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Without car...

(9 posts)
  • Started 10 years ago by Baldcyclist
  • Latest reply from gembo

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  1. Baldcyclist
    Member

    Not really a courageous move, more one out of necessity, discovered I had a very illegal front tyre midweek, soldiered on for another day (illegally) till the weekend.

    Can't really be doing with forking out £200 on a new tyre this soon before xmas, so decided to bin the car till next year, only 2 weeks left at work, and we can use the Mrs's car at weekends etc.

    So instead of driving to the Ferrytol, I;m going to get the train to Dalgety bay and cycle from there every day for the next 2 weeks. If that works out though maybe I'll keep it up...
    We do intend to go down to one car in 2 years when Mrs's hire drive thing runs out (despite many people advising against), so this will be a bot of a trial run to see if we can actually do without 2 cars.

    Can see why people would choose to drive though, £18.20 for a weekly pass to Dalgety bay from Burntisland, and £21.20 to Inverkeithing. It's about £20 to the Ferrytol in fuel even for my big car, my wife's Fiat 500 would probably do it in £15 p/w.

    Of course if you are not paying for a car the £21 or £18 is ok...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  2. Baldcyclist
    Member

    Incidentally, it's funny how knowing that you are 'illegal' changes you into a paranoid wreck. I must have been driving illegally for a couple of weeks, maybe even a month (can't be much more had that tyre repaired a few months ago, sure kwik fraud would have alerted us if it was close to illegal then).
    But as soon as you know something is wrong, every Police car you see results in a cold sweat, and aw aw I'm going to jail kind of thoughts (slight exaggeration, but you know what I mean).

    Posted 10 years ago #

  3. Kenny
    Member

    £200 for a tyre?!? Holy crap. It doesn't seem that long ago when I forked out £30 per tyre for the Ford Fiesta I owned. Hmm; about 15 years ago, now I think about it.

    That reminds me of a guy I met when walking the dogs. He told great stories about how money was unimportant to him, his wife dealt with all the finances etc. He then mentioned that the tyre for his car was £350. I almost choked, and asked what his car was. "Aston Martin", he said. Right, I thought. Money is unimportant, eh...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  4. Kim
    Member

    I sold my last car in 1994, and really haven't missed not having one...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  5. Charterhall
    Member

    If I'd been driving on an unsafe tyre the possible consequences in terms of the police would be the least of my concerns.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  6. Baldcyclist
    Member

    @Charterhall

    Probably a fair comment, I was worried I might get a puncture.

    More generally though, the car gets MOT'd in April, and serviced in September every year, and gets whatever I'm told needs done at those points. Other than that, unless it 'tells' me there is something wrong it never gets looked at. I have no interest in looking at cars, actually it hasn't been washed since it was serviced in Sept either (the garage did it that time). I would guess I'm not that different from any one else in that regard.

    In terms of this specific case, braking is fine, handling is fine. The only reason I checked it was because I wheel spun on Tuesday morning coming out of a junction which is what made me have a look on the Tuesday night. I drove it on Weds knowing that 1 of the 4 tread wear indicators was below the 1.6mm limit. I would have driven it on the Thursday too if it hadn't been for the storm (I don't work on a Friday).

    Again, it was serviced in Sept, no mention of it needing done then. That tyre was punctured, and fixed in Oct and no mention that it might need replaced soon.

    In terms of being an inconsiderate driver/cyclist, my bicycle care instructions say that I should check over the bike before riding. I don't do that either. ;-)

    Oh, in-fact the Thursday evening before it blew a front bulb which I didn't replace till the Sunday afternoon - that was my first opportunity to get to Halfrauds, and probably reinforced the badness of my driving ...

    Posted 10 years ago #

  7. wee folding bike
    Member

    Errrrr, I've occasionally seen fabric on the inside edge of the tyre so wear indicators wouldn't worry me too much.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  8. Baldcyclist
    Member

    Hmm, this is actually working out OK. There's good and bad.

    Good - Have to sacrifice 10 minutes in the morning, but I gain 20 at night.
    Good ish - Have to leave work by 5.20pm, or I will miss the last of the 3 commuter trains from Dalgety Bay. Only been at work at 6pm once in a week and a half :)
    Bad - When you have to stay at work to sort some minor catastrophe, an hour to wait for the next train.
    Miles are up - good.
    The funny - getting on train / standing at platform in full gimp regalia raises some eyebrows, even among the other normally dressed cycle commuters who are going all the way in on the train.

    Might actually keep this up after the holidays.

    Posted 10 years ago #

  9. gembo
    Member

    @baldycyclist

    What's not to like?

    You should keep it up after the holidays as the nights will be getting longer etc. come spring with the lighter nights if you have to stay at work you might even cycle back too?

    Posted 10 years ago #

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