Tuesday, September 11, 2007

And Castaway makes... 7?

Egads, Mrs. Yam counted the bikes in the garage and claimed there were seven. Seven? That's nuts, who'd have seven bikes? There's only two of us, we can't have seven, can we?
  1. Bianchi Backstreet (1990?) - bent frame. It was on my roof rack when garaged it a decade ago and haven't been able to figure out what to do with it. The down tube is bent just past the head tube lug and I don't know if it can be repaired or, if it can, is it worth it?
  2. Gitane Grand Sport Deluxe (197?) - my buddy was throwing it out and I took it. I'm not sure why after looking into what it would take to turn it into something usable. Perhaps I could use it as one of Matt's gravity traps...
  3. Raleigh Sport (1988?) - Castaway found and cleaned up. Runs great
  4. Rivendell Bike Works Bleriot (2007) - my "good" bike
  5. Specialized Crossroads (1999) - Mrs Yam's commuter and general all-rounder
  6. Specialized Expedition Elite (1999) - my "junk" bike. I have to rebuild the wheel
  7. Specialized Sirrus (1995?)- Mrs Yam's other bike, resurrected from the basement this year so that I could ride while the Expo's wheel was getting rebuilt. Thanks to Jamie for the hint on how to clean up the shifter/brake lever (I refuse to use the term brifter).
Yup, seems like seven to me. Two currently out of service, one forever, one when I decided I need to learn how to build a wheel (which better be soon, I don't really want to ride the Bleriot in the snow).

Is this healthy? Does it become an obsession after 2? 5? 12?

7 comments:

Beast1624 said...

Ahh..the age old question of 'how many bikes is enough?'. Seems to me the answer is the same answer our instructer gave us to the question posed to him in our Windows NT support class: When asked 'How much RAM do you need with Windows NT?' his answer was 'More. No matter how much you have it always wants more'. So the answer is you need 'more' bikes.

Anonymous said...

NOOOOOOOOOO

I want garage space for other toys!

Mrs. Yam

brother yam said...

Beast,

As a network admin I pickin' up what you're puttin' down about NT (and 2k and 2k3 and Foghorn, etc.).

I think I'll part out the Bianchi and fix the Gitane over the winter for the practice. I don't know if I'll ride it, but I might as a beater when I go downtown as I don't think anyone would waste a lot of time trying to steal it.

I've heard the correct amount of bikes is: "the number of bikes you have plus one." Ideally, I'd have a mountain bike, a SS commuter, the Bleriot, a Pugsley and an Xtracycle (or, if they ever show up, a Surly Big Dummy). Plus any fun bikes I find and wanna keep.

rigtenzin said...

I don't have the answer for the correct number of bikes. But you'll know when you've exceeded the number. So the answer is out there.

brother yam said...

I believe I've exceeded the number, just ask Mrs. Yam...

Smudgemo said...

You're correct. The actual formula is N+1 where N is the number you already have. The only trick is you have to justify the +1 part of the equation, but that's fairly straight-forward. Find anything unique about the bike you wish to acquire and say, "But I/we don't have one that ______." Helpful examples include: has seating for two, has off-road capability, I don't worry will get stolen, is purple. See? Simple.

Jeff Moser said...

There are around 20 in my garage, and sometimes I think it is too many. Some I seldom ride. But thinking about parting with any one, and I get defensive...

There are times when everything seems to break at once, and you think that you can't afford to fix all the problems.

But on the other hand, if something does break, it's nice to have a backup. I feel sorry for my riding buddies that say, "I can't make the ride today because this $3.00 part is broken and the shop is closed today..."