Paul Petch

x = n+1 right?

Do you feel like you have to many bikes? I reckon less is more and I’m sure that you will agree….but still feel the need for a bike for every possible terrain. I mean how many bikes do we actually need? It seems that the universal formula being pushed by the marketing gurus, bike makers and online forum “E-riders” goes something like this: x = n+1 where the ideal number of bikes is x, and the current collection is n. But I’ll digress- I mean we all need a light XC race hardtail, a light XC race dually, a 4″ hardtail trail bike, a 4″ dually, rigid single speed, 29er, downhiller…and an the “All mountain” bike too. And then there is the cyclo cross bike, “training” road bike, dirt jumping technique “builder”, fixie commuter and of course that ghetto commuter.

All of these bikes are great as long as you have the time to really get to know them and enjoy them. It’s also a bonus if you have the space and care to organise. tinker, repair, maintain, service, clean and of course share photos of every purchase online. And then of course there is all the gear that comes with each bike. A smorgasbord of gloves in different colours and styles, multiple SPD shoes, helmets in varying gnarness, pads, waterproofs, Camelbaks, merino boxer shorts….and and let’s not forget the video equipment to share the love….in full HD of course. It’s exhausting just writing about how much gear one can store in that bike “stable”. If you are lucky enough to have a fully kitted out shed with bike racks and gear organised into neat piles based on their planned usage….then good on you. But for most of us our bike collection resides in a spare room, corner or cold garage as far from the utopia of bike rack and neatly lined up shoes as can be imagined.

The average bike rooms consists of a pile of bikes lent up against a wall with cranks and handlebars tangled with gear….like some kind of expensive Mad Max stage prop. This mess often spills throughout the house waiting to be “organised” with gear half waiting to be washed and half …..kind of lost :) The best laid plans to organise the magnitude of specialist tools has fallen with the last cassette change that saved 25g and they are spread across the room like mine fields hidden by the ever increasing and latest base layers, goretex shells and merino blend socks. The multiple tyres for every occasion hang from every possible hook or handlebar- with those ultimate night lights charging just in case. And of course there is that pile of stuff that will end up on Ebay or Trademe “one day”- but no rush right as that single speed project might benefit from some of that stuff. The average bike room is a mangled mess of expensive, sometimes muddy treasure trove of dreams…..right?

So what’s this all about? Many say personal choice and disposable income and enjoyment but often far to complex for me to understand these days. When did the simple pleasure of getting out and riding become such a chore? Is it raining? Does the trail have a gradient greater than X? Sun? Wind? Singletrack or fireroad? What are your mates riding? How long will you be out? Is it an enduro ride? XC ride? AM ride? Training ride? Does your bum look big in this? Will the trail have any downhill? Bike a hike? Titanium? Steel? Carbon? Dually? One gear? Rigid? Suspension? Tyres….big or small? Sticky or dual compound? Wool socks or coolmax? 60mm stem? 80mm stem? 90mm stem? Maybe your riding mates will take a trail with obstacles that could cause issues so do you take the 6″ dually? But will the rear tyre roll fast enough? Will you look slow? Does your shorts match the frame colour? Carbon bars? or alloy?

So the decision has been made. Now it’s time to enter the bike room and attempt to remove the bike from the the seemingly increasing mass of tangled precious metal. Is there enough air in the shocks? How much will suit a trail with ups and downs with rocks and stuff? Do you take a shock pump? The carbon one or alloy? Does it have enough gears for the days riding? 3 x 9 or 2 x 10 or 1 x9……or should you go 1×10 just in case? Pulling the bike of choice from the pile you find that it has a missing brake, pedal and gear cables….because you were up two night ago until 3am swapping over parts from the winter titanium singlespeed race bike to the budget 5″ AM play bike. The guys are picking you up in 30 minutes to go ride and you stand confused in a room full of bikes…..damn it….you will have to take the 4″ dually and accept that the ride won’t be perfect because the tyres are not XC tread- rather slopestyle. They also weigh in at 650g each and your preferred rolling weight for this style of trail is more 500g. What a dilemma :)

In the past 2 years I’ve had some major re-thinks towards my stable of bikes and how I spend my hard earnt cash. I’m now down to a single bike from a collection of 5. I often spent more time choosing, extracting and re-building that collection than actually riding them. It really shouldn’t be like this. This blog holds testament to these wasted years with reviews of gear that mean jack shit compared to the friends I’ve met and the adventures I’ve had. I’m not dissing my fellow riders by the way, rather sharing how one can easily fall into the needless buying of “stuff” over actually getting out and riding. The physiological burden of what the bikes and gear cost alongside the spares and planned upgrades coupled with the mental puzzles of where I had left my second favorite AM helmet was enough to bring on a weekly breakdown. More importantly that wasted energy has more place out on the trails than in the bike room. I mean riding a bike is a leisure activity right? An escape from the calenders, meetings, organising, competition…..

Adding that new downhill bike to the now ignored AM bike won’t re-light the flame. Nor will that cyclo cross help keep you trim over winter. So STOP. Because it is all about YOU not the spending. If you want motivation and inspiration go ride…go meet other mountain bikers…and go get some adventure. Trust me….money can’t buy this :) So stop planning that spring ride purchase, stop buying the latest crank set because it weighs 30g less than last years, stop replacing the breaks just because they match the rotor bolts on your budget AM ride, stop looking though the magazines and planning your wardrobe on this seasons colours…..and for the love of god just accept that it is OK to not ride all the time and that’s life. You will be amazed how much more fun that bike it when you don’t fuss about them all the time…

Slim down, cut back and drop out of the marketing hype wagon. De-clutter your collection, free your mind from the financial burden and spending obsession and just ride a bike. With luck you might find yourself escaping the bike-stuff-spiral and back out on the trails having some fun, adventure and good times with some like minded people.

Happy trails.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 11:44 am and is filed under Bike Stuff and tagged with consumerism, consuming, cycling addiction, e-riders, forums, hype, marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.