' gravel. The stock wheels now shod with 45mm chunky gravel tyres for more serious offroad ventures (ride to Glenlivet, do a loop, ride home) I have 4 other bikes in storage..the fat bike will probably come out in winter

Thanks all, you've kind of confirmed what I was thinking really.

Look deffo goes asap. The cotic and the cx will also go, but only once I've found a gravel bike I like. The genesis stays until the kids can ride theirs and then I'll see how much it gets used...

... Unless we move house before then and I get some more storage, in which case I'll be getting:
Genesis Fortitude Race
Fat bike
BMX
Cotic Simple and/or original Trek 69er in that root beer colour

Malvern Rider - ecargo bike deffo on the cards when the car dies.

hardtailonly -

I think I’ve become a victim of rather muddled and unplanned thinking …

Yep, that's where I am:
- 26er carbon, lightweight, ex team race bike (I wasn't doing the racing)
- 29er indy fab steel deluxe, rigid ss; a full refurb/rebuild based on 3rd hand frame
- radon sage road bike, second hand; intended for use on a turbo which I didn't have - and still don't
- lynskey cooper disc road/cx, second hand frame with all new parts
- travers Russ Ti frame 27.5+/29, second hand

Current half-baked plan is...sell 26er; build travers; buy turbo and put radon onto it even though it's lovely on road; sell lynskey frame, replace with something different and swap parts over.
In truth, I don't know what to do.
Suggestions welcome.

I did something similar over lockdown. Sold my Croix de fer and fixed paddywagon to help fund a cross/gravel build. Glad I did as it's so much fun and makes me want to get up early at the weekend so I can do a 2-3 hour blast before the family wake up.

I had my Croix de fer set up as a proper do it all bike (dynamo hub & lights, full guards, 32mm tyres and rear rack).
It weighed a ton though and sucked the life out of cycling so glad I got ride. I stripped off the rack, dynamo hub & lights before selling with the intention of using my old 26" Soul as a base build.

I’ve just got rid of 3 of the fleet, I feel a lot better
I’d made lots of excuses for years as they were high end parts and worth pennies

Did the same and fully agree. Had a 4x bike and a race bmx both saw VERY little use since I moved away from a bmx track and stopped riding 4x. Put the money towards a HT 29er that actually gets used. Truly believe 4 is the magic number i have a 27.5full sus (would love to swap for a full sus 29er), HT 29er, gravel bike and a street bmx which I could get rid of but I can't bring myself to do it.

Ok, new question then - what gravel bike for someone who blasts around the woods a bit, but might want to stick 28c on and go on road and also might want to stick a pannier on at some point?

Something that weighs significantly less than a mountain bike. If you want to ride it on the road then it should have 2x gears as the 1x on my Crockett is a touch spinny.

I like my Trek Crockett as the geometry isn't too severe and has sliding dropouts so can be easily singlespeeded. The Trek Checkpoint also has sliding dropouts but I don't think the full builds offer good value for money so I'd be looking for a frame to build up.

There was a good video on YouTube I saw where a guy bought the basic Cannondale Topstone bike and sold everything off it then built it up how he fancied. He saved a good few quid.

Trek Checkpoint excellent bit of kit commuter on the cheap alloy one and ride off-road on the carbon one does it all.