On top of that, if you're also a moderate drinker, you're basically going through life totally drunk.
Not that I follow my own advice, mind you. Last weekend I loaded up The Car The Bank Owns Until I Finish Paying Them Back and did a mountain bike race in New Jersey. On top of the registration fee I also spent money for fossil fuels and tolls, not to mention the amount of time I spent sitting on my ass in the car--at least an hour of which involved waiting to cross the George Washington Bridge back into New York City.
In the end, I probably spent like $100 and six hours just to ride my bicycle for an hour and 20 minutes, when in the same amount of time I could have woken up early, hopped on the Jones, and done an "epic" ride up to Blue Mountain and back.
Not that I regret the race, mind you--it's a fun course, and sometimes you've got to put a number on your bike and quantify just how badly you suck--but it's also important to quantify the resources you've squandered in order to do so.
And keep in mind I didn't even address the period of time during which I owned a Saab. Had I sidestepped that pitfall my net worth would probably be at least 50% greater than it is now. (My current net worth is two (2) Jones bicycle and the hatchet Grant Petersen sent me.)
I really should build a bike around that hatchet...
17 comments:
So are you on like the 10-year payment plan on that pig or what?
Before I bought my first car, my father told me that once you bought a car, you'd never have any money. I was 16 at the time and didn't have any money anyway, so I figured what the hell. $400 for a 1972 Chevelle Malibu with a 400. Blew the exhaust out pinning the speedometer at 120. I really wish these things weren't possible; it's a wonder people weren't killed. But we have to have our freedom machines.
While I still have a car, I'm a lot more financially stable since I bike to work now and only put ~10,000 a year on the car. It really makes a difference.
Hey! I went to college too! Similarly, I minored in English and went back and got a masters in it to boot. So I fully understand how Snobby is rolling in it since I am as well.
A car note is the path to poverty. And the lease is the express train to poverty. But then I don’t live where they spray salt and chemicals all over the road all winter.
Podium!
I, too, owned a money pit Saab.
The "bumblebee" version. Road sign yellow with a black convertible top.
A real head-turner, but I bought that car twice with what I paid in repairs.
weekend weed
classic
Just finished paying off a ridiculous pick-me-up truck that I rarely use. It's a 2013, has barely over 4,000 miles on it and just sits in a garage. Being an idiot American consumer who lives in dense Brooklyn we also have another stupid-big vehicle that has it's own indoor piece of prime real-estate. I am an insecure, deeply indebted effing idiot!
I enjoyed the irony of Honda trying to sell me a new Passport via the ads that accompanied that Outside article. Even better was that it was the "Elite" model that runs $45,000. A "fun" coincidence for me is that somebody almost hit me with a Passport on my commute this very morning. You know, because people on bikes are hard to see, especially when they're wearing dark colors like bright orange and riding exactly where they're supposed to be. I am currently relishing in the thought that said Passport driver's portfolio is at least $45,000 smaller than mine.
You didn't explicitly mention this, but the whimsical picking-up of IKEA furniture and other crappy consumer crap is part of the money-wasting and part of the thing you're guarding against by not having the car. Every purchase has to be, at the very least, considered from a transportation perspective. Which usually leads to (if you're lazy like me) other perspectives like "Do I really need this?" Basically using one shitty old habit (laziness) to counteract another (profligacy). To buy something, you have to really mean it and work for it. It's like having a safety on the "buy" trigger.
Also isn't City Island pretty bike-accessible these days? wink-wink
I read the article but do not feel rich - how long does it take?
Despite any of my espoused bike-like virtures, and moving to live within bike commuting distance of just about every job i've every held, I'm also a slave to the car that owns me. I've biked to go skiing, but it's really kind of a hassle. Due to all the bike commuting I've owned my current Subaru for 21 years now, but as of late it has been getting a little wheezy, so I spent most of yesterday bringing it to the nearest repair shop, committing to a grand in repairs, then riding 35 miles back to my squirrel-infested hovel in a place some call paradise and others just say is overpriced. Total time 5 hrs, spent $1,000, rode 3 hrs with 3K of climbing. At least the ride back was scenic.
1969 99E, 1972 99 1.85l, 1976 99. Needed a little work now and then. The '72 was fairly reliable, but needed a second engine to get to 250,000 miles for the third owner.
Hey, inconsequential recreational bike riding Turds: Quit waving at me when I rocket past you on my Epic Training Ride. It’s annoying but it’s not just that I am too focused on my “metrics” and “form” to acknowledge your greeting. It is slso that you are so far beneath me on the cycling evolutionary scale that I may as well wave to three day old roadkill when I pass it. Think of it this way You would not wave to me from your ‘87 Civic as I jetted past in my Corvette. Well, it is the same when I am kitted out on my $10,000 TT Wonderbike and you are hauling your giant ass around atop some bike-like contraption. So save yourself some dignity Beergutski. If you just gotta do something with that “waving hand” why not just strap a box of jelly-donuts to your rack and shove them into your pie hole while you pedal at 6mph.
I own a Renault R4 van from 1977, I bought the van 10 years ago for $ 1100. The values of bikes exceeds easily the value of the van. I use the van to transport bikes and other bulky items.
Honda Element, bought new in 2004. Paid cash. Currently showing 368,000 miles. Still runs like new and shows no sign of stopping. Always take it to the same mechanic I've been trusting for over 30 years.
My 03 Jetta TDI Wagon (diesel) is the best car Ive ever had...294k mi and counting...purrs like a kitten, gets 50mpg. Fits my bike(s) INSIDE (why I bought it in the first place...got it used in 06 for less than half of new). Think Ive got my $ out of it, but hope to have it at least 10 more years.
Ayy, Fasto Copy...those people aren’t “waving”. They are symbolically erasing you from existence. No “recreational bike riding Turd” worth his or her fender mounts would bother to greet a self-absorbed anal wart such as yourself. And, by the way, when we are both pushing up daisies, you and your $10,000 wonder-bike will have won as many Tours de France as me and the Nishiki touring bike that I got at a yard sale.
Someday I want to hear a conversation between the BikeSnob and MrMoneyMustache (e.g., https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/04/18/get-rich-with-bikes/ ).
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