cloggsy
Boardmanist
- Location
- North Yorkshire
Cool! 
Life without the car from monday.
- Thread starter Chris-H
- Start date
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Cool! 
Brandane
Legendary Member
- Location
- Costa Clyde
Good on ya; Chris! I can appreciate what it must be like to go from being a car lover to a non car user. My own car free plan as outlined in reply # 78 came a step closer today. Had a bust-up with a manager at work and told him where to stick his job. I have only been with them for 3 weeks and it was a horrible place to work, so no big deal.
I will keep the car for a few months in case it is needed for a new job (should I find something suitable). If not; well it's goodbye car................
I will keep the car for a few months in case it is needed for a new job (should I find something suitable). If not; well it's goodbye car................
Well week 1 is under our belts and......................best choice we've made in years 
I cannot believe how unnecessarily dependant on the car i was.Shopping is a doddle,Asda deliver and for all the other stuff we need the panniers and my sons cycle trailer are ample.Went to town today which is a 12 mile round trip in the grey drizzly damp weather and thought nothing of it.Got home feeling very content.The amount of times i have now been out on the bike and seeing all the traffic being held up and cars driving for ages trying to find parking spots really has made me realise that the decision to ditch the car is by far the best one i've made.Went to town on saturday,the first saturday for months upon months and really enjoyed it,i used to avoid the town on saturdays due to congestion and parking but now i think i'll be looking for a reason to go,i just love town on Saturdays.
Car is now up for sale so if anyone wants a cracking little Vauxhall Astra,52 reg 1600 8v then get in touch.
Will update the thread again next week.
I cannot believe how unnecessarily dependant on the car i was.Shopping is a doddle,Asda deliver and for all the other stuff we need the panniers and my sons cycle trailer are ample.Went to town today which is a 12 mile round trip in the grey drizzly damp weather and thought nothing of it.Got home feeling very content.The amount of times i have now been out on the bike and seeing all the traffic being held up and cars driving for ages trying to find parking spots really has made me realise that the decision to ditch the car is by far the best one i've made.Went to town on saturday,the first saturday for months upon months and really enjoyed it,i used to avoid the town on saturdays due to congestion and parking but now i think i'll be looking for a reason to go,i just love town on Saturdays.
Car is now up for sale so if anyone wants a cracking little Vauxhall Astra,52 reg 1600 8v then get in touch.
Will update the thread again next week.
Flying Dodo
It'll soon be summer
Coming up for 4 months without a car for me.
I've worked out that in the preceding 12 months, with the VED, insurance, repairs, MoT, tyres etc, I'd spent the equivalent of £208 pm just for the car to be sat on the drive. Petrol was in addition.
Just think how many bikes I could have bought by now if only I'd got rid of the car earlier.
I've worked out that in the preceding 12 months, with the VED, insurance, repairs, MoT, tyres etc, I'd spent the equivalent of £208 pm just for the car to be sat on the drive. Petrol was in addition.
Just think how many bikes I could have bought by now if only I'd got rid of the car earlier.
Nice one mate,well done,i've worked out i'll be saving just over 200 quid a month,and having lost my job a few weeks back that is a lot or money,especially this close to xmas.Coming up for 4 months without a car for me.
I've worked out that in the preceding 12 months, with the VED, insurance, repairs, MoT, tyres etc, I'd spent the equivalent of £208 pm just for the car to be sat on the drive. Petrol was in addition.
Just think how many bikes I could have bought by now if only I'd got rid of the car earlier.
Well a little update,now a month into our car free life and still under the belief its the best decision in years.I've even devised a way of getting a 25kg sack of spuds home on my panniers,a garden centre plant basket thingy strapped to my pannier rack with some old rubber straps from a long deceased car rack.Being in a village it was the spuds and bags of coal that we were concerned about getting home but alas our worries are over.Someone is giving us an old double childs trailer this week so that will be converted into a flat bed trailer with some strap eyelets for securing loads.All in all we're absolutely loving it.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Brill !
Piemaster
Guru
- Location
- UK City of Culture
Good job.
I've just converted a bike with an Xtracycle kit. I've found it very handy as its always with me, taking the trailer was a will I/won't I need it decision and I'm now not having to shop as carefully as with just a couple of panniers (not decided if thats actually a good thing though). Spuds and a bag of cat litter (20kg total) on one side of the xtracycle were no bother.
I've just converted a bike with an Xtracycle kit. I've found it very handy as its always with me, taking the trailer was a will I/won't I need it decision and I'm now not having to shop as carefully as with just a couple of panniers (not decided if thats actually a good thing though). Spuds and a bag of cat litter (20kg total) on one side of the xtracycle were no bother.
Wow thats some bit of kit,how long does it make the bike in total?
Piemaster
Guru
- Location
- UK City of Culture
It lengthens the bike by around 15". It's sort of a cantilever affair, theres a tongue that rests on the chainstay bridge at the front and in the frame dropouts at the rear. 15" doesn't sound like much but all the rack/bags is useable as it's all out of the way from heelstrikes when pedalling. All sorts of cargo carrying goodness on Practical Cycles (no connection). Main xtracycle website
twowheelsgood
Senior Member
- Location
- Zurich Switzerland
Hmm, mixed feelings about this. I lived without a car for 4 years in Zürich which has one of the finest transport infrastructures on the planet. To be honest it wasn't really much of a challenge day to day, however what I did miss was the leisure side, being able to go anywhere at the weekends and during holidays at a whim. Driving over the Alps to the Med in 4 hours or going somewhere remote for some mountainbiking. Not that these places were totally inaccessible mostly be other means it was just the time factor. Secondly it was all very well doing this and being single but as soon as my wife joined me here, the costs of public transport doubled and suddenly the car didn't look so expensive; I have an old Audi A4 diesel now which is worth nothing but it'll top 50mpg easily enough. I would have thought for families this would apply even more.
I however would like to agree with the tip of buying a trailer. I bought a Vitelli camping which is the rolls-royce of cargo trailers second hand for about £40. Best buy ever, 60kg capacity and extremely stable, beautifully engineered. Shopping for the week even for a family is surprisingly easy, with panniers 100kg is easily and safely doable.
I think we sometimes forget how recent universal car ownership actually is. I seriously think town planning is storing up some serious issues when this is no longer tenable. Those edge-of-town developments won't look so attractive then and hopefully we can re-generate our cities.
I however would like to agree with the tip of buying a trailer. I bought a Vitelli camping which is the rolls-royce of cargo trailers second hand for about £40. Best buy ever, 60kg capacity and extremely stable, beautifully engineered. Shopping for the week even for a family is surprisingly easy, with panniers 100kg is easily and safely doable.
I think we sometimes forget how recent universal car ownership actually is. I seriously think town planning is storing up some serious issues when this is no longer tenable. Those edge-of-town developments won't look so attractive then and hopefully we can re-generate our cities.
