In the stable - what's your ideal mix?

[nezumi]

I am currently looking at purchasing a Vivente World Randonneur as a commuting/touring/randonneur bike. I also have an old Apollo hardtail MTB, which I am considering the future of.

What would your ideal mix of bikes be? For me I think it would be:
* Commuter/tourer
* Road bike for decent length, fast rides
* Hardtail MTB for rail trail/cross country/single track

I could easily throw in a city/flatbar road for bike path day rides, as well as a cyclocross bike for getting dirty fast.

The lure of n + 1 is too tempting.

So, what's your mix?

[Duck!]

I've got my stable pretty well sorted.

I have:
- A cheap roadie for my commute. The beauty of being an entry-level bike is that it's an all-weather hack, and it doesn't cost all that much to keep going.
- A good roadie for weekend rides
- A short-travel dual suspension MTB; my primary play bike
- A racing human-powered vehicle.

[Mugglechops]

I thought I was there

1. CX bike for commuting and road/dirt road rides
2. Singlepseed 29er hardtail for racing/long rides
3. 26in long travel dually for play bike
4. SS/fixie for cruising around/wet commuting

Now I want a Fat Bike too

[bychosis]

Targetting, in order of preference for riding:
1. Good XC Dually MTB - Sorted.
2. SS MTB - for cruising with the kids etc. running but needs upgrades!
3. Cheap Roadie for commuting and general road riding - sorted.
4. Fixie - frame being painted at least one commute per week.
5. Dragster - Just because. My bike from when I was a kid, in parts ad waiting for a build

The actual order for most used will probably end up being: 3,1,4,2,5
I THINK that will be all. The garage is full enough, but you never know what will pop up on ebay etc.

[gabrielle260]

Funny you should ask - I was just thinking about this over the weekend!

1. Dream road bike for weekends and long rides. My Baum is filling this spot but I'd love to get it a fancy paint job!

2. More of a gravel grinder than a CX bike - the new Raleigh Tamland is getting close. I would use this for commuting and all-road riding. If you aren't sure of the difference, read Guitar Ted's blog or I would be happy to tell you at great length! Currently my Lynskey 29er is in drop bar gravel grinder format.

3. A Ti 29er hard tail - I would convert the Lynskey back. I'd use this as the MTB/ fun bike- riding off road.

4. A road bike for when the Baum is not the best choice - wet weather etc. currently this really is N + 1 as my Ribble Sportive with old Ultegra 9 speed is probably going to be sold to fund the gravel grinder!

Nice thinking about it, though!
Andrew

[VRE]

I'd recommend the VWR. I've had one for 4.75 years and done 62,500km on it, and it's still going strong (although the frame, cranks, handlebars and brifters are the only original parts, due to all other parts wearing out). This is a great bike . I've used it mainly as a commuter/tourer (although not so much of the latter since I bought a road bike in November).

[jules21]

1. Road bike for racing - Azzurri Forza Di2
2. Road bike for training - Apollo Peleton
3. Commuter bike & hard-tail MTB - do most of my km on this
4. MTB racing/marathon bike - Anthem X0 duallie

on the wish list (under threat of the wife e~baying existing bikes to maintain numbers):
5. CX bike
6. time trial bike

[singlespeedscott]

For me -
Steel roadie with modern Campagnolo cable shifting;
Retro steel for vintage rides;
Steel 650b audax/rando;
Steel Gravel grinder;
Steel Fixed gear commuter/crap weather trainer;
Single speed steel 26" mtb;
Geared titanium 29er mtb.

[jules21]

For me -
Steel roadie with modern Campagnolo cable shifting;
Retro steel for vintage rides;
Steel 650b audax/rando;
Steel Gravel grinder;
Steel Fixed gear commuter/crap weather trainer;
Single speed steel 26" mtb;
Geared titanium 29er mtb.

how does the Ti bike get along with all those steel models?

[singlespeedscott]

I was really into mountain biking in the late 80's through to the late 00's. During that time there was a lot of development with respect to frame design, frame materials, suspension, gearing and brakes. I got swept up into all the hype.

