Phamilton

Belated anyway.

My wife bought a car a few months ago and drives it to work and stuff and when we want to go places together we’ll use the car, just like we did before she got a car, when we’d get a Lyft or Uber.

The car can’t be a point of contention in a marriage. It’s a Buick and has leather seats and dual climate control and a loud stereo. I like riding in it. I give her gas money.

For transporting my own personal meat suit around town, I still ride my bike. My work commute is now 3 miles from home vs 12 when I went “car free”.

Winter riding here sucks. It’ll be better this winter with the shorter commute, all in town with plenty of open places along the way for coffee or whatever. There were literally zero places to stop for 12 miles on my previous commute. And if I had a breakdown, my wife didn’t have a car to come pick me up, I had to carry spares and tools with me every day. If I have a breakdown now, I can just walk. Or call my wife to come get me. We both start work at the same time and both work within 3 miles of home.
Whether I qualify as a true “LCF/LCL adherent”
or not, I’m giving myself cheers for biking my own ass to work and running errands in all kinds of crappy conditions and nasty weather and abuse from motorists for 2 years. I even got hit by a car last year. Go me.

Jim from Boston

Happy 2 years car free to meFYA, I have previously posted to this thread, "Anyone made a commitment to live car free? about living car free, but with a spousal vehicle.

linberl

Congrats! My theory is if you are not the reason the car is moving, but are just along for a ride that was going to happen anyway, it doesn't count against you as car-free. That's my theory, anyway. I'm heading into my first full winter without a car (as much winter as California gets anyway) and I'm actually looking forward to it. Thanks for the inspiration!

cooker

I would quibble and say you are now "car-light" but what is most important is that you are still greatly limiting your personal use of a car, and it's not that important what label various people including myself want to apply to your situation.

Phamilton

Thank you, Jim.

alloo

Congratulations! I'm theoretically car free, but when I need to get somewhere motorized. I ride my Piaggio BV 350 scooter. I've been car less since 2005. My Yamaha XMAX was stolen on October 1st. I wasn't sure I could live without a scooter. This is my first winter cycling commuting four days a week. If they're ice, I ride the bus or rail to work.

JoeyBike

Nice going @Phamilton! Thanks for the report. Keep on keeping on man!

bpcyclist

Been completely vehicle-free for 13 months. Retired, so no real commute. Living in the city, so resources are all close. So far, I don't miss it. Of course, I'm single, so that makes things simpler. Hard to take a date to the movie on the back of my BMC.

JoeyBike

You will find yourself with a better class of woman, once you convince her/them that you aren't just another DUI graduate. If you drive a fancy car you never know a woman's motivation for dating you. If you don't own a car, you can bet pretty sure she is into you and not a gold digger.

Phamilton

Week before last had my first “car” stolen since I’ve been car free, my Trek 700 Multitrack. I still have my touring bike set up for commuting but I’m not crazy about using an expensive bike for commuting every day so I resurrected my old Raleigh from just the frame and fork as a single speed beater.

Later edit: this is the bike I was riding when I got hit by a car. Something about the frame is just slightly off now, enough to mess with the shifting but not enough to make it ride noticeably weird over 3 miles. I predict it’ll do OK as a single speed. I plan to get some single chainring bolts, use the 40t ring in front and put a proper 16t single freewheel on the rear wheel.

Phamilton

Its a cringey sort of truth, but IME true nonetheless. I suppose on the flip side of the coin, riding a bike instead of driving a car makes for a more appealing partner for anyone (man or woman) because it suggests they take the quality of their own life and of the people around them very seriously. Unless maybe for the DUI thing, but also anybody without a license for any reason can simply take the bus or get a ride some other way. I think riding a bike deserves partial credit. One exception being when the bike being ridden is a stolen one. Not a lot of respect for bike thieves at the moment. I’m sure I’ll get over it eventually.

Phamilton

Right now, my job is only 3 miles from home, makes for a 15 minute commute. Grocery store is 2 miles away. My wife still drives but when it’s just me I’m on the bike. Having stuff that close is a real sweet spot. Sounds like you’re enjoying it a lot. I know I am for sure.

Phamilton

I rode motorcycles for a couple years long before I went car free. I had a 500cc V-twin, and a 750 4 cylinder. I wished that I could have found something around 250cc for commuting. The scooters you describe would have been pretty good. I also learned at some later point that some Vespas had like 250cc and 4 speed gearboxes, just like a motorcycle. If I ever do want something with a motor ever again, I may think about something like that. I think a Vespa would probably be really fun to drive.
At the moment I’m without a bike that will fit my studded tires so I may make use of my wife’s car this winter when roads get icy. I have all the parts to finish a wheel set for the beater I just put together that will fit the studded tires, just depends on how much motivation I have to not just take the ride from my wife when the weather is less than perfect. But I’ve still ridden every day but twice since I started this job, now 7 weeks ago I guess. I think my commute SHOULD be doable just about every day with studded tires, as long as temps are over about 10 below. I got too tired riding studded tires 24 miles a day 5 days a week last winter. In hindsight I think it was a dumb thing to try,
although not completely unsuccessful.
I’m glad you have bus and rail access. We have no rail, and limited buses, and the nearest bus stop is 2 miles from home. We’re actually pretty lucky to have my wife’s car. Without one, it was getting burdensome to get basic things done, always having to hail an Uber or Lyft. My wife lacks my enthusiasm for cold weather cycling.

Phamilton

I wonder what (if anything) it would achieve if we drove 2 miles to the bus stop, parked our car, and then took the bus downtown. Just about anything is better than dealing with downtown traffic and paying to park. Our downtown is actually pretty nice these days, there’s always farmers markets and festivals and stuff like that going on. It’s an OK city to live in if you’re participating. We live in the far suburbs, on the outskirts of town. Downtown is I think about 6 or 7 miles by car and 9 by bike (on the trails). Forget riding a bike anywhere in the winter unless you’re brave and/or stupid. I self apply both terms interchangeably.

Phamilton

The buses here have racks for 2 bikes on the front and I only occasionally see them in use. There are 3 of us in our household, preventing that sort of trip for our family.

Phamilton

This is the last picture I took of my Trek before it was stolen. The day before according to my phone. In the same place and at the same time as the above photo of my Raleigh, during my lunch break. I feel pretty lucky that I can sometimes sneak a 15 minute ride into my lunch break, and it’s all on the trails. The trail actually runs right in front of the building I work in and the local park is maybe a mile up the trail so a well planned and executed lunch could in theory be consumed in the park.

Phamilton

My aforementioned touring bike commuter, in a similar looking place at a completely different time

Edit: if not for the bar tape, saddle, and tires, would you even see the bike in this photo?

Phamilton

Re the stolen bike, I regret the loss of the bike itself but I’m also pissed that I had a bunch of good parts on it. Including the factory rear rack from my touring bike and my other taillight mount.

I may explore the idea of a 26” bike at some point, as sort of a replacement. I liked the off-road capability of the hybrid and the overall feel but it was still a big bike and I think I’d like a smaller frame with smaller wheels, so long as I’m spoiled for choice on the local used market. I’m not in a hurry to replace it as my needs are currently met.

In an emergency, I can walk to work. It would take roughly the same amount of time walking 3 miles as it did to bike 12.

linberl

One of you needs to get a folding bike, lol.

gefco59

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