How many bikes?

Pages : [1] 2 3

trembler50

I know this has probably been done before, but I'm new here.

My collection has now reached the stage where it is becoming harder to justify new bikes to my better half.

Opinions please on how many bikes are required for a full and happy life and what are they all for?

Elyob

"trembler50" <usenet-forum@cyclingforums.com> wrote in message
news:3fb4d3c1$1_4@news.chariot.net.au...
> I know this has probably been done before, but I'm new here.
>
> My collection has now reached the stage where it is becoming harder to justify new bikes to my
> better half.
>
> Opinions please on how many bikes are required for a full and happy life and what are they
> all for?
>

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday ... no, wait, Jan 1st, Jan 2nd, Jan 3rd ...

Peter Clinch

trembler50 wrote:

> My collection has now reached the stage where it is becoming harder to justify new bikes to my
> better half.
>=20
> Opinions please on how many bikes are required for a full and happy lif=
e
> and what are they all for?

As has been said, having too many is really difficult...

I currently have:

Streetmachine GT recumbent tourer for touring (and currently heavy shopping, but read on about
that last aspect) Bromtpon Folder for quick local hacks, including light shopping MTB for more
technical offroad tomfoolery Muni unicycle for gentler and shorter offroad tomfoolery Old tourer
for a spare

And tomorrow, with good luck and a flowing freight service between=20 Norwich and Glasgow, I should
hopefully have:

Burrows 8Freight cargo bike, for serious shopping and local freight

Hard to justify new bikes, eh? Well, something like an 8Freight means you can use a bike for a lot
of=20 jobs that previously had "car" written on them as it'll carry about 100=20 Kg and a couple of
wheelbarrow loads of stuff, and the rear frame allows =

plenty of lash points for oversize loads, so if you look at the running=20 costs of a car then you
can recoup your =A31150 quite easily well within =

the working life of the bike, and stay fitter into the bargain while=20 being nicer to the
environment. It carries people as well, if you have=20 kids to drop off places... Have you got a
recumbent of some description yet? If not, you owe it to =

your acquisition habit to give a few a try and find out just how=20 comfortable you can be on a
bike. Mine is an order of magnitude more=20 comfortable than any "normal" bike I've ever used which
makes touring=20 vastly more enjoyable for me. Unicycle? Quite cheap, and you can have great fun
learning to ride it=20 while never travelling more than 100m from your start point! Easy to=20 store
as well. I do journeys of up to a couple of km on mine now, which =

is completely contrived but tremendous fun! Folder? Very, very, very useful and I wonder how I ever
did without=20 one. Fantastically convenient for all sorts of things, and again easy=20 to store.

I clearly don't have enough yet: I need[1] a hot recumbent bike for=20 going Seriously Fast on, and
at least one recumbent trike too, probably=20 a fairly hot tadpole of some sort. And while I'm
dreaming a nice=20 suspended XC MTB, assuming I can also wish up the extra spare time to do =

it justice! Also a portable performance machine like a Bike Friday, hot =

Moulton or Airnimal would be nice , though again more spare time and=20 more spare cash to get to
the destinations I'd take it... Finally, I'd=20 like to change my Streetmachine for... another
Streetmachine, but with a =

Rohloff hub, hydraulic discs and the new carbon forks they come with now.=

Pete.

[1] need as in "merely wanting it isn't a fair description" ;-) --=20 Peter Clinch University of
Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177
Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net p.j.clinch@dundee.ac.uk http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Tony W

"trembler50" <usenet-forum@cyclingforums.com> wrote in message
news:3fb4d3c1$1_4@news.chariot.net.au...
>
> what are they all for?

Riding.

T

Peter Clinch

Tony W wrote:
> "trembler50" <usenet-forum@cyclingforums.com> wrote in message

>>what are they all for?

> Riding.

