Decision Fatigue

There are too many options. I’m already prone to indecisiveness but seriously…there are too many options. There are more styles of bike than anyone needs and it’s a moving target. We don’t even know what to call certain types of bike. Road, allroad, gravel, cross, monstercross, ATB, XC, 27.5-plus, 29-plus, 32er, 36er, mullet, downcountry, Enduro, DH, Fatbikes. It’s insane. “Plus” bikes have mostly died out because certain tire sizes have stopped being made but they still exist and are popular for custom builds. Seems like the number of gravel bike tire choices is close to surpassing the number of mountain bikes tire options. Oh would you like electronic or mechanical shifting? Hydraulic or mechanical brakes? Boost or regular hubs? What’s the right chainline for gravel and MTB now? Or is it gravel plus and Superboost minus? Do you want 28mm to 140mm tire sizes and how about 20mm to 120mm rim widths? How do we keep it all straight and make an educated decision? It’s endless and gives me decision fatigue.

The Quiver. Many of us have multiple bikes instead of one mountain bike and one road bike. Like skiers, people have a quiver of bikes to choose from, including myself. Is it an easy spin on roads, or will i hit some trail and want the bigger tires with some tread? Am i going to ride techy trail and use the mountain bike or hop in and out of more mellow trails on a mixed surface route with the dirtdrop? Each bike needs it’s own tube and repair kit, has to be kept up and running.

We never could’ve predicted how much bikes have changed in the last 50 years. Lately I’ve been thinking of the days when i mostly rode a singlespeed MTB and had a cross bike for the rest. Two bikes. Now i have 7 and a half: a steel mustache bar 650×47 allrounder, a steel dirtdrop with 29×2.2’s, a Ti softail fitting 29×2.4’s or 27.5×3’s, and a Fatbike with either 27.5×4.5’s or 26×5.1″ tires. I also have a townie bike (my first frame build) but i rarely use that, and a singlespeed cross bike i’m trying to sell, and a Ti Corvus Crow pass that I’ve sadly raided for parts to build other bikes. I don’t feel like I need anything else or am missing any options for gear, but it does feel like too much.

What’s my point?

Decision fatigue is real. I see customers go through it all the time when we’re deciding on what to make. Size and casing of the tire to use, what wheel size would be best, what shifters and brakes to get and whether or not it’ll be electronic or mechanical. What will the geometry of the frame be? What style of rider are you and where do you live? What bottom bracket and head tube “standard” would you like? Should i choose butted or straight gauge tubing? And what brand of tubing has the specs i need? How do we build the frame stiff enough but not be too harsh? Sometimes it feels like an impossible situation of ever-increasing options and i get overwhelmed by the entirety of it all.

Can we simplify? Prioritize and focus on what really matters and what can be left for another time – or another bike? Are you typically an underbiker or overbiker, and is that a problem? What are the goals of the bike, what is your goal? Fun? Fitness? Exploration? Pain relief? Getting a bike that actually fits? Yes, all of that. Can you do that better with a bike built today than 20 years ago? When out riding do you sometimes wish you brought a different bike? Do you think about your tire choice and what could be a better choice for the ride you’re on? Is your suspension dialed perfectly or is the rebound too slow? Does that making the ride less fun or more interesting?

The last thing i want when i go ride my bike is to overthink everything. I do that all day long about everything else. The gear choices when i started cycling were few, you just had to choose where and when to ride, and with who. Lately, I’ve been missing that old steel 26″ rigid fork singlespeed and how i could ride it up most everything and carry it up what I couldn’t…simpler days…but I do remember flatting a lot more.