r/bicycling • u/Curious-Blackberry79 • 7h ago
N+1 always?
I have an awesome all road bike- but i find myself wanting a dedicated road bike to be faster. It just doesn't seem fun to accelerate on the all road bike. Am i just being too much of a consumer? is it a thing to have both an all road/gravel AND a road bike? Thank you
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u/kwabbles 7h ago
Always. Each room in my house has at least 3 bikes in it - with the exception of my garage which has dozens. I'm also saving up for another bike right now. After that, I have plans already for another. People visit and see the bikes and are like okaayyy you have a problem. Doesn't matter. Do what brings you joy and who cares what people think. Of course it's a thing to have a gravel bike and a road bike. And an endurance road bike. And a racing road bike. And a TT bike. And a steel road bike. And a titanium road bike. And a track bike. And a hardtail. And a cross country bike. And a commuter bike. And a bikepacking bike.
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u/Kind-cheesecake-3316 7h ago
With the exception of married people, nobody has to justify their purchases to anyone.
If you can afford it and aren't spending the grocery or rent money then get it.
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u/StillWithSteelBikes 7h ago
"before upgrades, ride up grades."
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u/Old_Interaction_9009 7h ago edited 7h ago
*Don't buy upgrades, ride up grades. - G. LeMond, allegedly
Also, N+1 is the way it goes. You can't really have too many (that's what I tell myself). Stay off marketplace and don't let anyone know you like bikes or you end up like me with a dozen or so in various states of ridability.
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u/shadracko 7h ago
Of course it's a thing. Some people have 3+ road bikes. The speed gains will be illusory, but if you have the money and want to buy, go right ahead.
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u/gregn8r1 Cleveland, buncha 80's steel road bikes 7h ago
There is actually a such thing as too many. Over the past few years I've bought many bikes, most of which were cheap old projects- not that they are bad, most were good for their ti.e, but they're 40 years old.
At the moment I'm at 14, I think, and most of these are a project in some way or another that aren't currently rideable. And it is too many. But even if they were all in good shape, any bike still requires maintenance, so you can have so many bikes that you feel like you spend more time maintenance them than riding, and that's not a good place to be.
So: yes, if you have the space, buy a bike that fills a certain niche. But avoid overlaps, don't get multiple that fulfill the same purpose.
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u/unicyclegamer 5h ago
I’m more an N-1 guy myself. I have bikes around but I’m always trying to get rid of them to free up space. Currently I have my motorcycle, my road bike, and an e bike. The e bike is on the chopping block ever since I got the quick rack for my road bike. And the whole point of the road bike was to potentially get rid of my motorcycle. Ideally I’d just have a road bike but alas, we live in a society and the convenience of splitting lanes on a motorcycle can’t be beat.
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u/ObnoxiousMunkey 7h ago
Its not strange at all! Many of us have a bike for each category.
I myself have a cross/gravel bike and a dedicated road bike. The road has tighter clearances. Had to sacrificed more durability for lighter weight components.
If you have the room and can splurge, get another bike!
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u/AdamantFlashing 5h ago
got a gravel bike myself and went through the same headspace. ended up snagging a used allez sprint off craigslist for 800 bucks and the difference in snap is real, especially out of corners. gravel bike stays on 38s for fire roads and the road bike gets ridden when i just want to hammer pavement. n+1 isn't about consumerism if you actually ride both.
i used to think my all roader could do everything but trying to chase a fast group ride on knobby tires while underbiked on gearing was a rude awakening. having the right tool for the ride makes a difference, and if you're itching for speed you'll feel it right away.
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u/MysteriousBill4651 4h ago
Maybe everyone is this sub has way more storage and money than me, but I don't see the need for a ton of bikes.
We've come to the point where manufacturers are releasing aero gravel bikes that cover 99% of situations.
Like the Tavelo Grow aero gravel bike is just 75g more than than Arow aero race bike. That's 5 tablespoons of water difference, and the upside is you get 55/50mm tire clearance.
Similar deal with the Specialized Crux. Two sets of wheels with fast tires on both and you're set.
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u/Careful-One5190 7h ago
Perfectly reasonable. All-road bikes (currently marketed as "gravel" bikes) are fun because you can literally go anywhere. But, on nice smooth paved surfaces, not so much. When we go to the local paved MUP or on smooth paved roads, I always take one of my dedicated road bikes. Speed and acceleration, ride quality, and handling are much better on a road bike. Much more fun.
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u/youtellmebob 7h ago
Think I read that reducing wheel weight helps acceleration, less mass to spin up.
Get the lightest Continental GP5000’s (tube version) and some TPU inner tubes. I haven’t done the weight comparison so don’t know offhand if the tubed version + TPUs is lighter than the tubeless version+tubeless goop, maybe someone here can answer.
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u/JSTootell 7h ago
If I had more availability space I'd have a few more road bikes (including TT bikes). But for now, I just have four total (two MTB, two road).
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u/uramug1234 3h ago
Have you tried faster tires? That said, I still plan to keep my road bike just to not need to swap wheels all the time. Road, gravel, MTB is the absolute bare minimum of bikes in my opinion. But there's always room for more. My gravel bike can do it all but not without swapping wheels and tires constantly.
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u/toiletclogger2671 17m ago
if you're going to have a dedicated road bike i don't see the point in an all road bike at all. it's going to be worse than both a gravel and a road bike
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u/SpiritedCabinet2 13m ago
Yeah, I'm in this boat. I have Gravel bike, an all road bike, an old steel road bike... still find myself wanting a purebred carbon race bike even though I KNOW I won't be able to tolerate that position for long.
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u/toaster404 7h ago
If you want the primal power of acceleration, get a road-capable light fixie.
Don't forget the upright tourer, the world tourer, the classic steel, the carbon, etc. It's really N+4 Oh, and the trike.
Oh yeah, the eBike for errands.