Mostly, but the Muni is quite definitely for falling off as well! ;-)

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net p.j.clinch@dundee.ac.uk
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Dave Larrington

trembler50 wrote:

> Opinions please on how many bikes are required for a full and happy life and what are they
> all for?

I have but four ATM, which may be Enough in terms of numbers, but they are not quite of the Right
Stuff, viz.

HP-Velotechnik Speedmachine: Commuting and light touring Trek 4300: Technical standby and trailer
tug Optima Baron Low: racing Revell Romany: Technical standby number two

Obv. I need to replace the Romany with another recumbent more suitable for lengthier tours but at
present I am unable to afford a Trice XXL, chiz.

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================

Mseries

trembler50 wrote:

> Opinions please on how many bikes are required for a full and happy life and what are they
> all for?

Mmm, depends whre your happiness is going to come from. If you SigOther is going tomake your life
hell because you bought a bike instead of (say) a washing machine then you probably have one too
many. I have three bikes, do I need more ? No. Would I like more ? No. Would I like to swap any for
a better one ? Maybe. I am happy with mine as it happens, all three have been used in the last 6
months, some more than others. All have different uses

Touring bike with mudguards for touring/ winter riding 21 Speed Peugeot for hilly routes/ taking
abroad 18 Speed Merckx for less hilly routes/when I am fit enough ( I am no longer prepared to die a
thousand deaths on a double chainring in Bronte country). Maybe when I can afford to I'll put a
triple on the Merckx and then not need the Peugeot.

I am happy with three, I could be happy with two.

--
The Reply & From email addresses are checked rarely.

Ric

Just Zis Guy

trembler50 wrote:

> Opinions please on how many bikes are required for a full and happy life and what are they
> all for?

The official view is that the ideal number of bikes is n+1, where n is the number you
currently have...

--
Guy
===
WARNING: may contain traces of irony. Contents may settle after posting.
http://chapmancentral.demon.co.uk (http://chapmancentral.demon.co.uk/)

Sue

In message <3FB4E48E.1050302@dundee.ac.uk>, Peter Clinch
<p.j.clinch@dundee.ac.uk> writes
>Tony W wrote:
>> "trembler50" <usenet-forum@cyclingforums.com> wrote in message
>
>>>what are they all for?
>
>> Riding.
>
>Mostly, but the Muni is quite definitely for falling off as well! ;-)
>

All off-road bikes are for falling off as well.
--
Sue ];(:)

Ric

"Peter Clinch" <p.j.clinch@dundee.ac.uk> wrote in message news:3FB4DD2F.9020006@dundee.ac.uk...

Burrows 8Freight cargo bike, for serious shopping and local freight

What do you see as the advantages of that over a good bike trailer?

Richard Goodman

> "trembler50" <usenet-forum@cyclingforums.com> wrote in message
> news:3fb4d3c1$1_4@news.chariot.net.au...
> > I know this has probably been done before, but I'm new here.
> >
> > My collection has now reached the stage where it is becoming harder to justify new bikes to my
> > better half.
> >
> > Opinions please on how many bikes are required for a full and happy life and what are they
> > all for?

Ah, well I've only got two but it's definitely not enough. I think I need:

fast road bike hack road bike off road bike tourer recumbent trike recumbent bike small folder -
brompton bigger folder - airnimal

However I'm sure that even if I had all those I would probably still find a need for more. Unforch
apart from lack of money, lack of space prevents me from finding out.

Rich

Anonymous

"Richard Goodman" <rich@NOSPAM.rsk.homechoice.co.uk> wrote in message
news:3fb50c86$1@news1.homechoice.co.uk...
> > "trembler50" <usenet-forum@cyclingforums.com> wrote in message
> > news:3fb4d3c1$1_4@news.chariot.net.au...
> > > I know this has probably been done before, but I'm new here.
> > >
> > > My collection has now reached the stage where it is becoming harder to justify new bikes to my
> > > better half.
> > >
> > > Opinions please on how many bikes are required for a full and happy
life
> > > and what are they all for?
>
> Ah, well I've only got two but it's definitely not enough. I think I
need:
>
> fast road bike hack road bike off road bike tourer recumbent trike recumbent bike small folder -
> brompton bigger folder - airnimal
>
> However I'm sure that even if I had all those I would probably still find
a
> need for more. Unforch apart from lack of money, lack of space prevents
me
> from finding out.

