The Problem With Owning Two Bikes

[simongt]

I have three bikes.
Brompton M6 for local commuting & shopping etc., my 'tasks' bike.
A Dawes Fox for fun rides 'far from the madding crowd', my sports bike.
A Dawes Super Galaxy for similar, but longer more relaxed rides, my cruiser bike.
Each had a fairly specific purpose, so no 'clash of personalities' - !

 

[Profpointy]

When I had one bike, things were peaceful. But then one day that bike had a problem and had to commute on the train. That me thinking about a backup bike.

A second bike was added as a backup while I continued using the first bike. Then one day, the first bike had another problem so I used the 2nd bike. But I didn't fix the first bike and one day the 2nd bike had a problem so I had to commute on the train. This gave me two ideas: firstly, I should fix those two bikes, but just in case both bikes had a problem in future, I would need a third bike.

And then I realised it wasn't a problem with the number of bikes. It was a problem with me. And so, if iced the problem with me but I kept the bikes!

you beat me to it. I was about to post pretty much the same thing. Years ago I was the same with my then 20 year old 60s cars. Bought a second one (Triumph Vitesse) whilst my old Cortina was off the road for a bit, and after fixing up the latter thought I'd run both. Soon realised I simply didn't have the capacity to keep both running and properly serviced so I was better off looking after one car properly and accepting the occasional carless few days when a job came up. Had higher "availability" than when I was trying to run both.

Currently have 3 bikes but only one (the fixie) in working order. Thorn Tourer is midway through a Shimergo coversion, and the Brompton too is mid-upgrade. Need to fix up and sell the Bromie as the reason I bought it is long passed, and also finish the Thorn project or just buy a replacemtn Shimano bar end shifter and put it back to standard.

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

I used to have a garage full of motorcycles. Those are a problem, you have to keep them in regular use or things just don’t work well. Something always had a weak or dead battery, a leaky carb, a sticky brake or some other malady. Bicycles are great, given decent storage you really have to neglect them to get them to malfunction.

so there’ nine of them around here and there’s always something crossing my path to tempt me. Working at a bike shop doesn’t help I suppose.

 

[Big John]

At 69 (my age, not the number of bikes I own) I'm actually looking at n-1 instead of n+1. I've got six but only three are used regularly. I've also got more wheels than could be used over several lifetimes. I offer stuff FOR FREE (it breaks my heart to type those words) to friends but I can't even give stuff away.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I used to have a garage full of motorcycles. Those are a problem, you have to keep them in regular use or things just don’t work well. Something always had a weak or dead battery, a leaky carb, a sticky brake or some other malady. Bicycles are great, given decent storage you really have to neglect them to get them to malfunction.

so there’ nine of them around here and there’s always something crossing my path to tempt me. Working at a bike shop doesn’t help I suppose.

Ebike are a bit like motorbikes in that way

if you don;t use them then the battery suffers and won;t work any more

Our folder's battery did that - one winter I didn't get out much even on my main bike
and when spring came round I realised I hadn;t used the folder for months
when I tried the battery was dead and would not charge

basically they need to be ridden every few weeks and the battery needs to be at about 70% if you are not riding it frequently
so you need to charge it fully then ride it 30% of its range before storage

which is a right pain when the weather and your health is stopping you ridning much at all


I am in 2 minds whether to replace the battery - or just use the bike as a "normal bike" - maybe even swapping ou tthe rear wheel for a normal one!

 

[HLaB]

Without digging through this whole thread I wouldn't be surprised if someone has said, the problem with owning two bikes is you want a third one (n+1 and all that 😉)

 

[simongt]

Without digging through this whole thread I wouldn't be surprised if someone has said, the problem with owning two bikes is you want a third one (n+1 and all that 😉)

As mentioned in a previous post, I have three bikes serving different purposes. Sometimes I've been very tempted with another bike, but being too practical for my own good ( ), I've always been able to resist the temptation - !