N+1 they say, you can never have too many bikes.

Today I stared down the barrel of my collection and it made me feel a little uneasy. Not because I didn’t get the ‘I love that bike’ feeling, but because I saw 11 bicycles I own all within five feet of each other. I thought to myself ‘when are you going to ride them all?’ ‘You are going to need a diary to organise that’ ‘I want to restore that one’ ‘that one needs a bit of work’ ‘I need to break that one for spares’, the collection then became something that required management. Which in turn becomes work, the single biggest turn off for a relaxing hobby for me. Owning and riding bikes is supposed to be fun! Don’t get me wrong I love building and tinkering, but it’s a little more than that!

I currently have:

1974 Carlton Corsa

1954 Rotrax Vel D’Hiv

1970s F W Evans Mixte

1972 Mercian King of Mercia

1994 Kona Lava Dome

2010 Charge Plug Racer

2012 Ribble R872

1978 Raleigh Misty Mixte

Charlie’s Trek Sky

1980s MBK Mirage

Seeing as I want to buy a bakfiets in the new year, and maybe a new road bike…….. I think I need to get a little grip and plan how I want to move my collection on, and making it more useable. With time a precious resource for my cycling passion I can’t spread it too thinly across restoring and riding…….

Let’s get this house move done, garage sorted, then start in the new year!

BC