The car-free teenager thread
#326
Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 13
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
If it takes you an hour to cover 15 miles on a bus, why don't you just cycle? That should be a lot faster.
#327
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 634
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 230 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 18 Times
in
11 Posts
Differing cultures indeed.
In my country (Switzerland) you have to be 18 for a driving licence. Kids walk or cycle to school here, even to kindergarden. And increasingly when kids turn 18 they don't bother with getting a driving licence anymore. Only 60% of the 18 to 28 yo. have a licence, and that is dropping every year. You can't text while driving, but you can while travelling on public transport...
In my country (Switzerland) you have to be 18 for a driving licence. Kids walk or cycle to school here, even to kindergarden. And increasingly when kids turn 18 they don't bother with getting a driving licence anymore. Only 60% of the 18 to 28 yo. have a licence, and that is dropping every year. You can't text while driving, but you can while travelling on public transport...
#328
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Richardson, Texas
Posts: 120
Bikes: 1989 Trek 1200
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I'm 15, and I already have a car that my grandparents gave me. My friends think I'm crazy because I know for a fact that I'm gonna put like three times as many miles on bikes each week than on my car. I just like living life with excitement, and I already don't like sitting in a car for hours moving at a constant speed for hours, so I'm not very excited at all for driving. I have actually thought about maybe building a go kart or buying a motorcycle as an alternative to a car though, that would be fun. I want to get a vintage steel framed bike, put 700c wheels on it with cx tires, drop bars, a singlespeed kit and a bunch of homemade safety devices. I would add a rack and some panniers and a wood milk carton then I would be living the bike life.
#329
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Virginia, USA
Posts: 199
Bikes: Jamis Sputnik
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I'm 15, and I already have a car that my grandparents gave me. My friends think I'm crazy because I know for a fact that I'm gonna put like three times as many miles on bikes each week than on my car. I just like living life with excitement, and I already don't like sitting in a car for hours moving at a constant speed for hours, so I'm not very excited at all for driving. I have actually thought about maybe building a go kart or buying a motorcycle as an alternative to a car though, that would be fun. I want to get a vintage steel framed bike, put 700c wheels on it with cx tires, drop bars, a singlespeed kit and a bunch of homemade safety devices. I would add a rack and some panniers and a wood milk carton then I would be living the bike life.
#330
Pedaled too far.
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: La Petite Roche
Posts: 12,851
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 11 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 7 Times
in
7 Posts
Things have changed so much. When I was a teen the idea of not owning a car was freakish. I get nostalgic for those times, yet I realize that this way is better.
__________________
"He who serves all, best serves himself" Jack London
#331
Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Winnipeg, MB
Posts: 22
Bikes: noname grey road bike
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 9 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Biking is a viable alternative to cars for sure. Problem is I've really come to love hardware stores and the things they have in them.
#332
Sophomoric Member
#333
Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Winnipeg, MB
Posts: 22
Bikes: noname grey road bike
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 9 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I buy long pieces of wood up to 12' long to build things with. It's hard to haul those on a trailer. I used to be of the mindset that if I had to pick up something like that, it was just mind over matter and careful preparation that would enable me to do that with car. But I also wasn't doing it then, so who's to know whether it was that easy.
#335
Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Winnipeg, MB
Posts: 22
Bikes: noname grey road bike
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 9 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I can't get over how many people mentioned that everyone in their school drives or they are the only ones who bike. I know I didn't grow up in the richest neighbourhood but not many people in my high school drove and almost none owned their own car. That was 8 years ago but still. The 4 people I can think of who owned their own car didn't go to University because they "didn't have the money". I should mention that in Southern Ontario you generally don't live more than a 45 minute walk away from your high school in an urban/suburban area. Where all these other kids got money to own a car at that age is beyond me. My insurance was about $4,500 a year when I got my own car at 20. My advice to anyone. Get your license right away because you might need it and the longer you have it the lower your insurance will be. ANd don't but a car until you have a career type job.
I would like to add that car debt, like most debt, for a single person is a pretty foolish way to put your best foot forward. Cycling is a great way to leverage your meagre income to either be in less university debt later or start saving in early adulthood to buy other self-sustaining things for living that won't require your indebtedness, etc.
Dumpster diving, anyone else? Throughout university I didn't have paid work, but I strapped on a milk crate and would regularly bring home 2 weeks of food on the bicycle. So it was rent, salt and butter for me. I refused to buy looseleaf to write on when I could find piles of blank-side scrap paper in the library bins, and I found a lot of pens in the hallway, and didn't have wifi in my place because I lived in a rooming house.
A reliable, well-maintained bike with cosmetic anti-theft qualities is a good thing to have when you're worked for ete university and paying for it. Too anybody looking to cut costs and work less, I bring up bicycles, even though I'm not longer in that position.
I wish I was biking right now but I have a chronic crotch injury that flares up from cycling so that's a bit of an obstacle.
#336
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2016
Location: DFW
Posts: 69
Bikes: 1976 Japanese Schwinn Traveler (III), 1980s Pegeot(?) french road bike,
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 16 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I think if I were to buy a car it'd be a truck, since I'd only need it occasionally for going somewhere far and helping someone move or something. If I'm gonna spend thousands of dollars on a car, it'd better be versatile.
#337
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 3,720
Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 317 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1 Time
in
1 Post
could always try a cargo bike, or bolt on a Burley Long Hauler, or even invest in a cargo-trike or cargo-quad!
XYZ CARGO
XYZ CARGO
#338
What happened?
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Around here somewhere
Posts: 8,050
Bikes: 3 Rollfasts, 3 Schwinns, a Shelby and a Higgins Flightliner in a pear tree!
Mentioned: 57 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1835 Post(s)
Liked 292 Times
in
255 Posts
His beard isn't grey. It would be more 'hip' I suppose. Like R. Crumb's "Keep On Truckin".
__________________
I don't know nothing, and I memorized it in school and got this here paper I'm proud of to show it.
#339
What happened?
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Around here somewhere
Posts: 8,050
Bikes: 3 Rollfasts, 3 Schwinns, a Shelby and a Higgins Flightliner in a pear tree!
Mentioned: 57 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1835 Post(s)
Liked 292 Times
in
255 Posts
PS The 'teenagers' I know without cars are broke, lousy drivers or both.
I am an awfully old teenager and both.
I am an awfully old teenager and both.
__________________
I don't know nothing, and I memorized it in school and got this here paper I'm proud of to show it.
#340
the digitalmouse
The historical photo album of the rickshaw's build history can be found here: https://goo.gl/photos/gRFNGLoi9nJwpLZJ9
I would not say nobody. XYZ has made quite a few of these in various configurations already. I visited their shop this past winter and there were several frames up in jigs in various stages of completion. They have become quite busy this year.
And they are not alone! There are several companies building quad recumbents for all sorts of purposes. A model I am looking at is the Velove Armadillo from Sweden - their factory is a few hours away from Copenhagen by train. A short video of the model I am interested in:
As a cargo recumbent:
As a people carrier:
With a trailer:
Quite a versatile setup from the Swedes.
The Dutch and Germans also have similar offerings.
Last edited by digitalmouse; 09-27-20 at 09:50 PM. Reason: fixed missing photo