I've been through a very large number of different bikes trying to get exactly what I want, and now I'm very, very close. I have as many bikes as fit the kinds of cycling I do.
It seems to me that the only rational rule of collection is to have bikes that you want to ride or bikes that you want to collect for some historical or sentimental reason. How that chops up obviously depends on the individual. 1. Gofast, because even if I can't really gofast, it's fun to ride a very light (for a Rivendell -- just a hair under 18 lb) bike stripped of anything unnecessary for fast (ish), fair weather riding. This is my most controversial choice, controversial, I mean, to my own thought as well perhaps as to others'. I think, well at least put a rear brake on it so that you can use it with that AM hub; or add fenders or whatnot. But every time I ride it, it just feels faster than anything else I own, and it's so pleasant that nI decide once again not to mess with it. 2. A bike that is identical in geometry, design, size, build, to the gofast except that it adds fenders, lights, racks, and different (2 sided) pedals. This bike has an additional 3 speed wheel (S3X with freewheel) for the times (which never occur) when I want low gears. 3. A dirt road bike, set up like the errand road bike but with fat tires. Both the errand bike and the dirt road bike can be used for touring, if I ever toured; both have front and rear racks, even if I don't always install the front ones. 4. Not really necessary, but it was cheap and available, and it is useful: a folder which doubles as a short distance grocery bike because it has clips and straps instead of spds. If I rode singletrack, I'd add a mountain bike, perhaps a single speed 29er with 3" plus tires. I think about adding one more bike, a road bike built around the AM hub. But it makes more sense to have the #2 respaced to accept a wheel built around this hub, so that I'd have the "main" Dingle wheel (70" and 63"), the S3X wheel (with freewheel, for low gears) and an AM wheel (for longer rides with closer ratios -- those of the S3X being good only for loaded climbing). On Mon, Apr 3, 2017 at 9:24 AM, Bob K. <bobk...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hey Folks: > > I know threads somewhat similar to this pop up every now and again, but > Ryan's question to Eric in the Rivendell Road SOLD thread made me wonder > how folks settle on their stable size. I fall squarely in the minimalist > camp, but I'm guessing others here probably don't. So: > > 1. How do you settle on what N equals for you? (N+1, I know, I know...) > 2. What bikes do you currently own/have in regular rotation and why do you > own them? > > My stable is currently at one because of a recent sale, but it will (soon) > bump back up to two. I settled on two as the acceptable number of bikes for > a number of reasons, but mostly because I can't imagine riding enough to > justify having any more of them. We also don't have the space for me to > store any additional bikes aside from in a somewhat humid basement, and > neither my wife nor myself would appreciate more bikes in the corner of the > living room as we're not big fans of clutter, especially clutter that > doesn't get used very often. > > Current Stable: > > 1. 2009 Sam Hillborne (canti): Used mostly for road riding and touring and > some occasional single track and forest roads if the ride allows/inspires > it. > > 2. 2017 Surly Troll: I settled on the new Troll after a lengthy flirtation > with the idea of buying a Crust Evasion and other bikes as well. I decided > the Troll is better for my needs for a number of reasons: the geometry > readily accepts a Jones H-Bar, 2x is easy vs. not doable at all with the > Evasion, and my desired 26x3.0 setup doesn't require the need for expensive > cranksets. It's also $300 cheaper and I like the maroon better than the > also admittedly pretty Evasion color. It will take the place of my > erstwhile Krampus as my mountain bike, off-road tourer, long distance > tourer (if/when I get to do that!), kid trailer, and stuff hauler. > > How about you? > > Bob K. in Baltimore > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, and letters that get interviews. By-the-hour resume and LinkedIn coaching. Other professional writing services. http://www.resumespecialties.com/ www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmooreresumespec/ Patrick Moore Alburquerque, Nouvelle Mexique, Vereinigte Staaten ************************************************************************** ************** -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
