Four bikes isn't too many, right? Okay, how about five?

I have a schtick I use right now when my wife half-jokingly complains that I have four bicycles (true) and even more frames (true). I then describe them as my "race bike, my commuting bike (because you don't want to get the race bike messy), my mountain bike, and the fourth bike is just for fun." The fourth bike is a crude fixed-gear conversion.

That was fine. Four bikes should be enough for anyone. I even promised not to buy another bike for a while; assured The Lovely One that it would be utterly redundant to get one.

Then today a co-worker and clubmate suggested that he would soon be selling his old Brodie to get a new Norco A-Line. The old Brodie has 8" of travel front and rear, a fork that wouldn't look out of place on a small motorcycle, and would be a wonderful dose of suspension-induced courage for hitting huuuge drops.

Sure, it would probably cost more than twice as much as my next-best bike, and yes, I'd only ride it 10 times a year because it's a big heavy shuttle-bike, but that makes sense, right? Right? Darn.