How many bikes have you got? (page 2) - CycleBlaze

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How many bikes have you got? (page 2)

John SaxbyTo Scott Anderson

;-)

Full disclosure on the gelato tangent:  My reference is from someone who's not much of an ice cream fan.  OTOH, my wife, Marcia, reckons that Stella Luna is pretty much the best ice cream she's ever done, if "done" is the verb I want.  She's from New York, and thus knows about ice cream in ways that I do not, having grown up in rural Ontario in the '50s and '60s.

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4 years ago
Mike AylingTo Scott Anderson

In our shed are

Thorn tandem with Rohloff

Our first entry level tandem with 3 X 7 deraillleur which have tried to sell before and must list again.

Does this count as four bikes so far?

Thorn Mercury with Rohloff

Mary's red Bike Friday

My Surly LHT (must sell)

My fixie (must ride again)

Our son's single speed

A 1980's steel "mountain bike", hard tail, hard fork that our neighbour used to commute on until he split from his wife and she put it in a dumpster. I used to ride this for local errands but the Mercury is my do everything bike now.

A BMX from the same dumpster. ( Must take to our youngest son's place for our grandson)

Mike

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4 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Mike Ayling

Troublemaker.  Good point about the tandems though.  Since I’m making up the rules on this new unit of measurement, I’d say it counts as 1/2 bike per cyclist.  So a three cyclist household then?  Not counting the one that’s in transit to your youngest son then, it sounds like 2.67 BPC?  

This is getting more complicated than I’d anticipated.  That’s about par for the course for me - I’m rash, make spur of the moment decisions, and jump in without thinking things through.

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4 years ago
Mike AylingTo Scott Anderson

Hang on Scott, stop white anting me.

In the tandem community a half bike is what non tandemists ride.

Our son with single speed does not reside with us.

The BMX is still here and must be counted. Using your reckoning I should also delete the first tandem and the LHT, both for sale but still in the shed.

So we have

Two tandems = 4 saddles

Mercury = 1 saddle

Bike Friday = 1 saddle

LHT = 1 saddle

Fixie = 1 saddle

Son's singlespeed = 1 saddle

Dumpster bike = 1 saddle

BMX = 1 saddle

So 11 saddles or 5.5 bikes for a two person household.

This should bump us up the rankings a tiny bit!

Mike

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4 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Mike Ayling

Or down, depending on perspective.  I imagine Thoreau would have advocated for 1 SPC, if that.  Thanks for the clarification and suggestion for improving on this important new metric.

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4 years ago
Graham SmithTo John Saxby

John small wheeled folders are certainly more convenient for getting on and off planes, trains and buses, but a cheaper, simpler alternative are mini Velos.
20” wheeled non folders. Very common in Japan and Taiwan.

In hindsight, I’d probably have got a couple of these instead of our Bike Fridays.

Google Mini Velo and see what pops up.

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4 years ago
John PescatoreTo Graham Smith

I've never really been a bike collector. Each of our two kids had one bike at a time, as did my wife. When the kids were still living at home,  I had two bikes - a Trek 520 for road riding and touring and the old beater Schwinn hybrid that I used to pull my daughter in a trailer when she was a baby and with a third wheel attachment until she was big enough for her own bike. So, we maxed out at 5 bikes.

Without the kids, my wife inherited my son's old mountain bike that she'll use when we are on rail trails or unpaved surfaces in addition to her road bike, and I went up to three bikes: the 520 (now mostly used in the basement on an indoor trainer), a Trek Domane road bike, and a Jamis Renegade that is now my touring and non-paved road bike - we are still at five. I donated the old Schwinn to Bikes for the World when I got the Jamis.

My wife and I also have 2 kayaks each, which are much bigger storage problems. The bigger ones are on ceiling hoists, the smaller ones are on the floor on one side of the garage. under the wall mounted bikes.

When I hit 60, I started trying to remove 1.5 - 2 things from our house for every new thing we added. My wife is not quite a hoarder, but she always figures she will need something in the future and kick herself, so why give/throw anything away?  

I'm now 63, hard to see any progress in declutterization after 3 years of trying! My 2020 resolution is to kick up that 1.5 - 2 thing outflow to 3-4, but my daughter gave me a home hard cider brewing kit for Christmas, and now a whole new class of stuff is rapidly accumulating...

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4 years ago
Graham SmithTo John Pescatore

John the Marie Kondo book (mentioned earlier) taught me a few general principles which are very useful. I not only decluttered and greatly reduced the volume of redundant books, clothes, paperwork, photos, spare parts, camping gear, trinkets, furniture and so on. I sold a big old car (which I rarely drove) and replaced it with a small hatchback (which I rarely drive).

Even though I have a few ... well lots of...bikes, by comparison, the total volume of other material stuff is much less than it was a few years ago. And it’s stored/used in a much better way.

I found the Marie Kondo methods to be very simple and very effective, even if my having seven bikes seems to contradict this claim. If nothing else her book is fun to read. It’s written and translated really well.

The book conveyed to me that decluttering by volume, weight or number of items isn’t the only Kondo goal. It’s also about one’s attachment, use and appreciation of the objects. Hence why I have about 100 kg of bicycles, but sold 2000 kg of unnecessary SUV to replace it with an 1100 kg car. But I’m still most attached to my red commuter bike.

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4 years ago
Graham SmithTo John Pescatore

John the Marie Kondo book (mentioned earlier) taught me a few general principles which are very useful. I not only decluttered and greatly reduced the volume of redundant books, clothes, paperwork, photos, spare parts, camping gear, trinkets, furniture and so on. I sold a big old car (which I rarely drove) and replaced it with a small hatchback (which I rarely drive).

Even though I have a few ... well lots of...bikes, by comparison, the total volume of other material stuff is much less than it was a few years ago. And it’s stored/used in a much better way.

I found the Marie Kondo methods to be very simple and very effective, even if my having seven bikes seems to contradict this claim. If nothing else her book is fun to read. It’s written and translated really well.

The book conveyed to me that decluttering by volume, weight or number of items isn’t the only Kondo goal. It’s also about one’s attachment, use and appreciation of the objects. Hence why I have about 100 kg of bicycles, but sold 2000 kg of unnecessary SUV to replace it with an 1100 kg car. But I’m still most attached to my red commuter bike.

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4 years ago
John SaxbyTo Graham Smith

Thanks for this, Graham.  Had a quick squiz at the results of a Google search, and there are some interesting creations there, for sure.  Of course I was intrigued by a couple of Rohloff options, neither of which would qualify as a bargain.  Velo Orange has a slick new offering, f'rexample, with a frame which allows a single speed, derailleur, or IGH.  t.b.c....

Cheers,  John

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4 years ago