In the end I worked out what worked and what didn't. I broke too many rear suspension swing arms, blew too many rear shocks and flogged out to many pivots to have any love for duallies. And cracked aluminum frames turned me off that as a frame material.

However for roadies it's strictly skinny tubes and horizontal top tubes. Anything else just looks wrong to me on a road bike.

[RonK]

What would your ideal mix of bikes be?

Well, for my main bike, there is my CF roadie
Then there is my Ti highway tourer - this is my first Sunday bike and holiday bike
And my Ti expedition tourer - this is my alternative Sunday bike and holiday bike
I do have an alloy MTB - but it's not often used these days
The n+1 bike is a Ti recumbent touring bike.

Oh, almost forgot - my project bike is a steel 1984 Chesini Precision Chromovelato.

[rebilda]

I don't know about an ideal "Mix" but at the moment I have -

* Azzurri Forza Pro Di2 - The work horse. I do most of my road riding on this.
* Circa, 1984 Paino 14sp, Campag Super Record, "Sunny Sunday" road bike.
* Giant Trance X2 - Dirt weapon.
* GT Avalanche 2, Hard Tail - General duties bike. Built for following my missus around, on the bike paths and general commuting.
* Custom Fixie - Built as a bit of a joke, for under $200. Still has no brakes. Ride from my house to the shops / Café, return.
* Shogun Trailbreaker MTB - Kept at work for quick collection of my morning tea / Lunch, if I am in the mood for a ride (missus said get rid of it - so it is now at work)
* Rusty old Haro BMX - Lives up the side of the house - Gets looked at when I take the bins out on Monday evenings - Might get around to fixing it up.....one day.

But there is always room for just one more....

[barefoot]

2. More of a gravel grinder than a CX bike - the new Raleigh Tamland is getting close. I would use this for commuting and all-road riding. If you aren't sure of the difference, read Guitar Ted's blog or I would be happy to tell you at great length! Currently my Lynskey 29er is in drop bar gravel grinder format.

I assume you refer to this post:
http://g-tedproductions.blogspot.com.au ... -road.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Couldn't agree more.

I hereby resolve to use that terminology to describe my road/CX/tour/gravel bike. It's an all-road bike.

So... my ideal mix...

1) Hardtail MTB. At the moment, it's a Corratec X-vert something-or-other 26er with a Fox F100 and lots of XT stuffs. I honestly don't think there's a whole lot of difference to be claimed from one hardtail MTB frame to another, as long as you can make it fit you comfortably and the angles give you the handling you want. It took some work to get my Corratec's front end slack and light enough to steer nicely around corners without feeling like it was going to toss me over the bars, but I think it's nailed now. I wish I had more opportunity to ride it. MTB is what I choose to ride for fun. I had an XC-ish dually for a while, but preferred to ride the hardtail, so wasn't too disappointed when the dually got stolen. I haven't drunk the 29er or 27.5er kool-aid yet.

2) All-road bike. Mine is a custom XACD titanium job. It has odd proportions to fit my odd proportions; it has road-like geometry for road-like handling (shortish chain stays, low BB... albeit rather slack in the head angle, because I like it like that); it has disc brakes and clearance for at least 700x40c tyres if I choose to fit them. More typically, I run 700x25c road tyres and eat up the miles on road bunch rides. Road triple cranks are awesome - I have approximately the same gear spread as anybody else in a road bunch, but I also have a 30T ring for climbing silly steep hills. I haven't used it since I swapped from compact to triple (after a gravel road ride that was too steep for the 34:32 gearing I was running on the day), but I prefer the bigger middle ring anyway. I got the frame built with rack and fender mounts, but haven't used them yet either. All in good time. No way to mount a front pannier rack (I'm running a rigid carbon MTB fork), but circumstances leave me in very little danger of going on a 4-pannier tour any time in the foreseeable future.

3) Commuter. Mine's a steel singlespeed CXer (On-One Pompino). It moonlights as a CX race bike, on the odd occasion when I feel like confirming my mediocrity at racing in a SSCX way. More usually decked out with rack and fenders and pannier and lights and the usual commuting kind of kit.

