How many is too many?

A friend came over to have a beer last weekend.  I opened the garage door to get to the fridge in the garage and he was somewhat taken aback by the number of motorcycles filling the garage.  It got me to thinking so today I grabbed a pen and started listing them.  Between complete bikes, rollers and naked chassis I've got 13.

I wish one of them ran...

13 non-running motorcycles sound like a lot on the surface, but I'm not sure I would personally count rollers and naked chassis. I'd count those as parts. (Though your math may differ from mine.)

If one or two of them ran, I think that would help that would help the math as well.

Dont ask how many bicycles I have..... Almost all of them have tires that will hold air though. 

About 13 now.  3 in boxes waiting for rebuild and 10 registered and running. Its a problem. 

I don't know which podcast it was, either Motorcycles and Misfits or Cleveland Moto came up with a formula for the correct number of bikes in your garage. That number is N+1, which is simply the number of motorcycles you currently own plus one. It was later amended to include married people with the formula D-1. Which is simply owning just enough motorcycles to cause a divorce, minus one motorcycle. Also they could have taken that formula from someone else entirely, I just thought it was fun.

My wife has told me my D-1 was one, until she decided to start riding again and now it's still D-1 but that total is 2 motorcycles.

I have more than 13 vehicles. 

Motorcycles would be much easier to park. 

They are, which makes it much easier to rationalize buying another one.

I'm currently at 7, and only two of them haven't been run for more than a year, and only one isn't registered at the moment. Although I must admit that two are more roadworthy-ish than roadworthy.

I'm at 6 bikes, and they generally mostly run...one for every purpose. Trials bike (TY350) , woods race bike (300XC), GNCC race bike (FX450), rally race bike (690RFR), adventure bike (990), and commuter bike (CX500)! More than likely, the trials bike will get sold, and I might end up getting rid of the FX450 and just using the 300 for most of my off road small bike racing. 4 is about the right number of bikes for me, 5 if I were actually still riding trials more than once a year.

I've got 3. The OG Murdercycle, the hellspawn's dirt squirt ,  and Kymco 50 half in a box. I want more. Currently eyeballing Speed Triples.

Toyman! said:

I have more than 13 vehicles. 

Motorcycles would be much easier to park. 

And you can park them in your living room if you want, which is something you can't do with a car.

I was up to 12, but sold most of them off a few years ago while trying to simplify my life.

I think I'd be full at two running motorcycles.  And one good bicycle.  But that's me.

stuart in mn said:

And you can park them in your living room if you want, which is something you can't do with a car.

 

I have no idea what you are talking about.

If you have 13 motorcycles and none of them run, you are closer to a hoarder then a motorcyclist. 

I have 4 motorcycles and all ran at the start of last winter. 

Yeah, somewhere out there, there’s a healthy run/not run ratio. 

Never count.

It might seem like too many and then you'd have to sell some.

It might seem like too few and then you'd have to buy more.

Best to keep the number intangible.

Rusnak_322 said:

If you have 13 motorcycles and none of them run, you are closer to a hoarder then a motorcyclist.

This toes the line between brutal honesty and green envy.

I'm in a similar situation with bicycles. My limit is 6 - because that's how many I can hang from the hook system in my living room.  Do I want more?  Yes.  And then I bought a used e-bike a few weeks ago.  And as soon as I got it home, I had instant buyer's remorse as I tried to figure out where I was going to put the damned thing.  This remorse was made even worse when I discovered the geometry numbers make it impossible to make the bike comfortable for me to ride, so now I not only have an extra bike taking up space, I can't even ride it. 

I have a similar issue with cars.  I have no more room for anything no matter how much I might one a given car or what the price is.

As far as the running/non-running ratio, I cannot say anything as of my three Triumphs, none of them is currently operational.  And my MINI is barely operational.