In the cycling world, as I'm sure you've all heard or have said, there is an equation that says B=N+1, where
B=Bicycles Owned and
N=Bicycles Needed, meaning you always need just one more bike. I've heard this same philosophy thrown about by skiers (although they're using skis instead of bikes) and golfers as well, so I suppose any sports/hobby that requires shiny new equipment has this a running joke.
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| The Moots is gone... |
I was a subscriber to this mathematical formula for a long time. I had bikes upon bikes in my garage (well, I guess I still do, but hang with me here). I had a bike for everything. I had/have a singlespeed, a 5" travel
trail bike, a 29'er hardtail, a cross bike, a tandem, a city/pub bike, etc. You name it, I had it. And the whole while I should have taken a cue from my cross bike, which was/is my road-gravel-commuter-singletrack-cyclocross bike, which means I use this one bike for lots and lots of different things. And besides washing it once in a while, the biggest thing I ever do to that bike is change the tires from a beefier gravel tire to a smoother road tire.
The nagging issue of owning all these bike came down to one word...maintenance. You know, once a bike gets to be a certain age and/or have a certain number of miles on it, it seems like there is always something that needs to be repaired, replaced or rebuilt. A new brake lever here, some brake pads over there, a new chain, tires on both need to be replaced, oh shit, this one needs its fork overhauled, this one needs it brakes bled, blah, bablah, bablah. It was nice to have another bike to ride when one was down for the count, but it seemed like those things were overlapping at an alarming rate.
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| Gone too... |
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| Splitting the difference... |
So guess what? I did something about it! I sold off two bikes and rolled the money into one new bike that split the difference. It took a lot of soul searching to come to the conclusion that I needed to part ways with my beloved Moots (I've ridden a Moots for 16 years), but this frame was 10 years old! Technology was passing me by and while that in and of itself wasn't an issue (I find myself having some retrogrouch qualities) being able to replace parts on a bike of that age becomes more and more difficult. I thought if I'm ever gonna get anything money-wise for the Moots, I'd better do it NOW or just completely embrace the retrogrouch in me and ride it into the sunset. I also found myself riding my 29'er hardtail a LOT, like almost all the time, but I missed having some squish in the rear of the bike. While the 29'er wasn't that old and in pretty good shape, I didn't see a need to have two bikes when one would do the trick, again, the maintenance thing, ya know? So, part of it was replacing a slightly antiquated wheel size (26") with a 29'er, but I was just sick and tired of having to constantly do something to one of these bikes. Will I have to do stuff to this new one? Yes, eventually, but I'll only have to do it once, I won' t have to do it to two bikes, leaving me more time to do what? Ride my freaking bike! Now if Mother Nature would just cooperate...
