If you could only have one bike, for everything, all trips, for life, what would it be?

For some of you it could be the only bike you own now, which is an easy answer. But for those that have amassed a fleet for every situation, what would you keep if forced to lose the rest?

Now I imagine this answer will vary based on where you live and ride, which what makes it interesting. I live near many trails and enjoy singletrack, but have long stretches of road which would push me to a fast XC bike with slicker tyres, drops are nice but I feel flat bars are still better for really rough stuff


Rules: This isn't a "bike for life" so longevity isn't a concern, you can replace the bike but only with the same model.
What would you never get bored of? Can you see one bike giving you the least comprise?

I actually feel dizzy and a little sick at the thought of owning just 1 bike

However, if we take 'proper / full on' road riding out of the equation. Then I'd say steel 29er ht.*


*I have a Solaris but would consider a Sherpa or similar too.

For me it would be a rigid, steel 29er ... so either my Inbred or Stooge. Both do exactly what I want them to do and although I probably ride my Inbred more, if I could only have one it'd likely be the Stooge as it's a little more versitile.

allso my ridged steel 29er , but single speed , so my charge cooker ss, but built as i have it now with carbon forks and really tough hope wheels. its just so much fun , and i hae had lots of other bikes from full DH bikes to All mountain bikes but this one is allway the most fun to rid and as it has a fairly relaxed geometry it jumps pretty well and goes round trail centres fast so good fun all round, bit hard work on some stuff in the lakes but as long as you dont mind a bit of suffering occasionally its always more fun than not... and normally smiling wen ridding it especially round flow single track but even n fast rocky decents tbh ...

There's a similar thread on STW http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic ... do-you-own

Since I only have one MTB (I've a road bike and a commuter as well), it's going to be a choice of one from one (drum roll please ): the Cotic Solaris.

Close to perfect for the majority of my riding and not too shabby for the remainder.

Disc cyclocross, or so called trendy adventure/gravel bike that has room for 700x40mm tyres - more than enough for any terrain....

Probably a full sus with enough travel to be fast and comfortable and enough to get you out of trouble. 100-120mm. Transition's Smuggler appeals massively.

Until I've tried everything going (I'm doing my best to achieve this... ) I couldn't possibly say.....

The problem I have is that *today* it might be one thing, and then something different *tomorrow*, even for the same terrain.

Did I say it was limited to mountain bikes?

Having one mtb and a road bike is easy, but one bike for all is another thing.
Ofcourse not needing to ride on many roads, or god forbid you drive with your bike on those bits, is also easy

I see a trend forming with rigid 29ers, but maybe that's just this forum and what we do, I can see an advantage to CX/gravel for alot of things where its mostly asphalt and fine gravel, toepaths and the like.
I personally would still want an actual mtb though, where I live "gravel" means golf ball sized limestone and flint and even with 100mm suspension I still take a beating

Long travel, 29er hardtail.

Are we limited to one set of wheels? It doesn't change my choice of bike but would be hard pressed to choose just one.

Gilbo71 wrote:Are we limited to one set of wheels? It doesn't change my choice of bike but would be hard pressed to choose just one.

As this is just a bit of fun, I'm going to say yes, only one set of wheels and tyres.
Just to make your choice more difficult, and maybe really think about priorities!

Not only one bike, but what would be your one and only entire setup to be the master of nothing

Not only one bike, but what would be your one and only entire setup to be the master of nothing

Fine then my dh bike canyon torque , with a we scream mud tyre on the front and a hook worm hard pack tyre on the back ... so it just goes sideways in the mud would be fun for a few hours every year .... and I would just focus on climbing and mountaineering the rest of the time

I'd shoot myself. Or possibly the person trying to impose the one bike limit

A Fargo or something alike

My next bike.

Rigid 29er with gears, so my El mariachi but not in the singlespeed or a road bike, I copied the years in Preston without a mountain bike (but the road riding in that area is so good)

HaYWiRe wrote:If you could only have one bike, for everything, all trips, for life, what would it be?

Having only one bike to maintain would be bliss, but, ultimately, just a crazy idea...

Salsa Spearfish.

Would have to go with my Stooge.
Most versatile frame I have ever owned and lovely to ride too. Run it S/ speed, derailleurs, hub gear. All great in their own way. So owning the one bike could transform into any of three!
Is that allowed in this thread?

Well this is only for fun, and lets face it no one can enforce this...i mean It seems I've had death threats mearly suggesting it

But from a "food for thought" point of view, it makes you realise the difficulty in choosing just one bike, and the dilemma faced by people planning a RTW tour or live on their bike for months on end

Not only practicality and where you ride, but fun? Would you get bored of the same bike? When you have a quiver of bikes for every situation you can just pick and chose as the mood takes you, and lets face it....we all want N+1

But is there a bike you could live with if only from a joy perspective? That you can just keep having fun on and never get bored?

If we were talking purely fun / riding pleasure / owner enjoyment then I could 'probably' do this if I could have one road bike and one mtb.

I appear to only be riding my commuting bike these days

Solo wrote:If we were talking purely fun / riding pleasure / owner enjoyment then I could 'probably' do this if I could have one road bike and one mtb.

I think I would find road harder than MTB. I could live with my Stache for everything I do, but I think I'd "need" a summer (carbon, <8kg) and winter (28mm+ tyres & guards) road bike.

Probably a custom Ti version of a krampus. With the odd geometry tweek and salsas rocker dropouts (or similar)

It works rigid, works with sus forks, +tyres, norm tyres. All good.