WhyFi

It's been snowing on and off for the last few days, here. Unfortunately, after the time and effort of getting the snow blower up and running smoothly, the powers that be haven't had the decency to give me any one snowfall big enough to justify firing it up.

At least the kids'll have enough snow for some sledding on the weekend, though.

Trsnrtr

As long as the car is reliable and isn’t going to strand you somewhere, no reason not to keep it going. $750 is not a lot of money in the world of car repairs.

mvnsnd

Whos afraid of several inches of snow?

big john

The Versa has more than double the cargo space of the Mini.

The Mini also has an advertised range of 114 miles, less than half the range of a Bolt.

rjones28 

Our expected snow gave us a miss.

datlas 

Yeah, I agree. My goal all along has been to get to 25 years and 200K on the car, and currently 24.5 years old and 196K. One more year should do it.

I really only use the car to back/forth from my home in Malvern to work/bike club rides in West Chester, which is roughly 9 miles away. If there were a safe bike commute route, I would gladly ride to/from work, even on a MUP. But sadly, there is not.

datlas 

Any thoughts on the Leaf?? I have seen used ones fairly reasonably priced, but I don't know Jack about electric cars and their battery issues.

The turn-off for the Mini is not so much its range (as above all my trips are 20 miles or less), but the cargo space. The bike belongs INSIDE the car. Maybe the Leaf or Bolt have better cargo space.

seedsbelize2

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seedsbelize2

But it's only November. You've got a whole winter ahead of you.
#lookaththeendgame

WhyFi

Yeah, but I'm impatient and want to see the fruits of my labor.

There's also the whole "should I just sell the snow blower since I've been fine without it for the last three years?" thing. I'd really hate to move on from it before using it in earnest, again. I should probably do a quick search on used snow blower values in the area and see if it'd even be worthwhile in the likely selling price range... I mean, if the best that I can hope to do is 200 bucks, I'd rather keep it than go through the trouble.

seedsbelize2

I dropped the Mrs at the bus terminal this morning. Heading to Cancun, to board a plane to Atlanta this evening. I have my assignments. As luck would have it, it's time for an oil change. I have to schedule things like that, as I am not the one in need of the car on a frequent basis. Might need brakes too. I need to get that checked. What's a good brand of brake pads to look for, for the Fit? Drum in back; disc in front.
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big john

I don't know a lot about the Leaf except that it has supposedly the most cargo space of all the small e-cars. A friend has one and he loves it but the range isn't stellar. Another friend just got a Hyundai Ionic and last Saturday he put 2 road bikes inside it. It's a bigger car and more $$$ than a Leaf.

Still another friend has a Kona e-car and his bike fits easily. He commutes 110 miles per day in it and it's been pretty good. He had an electric Fit before which was a lease-only car. He got a hydrogen Toyota for his wife and it has had a lot of problems.

MoAlpha

The Fit has drums???

big john

The brakes on a Fit should last a long time unless you are really hard on them, like most smaller cars these days. If you do need pads or shoes I would recommend the OEM stuff. Probably better to ask someone who does brakes on Hondas daily, though.


With GM, they offer a lower priced replacement pad which some people have problems with noise, etc. I would think Honda only offers one type.

seedsbelize2

We have topes here in Mexico. One doesn't drive anywhere, anytime, without continually braking for speed bumps. But yeah, it seems too soon. 45000 miles.

seedsbelize2

Well, once again I don't really feel like going for a ride, so I guess I'll suit up and go. If I don't I remain lazy for the whole day, instead of only the part leading up to the ride. It's shockingly easy to party out a morning when there is nothing pressing on the agenda.

genejockey 

Got the new (to me) Fulcrum 600 DB wheels home last night. The front was really tight - WAY too much preload on the bearings. When I was buying them, I mentioned something about the bearing adjustment locking screw and the seller said he didn't know what that was for - which seems pretty obvious! I suspect they bought them (seller said for his wife) and were not impressed with the performance. I put the Canyon on the workstand and fiddled with the preload till I got it almost as loose as possible with no play, and it was turning just by its own weight. The rear was already good, though once I have a cassette for it I'll play with it in the Canyon's dropouts. I also ordered rotors for it, but I don't have the tool to tighten down the lockrings. It looks to be the same tool used on external cup BBs nowadays. Anyone know if the same tool works for all?

big john

You might be able to see the front pads without removing the wheel. Sometimes you can see the outer pad just looking through the wheel. With some cars you can get a small mirror in position to see both pads.

fwiw my friend put brakes on his Fit for the first time around 165,000 miles but he does a lot of freeway driving.

big john

The same tool works for some.

BBT-69.4 Bottom Bracket / Lockring Tool — 16-Notch | Park Tool

genejockey 

Now that I think about it, when I got the Fulcrum 4s that are now on the Litespeed, they weren't all that impressive till I adjusted the bearing preload on them. I wonder if Fulcrum either intentionally sets them up too tight so that they won't be too loose if buyers don't adjust them, or maybe they just don't bother with fine adjustment at all?

LesterOfPuppets

Wow, I had no idea Minis we're THAT mini on the inside

Mojo31

We just replaced the brakes on the wife's SUV at about 42k. But, the pads are probably softer than what goes on a Honda.

big john

The e-Mini is only sold in the original (BMW) size 2 door. They might offer it in the larger 4 door later. Also, the battery might intrude on cargo space, idk.

rjones28 

Brakes on the SportWagen lasted until 100k miles. Not many stop-and-go traffic miles. Then, it was pads and rotors all around.

genejockey 

The brakes on the Dodge are still fine at 90K. It's possible I don't drive it as hard as many other Challenger owners....