if you could only have six bikes...

[totient]

A friend who volunteers at Bikes Not Bombs tells stories of conversations there and says that a popular one is to answer the question "If you could only have six bicycles, what would they be"? I'm relatively new to having more than bike, and thinking it might soon be time to replace one of the two I have. But with what? The Cannondale is capable of so many things, and there are so many bikes that are better than it is at any one of them. I'd love to have a real touring bike, perhaps with integrated racks and/or a generator hub. I'd love a winter/rainy-day bike with long fenders, hub gearing and disc brakes. I'd love a modern lightweight bike for fast club rides. I'd love a cargo bike or long bike, something that would be up to grocery shopping without a trailer. I'd love a folding bike that I could bring on buses and trains without having to worry about what time of day it was or whether my particular bus had a rack. Add those to the Ciocc (which is such a joy to ride) and suddenly I'm at six, without really trying. And not all of these ideas are compatible. In the meantime, I'm keeping my eye on Craigslist.

Comments

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of hoping you'll help imvfd pick out a bike. Maybe you two could go out to Harris and shop for bikes together. Both of you should really have new bikes. (Plus, it's not clear that ATA is going to be able to get the bottom-bracket out of his, so it might be a need-it-now situation).

[milktree.livejournal.com]

If you could only have X $somethings...

I usually hear this sort of question about motorcycles: track bike, full touring bike, commuter bike, dirt/dp bike, standard, sport-touring, loaner, ....

To non motorcyclists, any more than one motorcycle sounds silly, but to motorcyclists, it's pretty easy to come up with a pretty hefty list of choices. To non bicyclists, it's hard to imagine needing/wanting more than one, but to bicyclists, a list of six seems kind of short. I'd be shocked if the same thing weren't also true for sewing machines, surf boards, kayaks, I know it's true for guns, cars, running shoes (or any other kind), airplanes, knitting needles, canoes, pool cues, etc.

[inahandbasket]

Agreed.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

I was going to say, "six bikes? For god's sake, what for?" For the last several years I've owned several bikes at any one time but only really used one with any regularity, and hardly ever more than two.

So, sure, a commuter/touring bike and a mountain bike. OK, and I really do want a folding bike for taking on trips.

And borrowing that tandem from moominmolly was grand fun. I wouldn't mind having a tandem all to our own.

And, you know, shayde's recumbent is pretty cool. Having a recumbent to take on longer rides or even just for a change of pace would be nice.

And---- oh. Oh dear.

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

Oh, I totally want one of these (http://www.bilenky.com/viewpnt.html).

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty amazed to find myself occasionally thinking that a pair of river-kayaks would be nice in addition to the sea-kayaks.

[inahandbasket]

Every time I've looked at those I've been struck by the fact that the woman is always the stoker.

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

I can generalize this to all tandems -- I don't think I've ever seen a mixed-gender tandem team with the woman as captain. Part of this is that it's easier to construct an upright tandem with a longer front seat tube than it is with a longer rear seat tube, but still: what's up with that?

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

moominmolly tells me that she's the captain on her tandem with dilettante...

[kirkcudbright.livejournal.com]

I'm back up to six bikes, after building a couple choppers. And then there's the bike that I restored for Francie and/or Kylie to use, but neither of them has really laid claim to it yet. And Francie gave me permission to chop her old bike for a tall bike, but I haven't started that project yet. And we don't count the trash-picked parts bikes, although one of them is a front-suspension mountain bike that could be restored pretty trivially.

It's sort of a Heisenbergian probability cloud of bikes, really.

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if I win the fork I'm bidding on I'll have enough spare parts in the basement to make a rideable bike (though it might be a bit of a challenging ride).

[ceo]

Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

Dude, you have got to stop reading your ex's flist. It makes you look like an idiot when you assume people are talking about her.

[blk]

Speaking only for myself, and only ever having tandemed with xuth (adding a trail-a-bike to my bike with my kid on back doesn't really count), I far prefer being stoker.

Some reasons Xuth goes up front include:
- he's bigger and stronger, which means he can steer, hold things upright, and control the heavy bike in general much better than I can.
- he's a more experienced cyclist, particularly when it comes to navigating traffic.
- I like to be able to enjoy the ride and the view while mindlessly peddling and letting my instincts do all the thinking I need.

And then there's inertia, in that it's his bike and he was the experienced tandem rider prior to me. One of these days I suspect we'll switch just for fun.

[blk]

Also, I totally want one of those.