• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

N+1

M

Matty D

New member
Joined
Jun 26, 2018
Location
SF
Moto(s)
'15 FJ-09
Hey everyone. New guy here, glad to be part of the group.

Wondering if everyone here has heard of the N+1 rule and if it applies to you?

The N+1 rule states that the correct number of motorcycles is N+1, with N being the number you currently have. :laughing

I am definitely a victim of the rule.

A separate question is, how many of you are happy with just one bike?
 
Right now I have 11.
Some street, some dirt, some track.
Some guys golf.
 
Last edited:
trying , in vain, to thin my herd at the moment

2 operational bikes, 1 project
 
It's been about 7 yrs since i've always had 2 or more bikes. My rule is you need at least 2 operational bikes, in case one goes down for maintenance or an issue. A third is nice for project or garage queen. I just sold one of my three bikes and the temptation is killing me.

Party on :party
 
I totally regret selling my "second" bike after buying a new one. I probably would have ridden it another couple hundred miles since. Of course, that kind of regret is a lot easier to come by when you don't have to pay for it.
 
Matty D said:
A separate question is, how many of you are happy with just one bike?
Click to expand...

Thats a funny question :rofl I haven't had just one bike since I bought my first street bike (RD250) back in 1978. It was hardly a month or two later that I had bikes #2 (R5), #3 (RD350), followed by many more RDs, R5s, DS7s, RZs. I still have the RZ250R that I bought as a parts bike (then fixed) in 1986.
 
Currently at 3. I have my hooligan weekend bike, a commuter bike with some carrying shit ability, and a dedicated track bike.

Still need a dirt bike, it's been a few years since I've been on the dirt!
 
I try to limit my number of motorcycles to 2. n+1 would lead to my back yard or garage being filled with motorcycles, and I wouldn't have time to go places on all of them.

Two bikes means one can be down for service, and I still have one running.

I'd love to have more bikes, but I don't like to be in the position where I'm starting or riding a motorcycle just to keep it from sitting. If I had unlimited time, space and budget, more bikes would be more appealing.
 
I have 1 bike and am very happy with it. I change it up every 3-5 years as my needs and whims dictate. Been doing that for 43 years now.
 
I have my commuter and my sport touring. I need either a combination commuter/canyon carver or a third dedicated canyon carver.
 
The problem is that's a big, wide world of motorcycling out there with lots of different disciplines to dabble in, and they all require different bikes.
There's no way I could be happy with just one bike. I need AT LEAST a road race bike, a street bike, and a dirt bike.

Right now I have 5 bikes. I feel like that's about my max, from a maintenance time/expense standpoint. It just seems like at least one bike always needs something. Could be major service, routine maintenance, just a tire, or just a quick safety check, but it seems like I'm always working on bikes. I think 4 is my sweet spot.

If I didn't have to spend the time/money to maintain them, I might have more bikes, but then that begs the question of how many bikes can you actually ride? I ride all 5 of my bikes pretty regularly. gixxerjeff says he has 11, does he ride them all? I have a few buddies that have upwards of a dozen+ bikes, most of them just sit in their parking spot 99% of the time, wasting away. Could I actually put significant miles on more than 5 bikes? There are only so many weekend in a year.
 
I am at the negotiated quantity of 4 right now. I had 8 when I got married, the truce stipulates that I will have no more than 4 bikes and she will have no more than 200 pairs of shoes (50 per bike). That said, I have not done a shoe count in a while so I might be able to renegotiate for number 5!!

I think the real question for me is: N+? = the point of diminishing return in the riding to maintenance ratio
 
I move every couple of years so I always only have 1. That also means I buy and sell a lot. Not as much as some but I’m on my 9th bike in 10 years. Some I’ve had for 2-2.5 years, some I’ve had for 2 months.
 
I’m down to 5 from a high of 7, and it’s still too many. With a Multistrada, the Superduke can go. I hardly use the dirtibke so it should go too.

I think many people have more bikes than they really want since it’s hard to sell and get a reasonable price for used bikes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top