How many motorcycles is enough? One mans collection

[81gs7501166]

2 street Bikes!
4 dirt Bikes!
4 4 Wheelers!
Barn with several parts bikes or future projects.
That's all the wife knows Bout?

[Lou]

Here is a video I made of a friends collection south of Omaha - Crank the volume!

Down a gravel road in Iowa

Sometimes too much is just enough!

Rich is his name, here is his web site, nice guy, but busy!

That video is freaking awesome! I could spend hours there. Thanks for posting this up!

[Vishnu]

that collection is awesome! most look to be in good knick too!

can you ever have enough?

[Rob S.]

That early - mid '70's Kawasaki collection looks more than complete.

[Cipher]

I bet he's so busy buying stuff he never has time to ride any of them.

Good thing he's not a Lothario.

[zuluwiz]

Don't we need to define "enough"? Seems to me the number is different for everyone.

"Enough" for me = one more than I have room for.

[Finn]

I voted "Never say too many!" but my garage hosts 5 bikes and that is where I draw my line.

Unless a nice GS750E or GSX1100E comes available...

[gtem]

Have been pondering this for a while now as my motorcycle bay of our three car garage had been on a steady upward trajectory for some time... I'm trying to thin the herd a bit.

Peter Egan had a column some years back where it was concluded that *5* bikes was the ideal:
1) Sport bike
2) Sports Tourer
3) dirt/gravel road-capable bike
4)Big Tourer (Harley V twin for Egan)
5) Old/vintage/nostalgic bike

I've always had at least 2, oftentimes 3 bikes in the "old" category which dabble a bit in the sports/sport touring/gravel realm as a function of how they were being used at the time. IE I end up riding my UJMs on gravel roads pretty regularly.

My GOAL is to get myself down to 3 bikes from my current 5, sooner or later. I'm a bit *too* well equipped with big 4cyl bikes at the moment so at least one of them will be sold. I keep almost getting back into dual sports but for whatever reason it's just not been sticking (bought and sold a DR650 last year, currently about to do the same with a KLR650). My XS500 sometimes feels like a bit of an albatross around my neck. It's my first motorcycle and I rode it across the continental US and back, I have a lot of memories wrapped up in it, but I never really ride it. Have sometimes been tempted to sell it but with 57k miles on the clock it's hardly worth anything and I know some kid would ruin it with cafe crap. Have recently started commuting on it again trying to rekindle that "relationship."

[rphillips]

I don't ride enough anymore to own 7 bikes but when thinking about thinning the stable, I always seem to find a reason (excuse) for keeping each of them.

[RichDesmond]

Agree on five, at least in theory. Although I'd delete the pure touring bike and add a track day one. My problem is that I now have seven.
But, the RZ doesn't count, because it's in pieces. The real issue is the V-Strom. The Multi was supposed to replace it as my all-around sport-tourer, but it's so tall that my wife can't comfortably get on and off it. So the Strom is sticking around for now.

[Suzukian]

I know some people with a lot of bikes. 95% of them are "pickled". It's better than keeping your money in the bank. You can sell them for a lot, but put a little on the bill of sale, which the buyer doesn't mind, he pays less tax. If you choose the right bikes, and store them properly (and have the room) it a good nest egg if you ever need cash.

[trevor]

I have all I need and can handle at the moment....lol

One dual sport (DR650)
Four classics (2 gs750s, gs1100e and the Cooley)
Two Sport Touring bikes (bmw k1300r and my gsxs1000gt)
I have absolutely no desire to own a "cruiser"

And one old beat up truck

[Rob S.]

I was very happy with two. The two bikes I lusted after since I was 14 - big Kaw and Sportster (my 11EZ stands in for the Kaw). In fact, I often couldn't decide which one to ride.

[limeex2]

Today's stable. Running,GL1800, Versys1000. Low hanging fruit: 955 Speed Triple, needs tank lined and a battery. 3 GS's. 1 with a direction, 1 with a dream, 1 I'm trying REALLY hard not to mod, cause I mod everything I've ever owned and it was a "Vetter Virgin". I'm fixing the "To big of a collection problem". A bigger storage shed...

[JMHJ]

If you're primary's something older, you've got the project too (so there's 2), lol.

I got essentially exactly what I wanted when I bought my current to get back into riding - something with a lower fairing, sporty and powerful. Actually I kinda wanted a Honda V4 for something different, but I wound up with another inline. I was sort of ashamed to think the other day that a V-twin cruiser (nothing too big or gawdy) with some nice sounding pipes would be a pleasure to ride sometimes...

The eye of man - one of those things that never says "enough"... I think that's close (Proverbs).

I've always thought a dirt bike would be fun too, if I had a place to ride it.