Pre-Rules
[rule number=12/]
That is a very reasonable opening salvo for the Rule about bike ownership. Three is good and certainly a minimum, and we are talking road bikes here, if there was any doubt. They naturally become ordered: the #1 is ichi-ban, top dog, go-to bike for every and all rides. #2 was the old #1, it sits on the bench, always ready. By the time you get to bike #3, there is a good chance old #3 doesn’t get ridden too often, except commuting, but is that any reason not to keep #3 updated, upgraded and ready for action…just in case?
My #3 is my thirty year old steel bike. It was my #1 for many great years and great kilometers. It stayed behind on the mainland, stabled in an unheated space at my parents, waiting for me to visit them and her. And you better have a bike when visiting your parents. Sometimes the #3 has to do this kind of work. But now the Bella is back with the rest of the crew and needs to be reborn hard.
I already upgraded the steel bike whenever I could. It would not be acceptable to show up for the strade bianche granfondo on this machine despite its age. The carbone ergo levers and the 8 speed Jan Ullrich vento wheels would most likely be met with moustache twisting disapproval. I don’t want a classic steel bike with six speeds and downtube shifters, FFS. I want mine with lots of modern gears, fast wheels, better handlebars and a nice new paint job.
Besides Rule #12’s unwritten clause stating your partner needs to be on a slightly more awesome bike than your own, the upgrade-downward cascade effect cannot be left unmentioned. Upgrading your or your partner’s #1 bike’s components can mean a shower of quality components now cascade down the line. When I upgrade my wife’s Campagnolo Chorus 11 speed to Record 11, one, she will be a full gruppo above me, flying overhead in the clouds. That frees up the slightly beaten up Chorus 11 gruppo for my slightly beaten up #3. My wife is happy, I am happy, bikes are happy, the equation balances out.
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In my experience, "n+1" is a universal truth which manifests wherever one has an equipment-related passion. The same issues of categorisation ("Do my [travel guitars / mountain bikes / angle grinder] belong in the same class as my [ti bike #1 / strat / skill-saw]"?), the same merciless assault on one's bank balance whenever one passes a [bike store / music store / hardware store], the same inexorable hunger to fill the void left by the failure (to date) to acquire that urgently needed [Colnago / ES-335 / drop-saw]. Unfortunate and regrettable - but immutable and inevitable. May as well accept it. Or so I assert to She Who Must Be Obeyed.
@G’phant
G'phant me boyee, nice to know you live.
the same merciless assault on one’s bank balance whenever one passes a [bike store / music store / hardware store], the same inexorable hunger to fill the void left by the failure (to date) to acquire that urgently needed [Colnago / ES-335 / drop-saw]. Unfortunate and regrettable – but immutable and inevitable. May as well accept it. Or so I assert to She Who Must Be Obeyed.
You are wise. good sir...a merciless assault indeed...Unfortunate and regrettable – but immutable and inevitable. Yes, we are doomed. I hope SWAMBO buys it.
@Gianni
But wait, weren't you the Keeper who extolled the virtues of the EPMS in a full-on article a year ago or something???
Now I know that Frahnk has loooong legs and most pants are; ergo, short pants on him but I think that you've got to own this one, Mate!
@Teocalli
@David van Dijk
I like where this thread is going!
New #1 (frame shipped but not arrived yet): Hampsten/Eriksen Ti with 11 spd Campag SR.
#2: 2005 Merckx Scandium Premium with 10 spd Dura Ace-Current #1.
#3: 2006 Lemond Steel Poprad (Cannibal Orange) with 105--Current rain/commuter/trainer bike.
#4: 1993 Team Motorola Steel Eddy Merckx with all original 8 spd Dura Ace.
Wife has two bikes that are decent and my oldest soon has a decent MTB bike. All other kiddos have generic younger bikes. 11 bikes total on the homestead.
Stop with your massive stables, making me feel inferior.
I have my multi-purpose Nr#1, Felt F75 which I use for commuting, long rides, racing, TT, turbo, with 1 set of 'ran/training' wheels and one set of 'best/race' wheels.
I have my flat bar/road wheels heavy-as-shit Giant which I use for commuting (my commutes on this are sometimes hilly 25kms though).
And I have my new track bike (which is actually quite retro).
Obviously, I NEED an aggressive carbon racer with Ultegra and deep section wheels.
Obviously, I also need a half-decent TT bike.
I've also spotted a gap for a cross bike - not to race cross, but to use riding easy singletrack MTB with the Velomini and to take as a holiday bike, as it would be able to do everything. Obviously, I'd then need 2 sets of wheels, 1 for the road, 1 for the dirt.
I really don't want much.
Back in the day I was collecting guitars and I eventually reached what I considered to be critical mass. And that is this; a new guitar could be brought in to the house and be completely unnoticed by any other members of the household. There were that many of them.
Reaching critical mass with bikes? Well that's a little different endeavor. Not any more or less expensive mind ya. You can find and collect a $300 or $10,000 guitar as easily as you could a bicycle. It's just that guitars come in cases and are easily tucked in to corners and closets or simply hung on the wall. Bikes on the other hand quickly relegate cars to driveways. And then everything else that would normally be in the garage gets left out back. Because my '17 bike purchases will all be upsized replacement bikes for the young lady of the house we'll not be probing the critical mass theorem of bikes. Everyone will know these bikes have entered the stable. But then we can return to normalcy in '18 and explore achieving critical mass.
Cheers all
Hmmm.
My old system - #1 bike but that wasn't race bike because I would probably cry right on the spot if I crashed it. Colnago EPS, my old C40 co-chairs this position as well.
#2 was race bike - fast bike but OK to ding and scrape up. In my case this was, and still have, a Wilier Alpe D'Huez
#3 is bad weather road bike
#4 Cyclocross bike (currently Alan Carbon)
#5 time trial bike (Teschner Aero Pro)
That system is superseded now to include every vintage Italian and Eddy Merckx steel racer I can get a good deal on and my total n is somewhere around a dozen now.
@Buck Rogers
10 roadbikes and mtb's in Switzerland and 6 commuters in the Netherlands for the whole family. Is a bit much for a family of 6 indeed. To my defense, colleagues visiting from abroad used my roadbikes for the Friday lunch ride.
Yesterday, a colleague of mine asked me how my cycling went. So I proudly showed him a pic of the new trackbike. It was only when he saw it was a Koga, that it was a trackbike and not a Trek (road)bike.
@G’phant
^This is true. As a bass player, I have a Musicman Stingray, a Fender P Bass and a Guild B30 AGB.
As for the road bikes:
#1: Giant Defy Advanced Pro w/ hydraulic disc brakes (you knew this was coming)
#2: Giant Defy Advanced (upgraded caliper brakes and wheels)
#3: Marinoni Fango SSCX also used for daily commutation (upgraded drive train and wheels)
@Buck Rogers
That's a righteous, fully compliant, stable.