I know many of us here have a dedicated training bike but does anyone have an “identical” twin or a little/big brother combo (think Allez/Tarmac, CAADxx/SSE, etc…)
I’m toying with the idea for a variety of reasons (although I think wheels and Di2 would serve me better right now) but I want to know if I’m the only crazy one thinking about this.
Tell me I’m not the only one and how it’s worked out for you. 
When I was racing a lot and was sponsored I always had two identical mountain bikes. One was my ‘training’ bike and the other was the race bike.
No real difference bar cheaper cassettes on the training bike but it seemed to give me a mental boost on race day, plus the knowledge if something went wrong I could switch over with no adaption or worries!
Convenient!
It really was! Now I’m not really racing I’ve closed down the bikes to just 5 - single speed MTB (Pivot Les), full sus MTB (Pivot Mach4SL), winter road bike (Kinesis 4S), nice road bike (Cervelo R3) and pumptrack bike (Transition PBJ).
Unless I decided to race CX I don’t feel the need to double up anymore - although my road bikes do both have identical positions, saddles and bars.
For a while my main two bikes were a CAAD10 and a SuperSix. It was great because they had the same geometry so getting them set up exactly-ish the same was much easier because I could use the same seatposts, stems, handlebars, saddles, etc. I normally used the CAAD10 on the trainer and for group rides (less concerned about crashing it) and the SuperSix for solo riding. I really liked it.
I wish I had your bike problem. 
Identical positions is what I’d really be trying to replicate. I’d just put my cross bike on the trainer but I can’t really replicate my position as they are pretty different from bike to bike.
Nice. That was similar to what I was thinking as I currently ride a CAAD10. Either get a SS of the same era or another 10. I think 9 also had same geometry but heavier but on the trainer that doesn’t matter.
Two summers ago I bought a Veloangle and, for me it made it much easier to match up my position between bikes with different geometries. I got a new Madone last year and used the veloangle to get it dialed in with the same position as my SuperSix. The main downside is you record polar coordinates (and lengths) and enter it into the veloangle website, which is a subscription. But I captured all my positions in polar coordinates and printed out all my info before my free subscription expired. I will use those going forward when I need to match positions.
I almost need that tool for just the amount of tweaking I do in the off season. Much easier than my tape measure!
I had two identical Pinarellos – same saddle, same bars, same pedals, same everything. It made the transition from training to riding pretty seamless. Then I (and Pinarello #1) got crushed under a truck on a mountain road. I recovered, the bike did not.
Now, I’m left with Pinarello #2, and a jammin’ sweet Canyon Ultimate. Yes, it was nice having identical bikes and super slick to swap components if I needed to, but really it was a “nice to have” and certainly not a necessity.
Glad you recovered!
Pinarello #1, RIP.
I agree not a necessity, but I figured if I was eventually going to get a second bike why not the same/similar.
all 3 of my bikes are set up to be as close body geo wise as possible
I have two bikes, one a dedicated trainer bike, and the other my road race bike. I have the geometry identical by switching out stem, saddle height/fore/aft, and bar reach/drop. It is nice, but the really nice thing is that I was able to get identical powermeters (both SWorks powercranks) on both bikes. While there is no such thing as two identical PM readings, I feel like it eliminates some of the guesswork to have them both so similar between indoor and outdoor workouts.
I do the same thing, both outdoor bikes have same Quarq. Trying to be as accurate as possible is the key. My buddy has 4 different power meters and never gets a good reading, one is 7% off, I dont want to have to deal with is 400w really 400w or 440w.
100% agree. PMs between my bikes is identical (Quarqs)
I have a propel and a tcr, obviously different frames but i think geometry wise pretty much identical. Other than that though, ultegra di2, giant power pro blah blah blah exact same bike
Already had the propel and went into local shop with the intention of (maybe) getting a gravel bike. Got my head turned basically because the tcr was red haha but got it at a good reduction as it was ex demo.
Gravel can wait another year
Maybe sell propel and get tcx.
