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Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
40,293
9,143
I mean... maybe it's just me, but this all sounds like a GARGANTUAN pain in the ass.

NTTAWWT.

:D
the lease then lease buyout two step?

had I bought straight up I'd have gotten $3,850 knocked off the price courtesy of Colorado. and that's it. the vehicle's not eligible for the tax credit and neither am I even if it was.

this lease/buyout dance got me that $3,850... + $7,500 in VW lease cash (which is them just passing through the Federal credit they'll get as the lessor to me, the lessee). ((leases circumvent vehicle eligibility issues, because magic IRS guidance. :))

is $7,500 - the acquisition fee extra worth an hour of my time? yes, it still is.
 
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Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
40,293
9,143
The existence of this is 1up admitting that their basic design is inadequate to keep bikes from flopping a bit even when the bars are quite tight against the tires indeed.

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Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
40,293
9,143
IMG_7178.jpeg


got the Buzz set up with its complimentary Electrify America plan. I may well end up using this once or twice over the 3 year duration. Costco on Airport Way has a bank of chargers but I bet they'd have high utilization, and I'm certainly not waiting for a "free" charger at my personal marginal rate. (midweek would be better but I'd rarely have the Buzz then.)

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said Airport Way Costco had another of the fuzzy oversize seat in stock today. I don't need any more now, though. :D

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last time I was there I had found a comforter + pillow cover set in that same ridiculous corduroy. probably should have bought extras, as now it's not there. I did find these $15/per 60 x 70" similar but not identical corduroy throws, though, so got some for the sectional, the oversized seat here in the basement, the oversized seat at the mountain house, and for the three kids' beds here. one cannot have too many fuzzy things.
 
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Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
40,293
9,143
in other news, I burnt 23% SOC to drive 62 miles all around town in mid 30s weather, dry roads. that trivially works out to a range of 269.5 mi on 100%. 4.12 mi/kWh. good enough.

(still working on the Buzz lease buyout process today, too. Grand Junction dealer won't charge a doc fee since they were the originating dealer for the lease, as it were, but they insist on me financing through their credit unions. to save a $699 doc fee I'll do that… and if the rate isn't 100% on par with DCU then I'll refinance with DCU after a month. my credit score is already volatile due to too many inquiries so two vs one won't matter at all. :D)
 
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canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
22,432
22,222
Canaderp
The existence of this is 1up admitting that their basic design is inadequate to keep bikes from flopping a bit even when the bars are quite tight against the tires indeed.

View attachment 225305
How much do your bikes flop over?

Mine are in there pretty solid, but don't weigh as much as your ebike?

I installed the fat bike kit on mine, which hopefully will work fine with regular tires because some of those flat bolts are made of super soft aluminum. Not something I'd want to be changing every year (just to carry the girlfriends fat bike around a handful of times). :fie:
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
40,293
9,143
How much do your bikes flop over?

Mine are in there pretty solid, but don't weigh as much as your ebike?

I installed the fat bike kit on mine, which hopefully will work fine with regular tires because some of those flat bolts are made of super soft aluminum. Not something I'd want to be changing every year (just to carry the girlfriends fat bike around a handful of times). :fie:
I have the fat bike spindle kit because my commuter had 4" tires. now it doesn't. hmph.

anyway, that kit didn't help things. that plus instant electric torque out of corners (and by this I refer to the car, not the bike :D) means my bike on it does flop an inch or two. usually not all the way to the side bar, if you will, but getting there.
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
40,293
9,143
Well, that was a cute gesture: VW sent me two nicely built ID.Buzz-themed chairs, with two matching decor pillows and a reversible waterproof blanket.

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6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
17,582
15,116
How much do your bikes flop over?

Mine are in there pretty solid, but don't weigh as much as your ebike?

I installed the fat bike kit on mine, which hopefully will work fine with regular tires because some of those flat bolts are made of super soft aluminum. Not something I'd want to be changing every year (just to carry the girlfriends fat bike around a handful of times). :fie:
I've had the fat kit on mine since 2016, normal mtb are fine, road bikes I just have to ensure they're centered and tight.
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
40,293
9,143
slow going over the pass today

there was grumbling from the other vehicle occupants re the length of travel time



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(true color temperature of the LED headlights is even more blue!)
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
40,293
9,143
there should be no variation in this part or in the taxes and state doc fee. the variation would be in the amount/presence of a dealer fee. O'Meara is $699. shall await other quotes to see if this is avoidable: for such a non-service "service" no reason not to go with the dealer with the lowest fee here.

in any case, this number reflects no clawback of VW lease cash or the like. GJ guy was blowing smoke.
after several more rounds of badgering of my Grand Junction VW contact (their latest was a "can't pull a quote until 3 months" line!), I finally have a quote from them for an immediate lease buyout.

$27.20 in fees. tax, which is unavoidable. no doc fee. done and done. moving forward with them instead!

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Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
40,293
9,143
turns out my Juicebox up here was not on the wifi

this meant it didn't pause charging during peak hours of 5-10 pm, M-Sat. this in turn meant I maybe overpaid for electricity by a dollar or two (22 cents/kWh instead of 7 cents/kWh off-peak, and it probably sucked down 10 kWh at the higher rate.

nevertheless, I shall persist

it has been reset and has rejoined the wifi now to avert this calamity in the future
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
40,293
9,143
TIAA-CREF would have me allocate my retirement funds in a diversified way… but also too complicated and not aggressive enough given my time to retirement.

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two different allocations since my 401(a) and 403(b) don't have the same options.

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solution: time to enroll in their self-directed brokerage program, and get me some low expense ratio total stock market index funds. that in and of itself is enough diversification for me. it's not like I'm going to sell any time soon…

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related: getting out of their target date funds. their performance hasn't been bad

but no sense in being overly conservative / underperforming at this point in the game.
 
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