What is funny for me here is buying several items of the same product only because it's cheap.
A very American phenomenon, I think, perhaps?
Collecting is weird; I try to avoid the conspicuous consumption stereotype, but I still collect guitars and affordable wristwatches-- even if I use most of them, it's still a guilty pleasure, not something I'm proud of.
There are exceptions-- times I've bought two of something where the second is for spare parts.
@gromike please don't get angry with me but isn't it the example of the American consumerism?
The Walmart bike might be partly the stereotype, but also something a little different. Our parents lived through the 'great depression,' and we have seen many booms and busts in our economy. So some of this is hoarding because we don't trust our economy or our government to be stable; we want to have huge refrigerators full of frozen steaks, underground bomb shelters. When I first moved to Los Angeles, I always had half a case of beer in reserve, and two full bottles of dark rum stashed in bubble wrap in a cabinet in case of earthquakes. (That was actually very useful, helped keep our neighbors calmed down after Northridge!) We're always planning for trouble-- just not particularly well, or efficiently.
I consider our ebikes pieces of emergency safety equipment. I don't mind having one or two more than we absolutely need. We could escape on them if the roads were blocked. My wife rolled her eyes when I mentioned this last. Though I notice when I offered a lesson on the eMTB, she actually accepted, so we'll see if this goes anywhere.
