As of yesterday we’ve gone to being a one car household. With both the wife and I WFH it seems both cars spent the majority of the time on the drive and when we thought about it we couldn’t think of many occasions when both were used (or had to be). So yesterday one went up on Motorway and we’ve accepted the offer.
I’ve then come to realise the times I could most use it are when I’m off doing my own stuff, such as a weekly track session and going off to races. It’s one thing making sure I can go off and do a race, but taking the car might be a step too far.
I go to the track every Tuesday at 6pm, and the wife would have the car to pick up the youngest from nursery. Track is about 6km away, I’ve tried running and cycling, but after a hard track session where I’m left almost puking up at the end, I’ve felt so weak and dizzy it’s been difficult to cycle back, let alone run. I walked back the whole way one time, and one time with the bike I walked with it about a mile before I felt ready to ride it.
Someone suggested an electric bike could fit the bill, and then as we were talking it over the idea of a scooter (the sit on Vespa type, not the type all the kids use) came up.
I’m thinking the bike could be more practical for local stuff, I could stick a child seat on it which gives more flexibility. Whereas for further distances I’m thinking the the scooter would win. But when I think scooter I then wonder about motorbike…
I am 42, it’s about time to have a proper midlife crisis
I guess one other factor is with the e-bike there is really just the one off cost, whereas scooter (or motorbike) I guess (I’ve not really looked into it) would incur many similar costs as the car (insurance, MOT, service), which was a major driver for making the change.
We went to single car a few years back. It was a bit of a spur of the moment thing after my annual purchase of £800 for 4 new tyres and £600 for front pads and disks on the S6 I thought this is fucking stupid and chopped it in.
I used my bike occasionally to get around on the rare occasion the car is unavailable. One thing I had been thinking about was an e-cargo bike. Popping to the shops with a rucksack is fine, but limits how much you can carry.
However, one look at the price and that was a non starter.
I think an ebike would be great for chopping about when you dont want to get sweaty or put too much effort in. Perfect for getting back from track, and you are still putting some effort in. Im no fan of scooters or motorbikes at all but that’s personal choice, and as has been said, you get wet on both and at least the ebike is a one off cost.
Back in my day, I used to run 6km in ZERO DEGREES to the 7pm 1 mile race, do that in <5:30 as a warm up, then do the 5km race at 7:20pm in <18:00 as the main event, then jog home.
You just need to MTFU
Like @GRamsay mentioned, I wanted a cargo bike, but lordy me, they are DEAR!
@chickenboy lives in London, therefore he is of a different ilk to us lot
They have a different way of life inside the M25, then even more when you go south of the river
@BadAsh - Rentals from ERAC/Sixt etc aren’t bad at all. Can easily get a decent motor for <£100 to get to a race, which is obviously less than annual car ownership
If all you need it for is those track sessions and travelling to races, I’d just rent for races and scrounge a lift for track sessions (or man up and cycle! It’s 6km away, fuel properly, take a recovery shake or some quick sugar, so you aren’t as dizzy?)
I was thinking of similar but was thinking an electric scooter would be the most preactical. I can put it in a gym/pool locker or shopping trolley so don’t have to worry about it still being where I left it while doing something. Most of my journeys are pretty short and don’t need a car for them for the most part. Just wish the government would hurry up and decide what they’re going to do with them. I thought about an ebike and motor scooter but don’t have anywhere convenient to keep them for easy use.
Yep - there’s gonna be some short term carnage when they are finally allowed - but I do think there is a HUGE potential for them to replace so many journeys. I fear the legislation is some way off.
In MK I think cargo bikes would work great. The segregated cycle paths means you can get pretty much anywhere without going on a road. Could nip up to Tesco for my click and collect order
Seriously though?
You have mad good luck with your s/h motors
I’ve had three and all of them cost ~£1k per annum to keep on the road. Then there’s insurance and VED on top of that (say £50pcm) plus MOT, tyres, other consumables.
It’s “the van’s” MOT soon, so we’ll see, but yes, nowhere near 1k per year.
But yes, number of races, also possibly how long you’re away for them and how - one HC, with us only having one car, she went earlier with it, hired car to join, cheap enough, but one way rental then added the extra hassle of dropping it off etc. (or keeping it for longer) it probably wouldn’t be that much more expensive hiring, but equally it’s a whole lot of hassle - even in Kingston when it was a 10minute walk to the car pickup, I think for @BadAsh and me, it would be about a 6km run to the nearest pick up place - and he’d clearly need a car for that…
Oh, and maybe the luck with the cars, is 'cos they teach AutoShop in Canadian high schools, so Maryka buys well?
Don’t get a Piaggio MP3 unless you want to spend a lot of time fixing the tilt lock issue. You could get a Niken but then you could buy two cars for that!