You're definitely missing multiseaters from the above list. Very good for depleting both budgets
and space :-)

cheers, clive

Richard Goodman

news:bp3314$13h$1@newsg1.svr.pol.co.uk...

>
> You're definitely missing multiseaters from the above list. Very good for depleting both budgets
> and space :-)
>

Ooh yes good point! I definitely need a tandem too! Then maybe tandem recumbent....

Rich

Sandy Morton

In article <20031114133207.20096.00000202@mb-m02.aol.com>, dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers
<wafflycathcs@aol.comcomcom> wrote:
> Not enough, obviously.

I've got about 160, one for me, one for SWAMBO and the rest for the tourists:-)

--
A T (Sandy) Morton on the Bicycle Island In the Global Village http://www.sandymillport.fsnet.co.uk (http://www.sandymillport.fsnet.co.uk/)

Tim Hall

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 17:54:21 +0000, "Just zis Guy, you know?" <abuse@demon.co.uk> wrote:

>trembler50 wrote:
>
>> Opinions please on how many bikes are required for a full and happy life and what are they
>> all for?
>
>The official view is that the ideal number of bikes is n+1, where n is the number you
>currently have...

Oi, Chapman! No more mind reading.

Tim
--
In space no one can eat ice cream

Tony Raven

Peter Clinch wrote:
>
> Mostly, but the Muni is quite definitely for falling off as well! ;-)
>

Ah but Munis are not bikes ;-)

Tony

Tony W

"Sandy Morton" <atm@sandymillport.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:4c516179c5atm@sandymillport.fsnet.co.uk...
> In article <20031114133207.20096.00000202@mb-m02.aol.com>, dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers
> <wafflycathcs@aol.comcomcom> wrote:
> > Not enough, obviously.
>
> I've got about 160,

Now that is being greedy.

T

Danny Colyer

Richard Goodman wrote:
> Ah, well I've only got two but it's definitely not enough. I think I need: fast road bike
<snip>
> recumbent trike recumbent bike

Ooh no, one recumbent bike isn't enough (although you can combine one of them with the fast
road bike.

I've got: A recumbent tourer (Street Machine) 2 mountain bikes (about to be consolidated into one so
that my old knackered frame can be discarded) A vintage bike (BSA, awaiting doing up) A 20" unicycle
(for playing hockey) A 26" unicycle (Muni) A 36" unicycle (for commuting and day touring) 2 ultimate
wheels (different designs)

And that's not enough. I need: Another recumbent bike (probably a Challenge Hurricane or an
HPVelotechnik Grasshopper, for fast commuting) Another recumbent bike (something like an Optima
Baron, for posing and going really fast) A solo recumbent trike (probably a Windcheetah) A tandem
recumbent trike (maybe a Greenspeed) A triplet (Me'N'U 2 for when the kids are older) A folding bike
(maybe a Brompton, maybe an Airnimal, maybe one of each) A 29" unicycle (an alternative to the Coker
for commuting, an alternative to the Muni for muni) An ordinary (for posing again)

And if I had all that, I'm sure I'd find something else I really needed.

--
Danny Colyer (catch the cow to reply) http://www.juggler.net/danny Recumbent cycle page:
http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/recumbents/ "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." -
Thomas Paine

Danny Colyer

Tony Raven pedanted:
> Ah but Munis are not bikes ;-)

No, but Peter and I guessed that the OP *really* meant to write "cycles"
:-P

--
Danny Colyer (catch the cow to reply) http://www.juggler.net/danny Recumbent cycle page:
http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/recumbents/ "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." -
Thomas Paine