jcwitte

I bought a Trek 520 for future touring. This is the first road bike I ever owned and I love it. I found myself wanting to take it everywhere. However, being that it was rather expensive, I was a little bit worried about locking it up outside the grocery store and other suspect places. So I bought a fixed up 1974 Schwinn Le Tour a few days ago. Now, I can ride anywhere without the worry that I will be out $1200 if someone decides they want a free bike.

I also recently "inherited" a '95 Mercury Sable that my Dad use to drive. It's been less than a year and I've already put over $500 into fixing various mechanical problems. Now, every once in awhile, the engine light comes on and when I go to check, the coolant is empty (some kind of internal leak that could be rather expensive). I refuse to put anymore money into it. I'm thinking about just giving it to my sister and see how easily I can do the carefree thing. I just ordered some around town panniers, and a bright yellow wind jacket.

I was without a car when I lived in Chicago, but Bloomington/Normal Illinois is quite a different sort of town. Everyone I know owns a car. This should be interesting.

Roody

Good idea. Dump that lemon on your sister.

henryblowery

$500 is'nt that much. I was just talking to my dad about the cost of owning cars and he said $3,000 a year for maintenance on two cars(eyesbulging). Right now are van is in the shop for a $2,000 transmision(sp?) fix. I don't know how anybody could own one of those money pits.
Gray

jcwitte

I know $500 isn't much, but I also had to unwillingly purchase it from my Father for about $1300. He was ill (ALS) and the only way we could get him to not drive and rely on a "chauffeur" was for me to buy his car and become his driver. So really it's more like $1800 (so far) plus insurance plus gas plus the temptation to drive short distances simply because I have a car in my drive.

I have the money, but it's really more of a principle thing. The only reason we are blowing up certain parts of the world is because people like myself drive a car when the destination is less than a few miles away. So I just want to conserve oil and maybe do my part to save the world

folder fanatic

Why dump your car on your sister? Most people secretly resent their siblings even as adults. A more constructive approuch would be ride share or expense share the car with your sister for the times when a car is a dire must to use <like hauling a large amount of items or just plain large item(s)> that a bike might not be the best option to use.

Thor29

I disagree. If she wants the car, that's cool - give it to her. You are more likely to create resentment if you co-own the car because there will be disagreements about what to fix, who's paying, etc. But you don't need a car at all if you have any friends or family in the area who own one. And I am willing to bet that pretty much every adult you know has a car. So why bother owning one when you could borrow one for those rare times when you need to carry big items. Heck, do most house owners own dump trucks just in case they need to bring in some gravel or fill dirt?

Artkansas 

Don't inflict it on your sister unless you hate her.

My (pre-ex)wife and I used to own a Taurus. It never failed to score less than $2,000 on maintenance yearly. Oh, but it was a wonderful car from the dashboard back, so roomy and comfortable.

One time the brake release handle broke. I called, that was a repair requiring the whole dashboard to come out. I looked at the connection. The brake release handle had a cable coming out the back end that attached to a mechanism under the dash. Darned if that cable didn't look like a standard bicycle brake cable. So I got one out of the parts basket and slipped the barrel end into the clip of the Taurus. Perfect fit. I just ran the bicycle brake cable out through the hole where the brake release handle had been. Coiled up the rest of the cable into a loop to grab. It was still working fine years later when we sold the Taurus for $200.

We even had pet names for that model. The Ford Tow-us, and Mercury Dis Able.

Roody

Part bike and part car. Now that would be a true hybrid!

kurremkarm

That's how i finally went carfree, my 56 year old mom's car broke down in the winter of 2003 and i gave her mine. Mostly a selfish act, no more excuses.

Carfree since then and getting a car seems like a foreign concept now.

henryblowery

"Don't inflict it on your sister unless you hate her."

I dissagree, those of you that are car free or would like to be car free are a very small minory(in America). If she would like a car give it to her if she desides she doesn't want it for what ever reason she can alwas sell it.
Gray

jcwitte

My sister is an hour away at grad school so she is always mooching off her friends or having my mom come down and pick her up to come home (yes there is a greyhound bus, but generation Y, I tell you what). I am a student, living in the same town as my mother and two of my brothers. We all live within two to three miles of each other and the grocery store is not that much further. Currently, I can walk to my classes. I'm thinking about maybe trading the car to my sister for a set of fenders and a front and rear light.

I am a little worried about the winter months coming up though. Public transportation isn't the best here. But hey, there are starving kids in China right?

Thor29

Not true. It would be silly for me to own a car just so I can go mountain biking or skiing. My mountain biking friends already own cars and are quite happy to drive to the trailhead. On longer trips I help pay for gas. I might also point out that parking is very hard to come by around here, so my not owning a car makes my neighbors happy too. We're all happy with this arrangement, so what's the problem? The real moochers are car drivers - my income taxes help to subsidize their highways and oil wars and I have to breathe their exhaust whether I want to or not.

jcwitte

I do not pretend to know what sort of lifestyle you lead, so this is more of a soap-box generalization rather than a personal response to you.

That being said, everyone is a moocher to some extent. A common trait in society, period. We don't have enough oil in our respective countries to satisfy the motorized masses, so we mooch off of the abundance of oil found beyond our borders. Every time you fill up, you are "mooching" off of mother nature. And now, with the war, not only are you mooching off mother nature, but you are mooching off the blood sweat and tears of the soldiers and civilians being used to secure your "right" to cheap gas.

I don't mind being labeled a minor annoyance by friends and family every once in awhile for needing a ride. It certainly beats the willful ignorance the rest of society demonstrates as they drive their 28mpg gas guzzlers to anti-war rallies, or turn their heat up rather than putting on a sweater, etc, etc.

So, call me a moocher if you'd like, just be sure to look the other way every time you pass in front of a mirror.

Roody

I see you here asking for free advice all the time so I guess that makes you a mooch too?

folder fanatic

You are in danger of being labeled a moocher or at worst, a ride beggar. Where I live (overly dependant car worshipping Southern California) no one offers you a ride or let you borrow their symbol of freedom (car) without some strings attached. I do not own a car. I either rent one if needed or I use what I have (the bikes or public transit) in various creative ways. Out here, you must be or at least appear to be, not under any oblitgation to anyone. Only in smaller population centers "mooching" would be tolerated. The traditional informal social support groups are a thing of the past. Bicycles will help the newly independant reformed car addict to see other ways of coping.