How many bicycles do you own ?

How many bicycles do you own ?


  • Total voters
    109
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Paulus

Started young, and still going.
Location
Barnet,
Better than buying a silly sports car and going out chasing young women.

Forget the sports car. 😁
 

Rhythm Thief

Legendary Member
Location
Ross on Wye
Better than buying a silly sports car and going out chasing young women.

Back in 2019 I owned a red Mazda MX-5, the Mk1 model with the pop up lights. Mx-5s are truly fabulous cars, enormous fun to drive and mechanically bombproof (although they do rust), but I decided I couldn't really afford a car and didn't need one anyway as I was using my bike for most of my transport needs, which is still the case today. I was 47 when I sold my MX-5, thereby becoming the first man in history to celebrate a mid life crisis by selling a red sports car.
 
Forget the sports car. 😁

Ah! You need a Coventry Eagle Triple Ace Convertible Tandem!
The advert from the 50's said . "Use it as a single during the week and convert it into a tandem for the weekends.". :whistle:
 
Some people get pleasure out of decorating. I don't! I will repair things, that is why I get pleasure out of collecting old sometimes tatty looking bikes and fixing them up. I become attached to them in the process and once they are cleaned up and working I can appreciate what the previous owner saw in them. A couple of my bikes I had promised to clean up and keep in honour of their previous owners. They were a bit neglected but once serviced and cleaned they ride well.
There is also the history part of the bike collecting. The research into the makers and how some of them are related either through take overs or by a previous owner starting up a new business.
I find it hard to part company with my bikes so that is why I have so many. If I had to reduce the numbers it would be to sell off the newer bikes first as the older bikes are simpler and parts are more interchangeable.
 
3, 1; A Raleigh Competition, with upgraded parts, which I bought as a bare frame, intending to build it up with parts from:
2; A Peugeot 753 Chorus, sold as a non-runner, but had nowt wrong with it,.
3; A Raleigh Record Ace, bought when I had my sensible head on and realised fenders would be useful, again upgraded, with dual pivot brakes and cassette hub.
The RRA gets by far the most use, with the other two indulgences for sunny Sunday morns.

Edit, the most expensive thing on any of them is the paint on the RRA.
 
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Two years ago, with the purchase of my new Brompton, I was up to seven. This is ridiculous as I am an apartment dweller so I decided to make a determined effort to cull the herd and have managed to whittle it down to eleven.

How the hell are you supposed to part with them? I have given a few away over the years but I can't seem to help myself.

I hate my ebike with all my heart but it comes in handy when I'm knackered or obscenely hungover.

I love my Thorn, it's a masterpiece, but I never ride it, too much bling to chain up on the street round here added to the fact that even though I made the 3000 mile pilgrimage to SJS for a measure up it's the worst fitting bike I've ever owned. My dreams of the world tour have died but I would lose a fortune if I sold it. I know how silly that is!

I'm toying with the idea of giving my boss the Puch that a mate gave me, it's a 10 speed gas pipe road bike from, I think, the late 80's. Trouble is, clunkie and utilitarian as it is, it goes like the clappers and I can chain it up wherever without fear of it being stripped down.

I should sell the RSW 16 as it's too small for me and too good for her, she is a destroyer of bikes.

Those four have to go this year now I see it in writing. The rest I need, arguably.
 

wafter

I like steel bikes and I cannot lie..
Location
Oxford
Five; all steel..

1987 Raleigh Routier - budget / town / pseudo-tourer - was the pub /shopping beater when I was in Oxford but currently doesn't have a use
2016 Fuji Touring - budget tourer - the current rural shopping / utility hack
2020 Genesis Croix de Fer 30 - slightly posh gravel bike - my covid bedrock but it's not seen much use in the past few years due to fit issues
2021 Brompton C-Line Explore - folder - saviour of the commute for the past 18 months
2022 Ragley Big Wig - hardtail MTB - bought to dip my toe in more challenging terrain; awaiting more frame protection to appease my anxiety

The current situation's not ideal as storage is problematic and only the Fuji and Brompton really see any use. I'm hoping circumstances will change in the coming year then I'll re-assess things.

In princpal I'd like just one perfect retro-modern randonneur bike to do absolutely everything; although I know that in reality this isn't practical. On top of that there are many different bikes I'd like to own just for the love of them - a nice old high-end road bike, a vintage tourer, a hub-geared sit-up-and-beg town wafter, a fat bike...

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:smile:


EDIT: Looking through these pictures reminds me of how lucky I am to have such relatively nice gear; although of course the warts-and-all reality is a little different to the perception. There's always some job that needs doing, I'm rarely absolutely happy with the state of any of them, storage is a pain and I don't get to ride them as much as / in places I'd like to..
 
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