The other bikes in the fleet are kind of superfluous, but fun to have around. The cargo bike got a bit of use when the kids were smaller, but rarely comes out now. Tandem doesn't see much use. Old hardtail turned tow-truck (for trail-a-bikes and trailers) cum maybe one day tourer. A couple of vintage oddities and randoms that weren't worth selling when they were retired from their previous uses. And a unicycle.

What's missing? Nothing really. Sometimes I think it would be fun to have a recumbent (shoot me now). If I was able to do more long MTB rides, I'd probably need to look at another dually, just for the comfort factor... but for shorter rides (up to ~80km) I really do prefer the precise handling of a hardtail (there's no terrain I can't ride on a hardtail that I would ride on a dually anyway). If I put in the effort to get better on the unicycle, then maybe a mountain uni or a bigger wheel road uni would be fun (my longest ride so far is a lap of the block on my 20" uni, and it nearly killed me).

I like my bikes.

tim

[simonn]

Ideally....
- Baum/Super-Record (with a couple of nice wheelsets TBC).
- Baum/11spd Dura-Ace + ultegra 11-32t cassette and rear derailleur with S&S couplers for audax/travelling
- Fast carbon CX for racing (Details TBC)
- A cheaper CX disc as a rain bike and generally ride around (Details TBC)
- MTB....? Dually of some description
- A single speed 29er... just because
- A nice utility bike for shopping and carrying kids around
- A large garage to store them all (and my workshop)
- A winning lottery ticket so I can buy them all.... and buy the house with the garage above... and so I do not have to work so have the time to ride them all

[Xplora]

Two bikes, one with redundency. CF roadie, plus a second road bike for thrashing in wet weather and commuting etc. Fat bike or similar "silly" bike for your secondary discipline whatever that is. Might be a TT bike instead of the fattie, MTB dually, whatever tickles your fancy. Essentially something with high gearing to go fast, something similar in case it craps the bed, and something completely different for fun. You get past 3 bikes, you won't ride them enough to justify it.

[cyclotaur]

2. More of a gravel grinder than a CX bike - the new Raleigh Tamland is getting close. I would use this for commuting and all-road riding. If you aren't sure of the difference, read Guitar Ted's blog or I would be happy to tell you at great length! Currently my Lynskey 29er is in drop bar gravel grinder format.

I assume you refer to this post:
http://g-tedproductions.blogspot.com.au ... -road.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Couldn't agree more.

I hereby resolve to use that terminology to describe my road/CX/tour/gravel bike. It's an all-road bike.

So...
I like my bikes.

tim

I certainly also concur with G-Ted. I have described my CAADX as an all-road-bike since I got it 2 years ago. It 'replaced' (though I still have it) an early-noughties standard alu road-bike that I had squeezed a set of Gatorskin 28s onto and taken here and there, including many muddy trails and the Acheron Way. But now I use the CAADX on 95% of my rides, swapping wheels/tyres as required. The old roadie is reserved for the occasional high speed road blast, or for lending to mates.

And though I'm trying hard to justify a new n+1 road bike I keep coming back to relaxed geo, capacity for bigger tyres, fenders etc ... then I look at the CAADX and go for another ride !

[Uncle Just]

You get past 3 bikes, you won't ride them enough to justify it.

This. When I commuted I could ride anyone of several bikes depending on the weather, need for more training miles or if I wanted a diversion on the trails. You can tend to collect bikes if you've been around them for a few years and suddenly you have can too many. If I was younger I'd have a nice CF roadie but steel more than satisfies me at this time of life. I think sometimes of selling off a few but they don't owe me anything now and have sentimental value plus they offer variety. They fit me well and are sensibly specced with a bit of bling scattered among them. I tried a 29 dually a while back and that was a blast so it would be the one addition I'd consider. I can however see myself rationalising the stable in coming years and just having a couple of bikes. They can own you rather than the other way around.

[dajackal]

since i got my roadie about a month ago i haven't touched my hybrid
going fast is addictive

should i sell my hybrid?

[RonK]

You get past 3 bikes, you won't ride them enough to justify it.

Why is it necessary justify ownership by riding them? My project bike will likely never, or very rarely be ridden. When it is finished I will probably start on another.

[Mulger bill]

Thinking of getting rid of the CF roadie, hardly touched since I discovered the joy of Fix.

Al dropbar, disc commuter. Serious love affair with this girl, plenty of room for big boots if gravel grinding is on the cards.
Two FGs, both Fe. One lower end for dirty days and the Cooper. Mmmmm, Cooper.
Fe hardtail MTB as a backup commuter and urban assault vehicle.
Al 5" duallie for the rougher stuff.

Wouldn't mind a trike or velo but space to stable is too big an issue ATM.

Meh, all good fun and all faster than the black dog.

Couple of projects that are maturing slower than their owner...

[moosterbounce]

I have:
CAADX as my gravel, commuter, fun bike
CR1 cf roadie (due for replacement as 2007 model I think!!) for road fun
TT bike for faster fun and tri-ing

I don't ever want another mtb and anything else just isn't me. I'm actually happy with my stable - the types of bikes that is...upgrades can still happen

[Ken Ho]

CF roadie, Bianchi Mono-Q/Record, all weather, as it tends to piss down at some point on most reds at random, bike does not seem to mind.
HT MTB - shop bike
DS MTB Trek Rumblefish, lots of fun
Bianchi Pista Sei Giormi, was my track bike, but crashing kinda took the interest away for a bit. Has not seen much action for a bit, probably turning into a commuter for a bit. Can't wear a strap over my metal plate in my clavicle, so it will need a carrier for that to happen.
Electra Cruiser, my cheapest and most loved, after my roadie. Gets a lot of use.
Surly Moonlander, good for beach rides,a dn a surprisingly good all mountain MTB, es
Evilly excels in wet and muddy conduits with its awesome grip thanks to the big feet it sports.

[simonn]

You get past 3 bikes, you won't ride them enough to justify it.

I get what you mean, but it depends on lots of things like, do you commute, where you live etc etc. I live within 1.6km of the starting point of group road rides every day. ~30 mins or less ride to a few decent MTB tracks. ~10 mins and 20 mins ride to BMX tracks (not that I actually make use of them or have a BMX or trials bike). ~40 mins ride to Terry Hills BMX track where they hold CX races a few times a year. Then there is audax, the bubba transport bike and I also commute.

I make use of 4 bikes (CX/Commuter, roadie, audax and bubba bike) regularly i.e. all of them in the past month.

[clackers]

You get past 3 bikes, you won't ride them enough to justify it.

Well, the clubs in a golf bag aren't meant to be used equally, they've got different jobs to do.

CF roadie, steel CX, XC dually and a commuter hybrid make up my stable.

The Minister for War and Finance can't complain too much - she has three of her own.

[LugNut]

You get past 3 bikes, you won't ride them enough to justify it.

Well, the clubs in a golf bag aren't meant to be used equally, they've got different jobs to do.

Well put, worthy of a signature.

My Stable:

Commuter/MTB: 26" Steel 80s MTB, built as a touring bike with drop bars. I'm not going anywhere fast anyway, and I appreciate the extra cush of fat tyres. MTB'ing on this thing is ridiculous, but fun. I could see myself buying a hardtail niner if one fell into my lap.
Audax/Light tourer: Mid 70s Steel Dawes Super Galaxy.
Touring bike/Bike event bike/Occasional people mover: Late 80s Dawes Super Galaxy Tandem.

The tandem has basically eaten my bike budget for this year so I have decided to not buy any new bicycles, but in the back of my mind...
I would quite like an 80s road bike with modern components for faster rides, perhaps a Hillman, Kenevans or something similar.
I was previously set on building a 'dream bike' lightweight randonneur bicycle, but the tandem plus other complications has mean that I will postpone that for a couple of years and ride Audax on my Super Galaxy instead. I have a feeling these future funds might allow for a custom frame