Toshi's thread
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More commuter bike ideas, pawing through the Gates page slowly:
Spot Rallye. Beautiful again, but $3k for a single speed aluminum 'cross bike without rack/fender eyelets? Does not compute.
Specialized Source Eleven. $2,750.
+ for lights/dynamo, belt drive with protector, fenders, vestigal rack. - for Alfine 11 hub--I never liked the mushy feeling of the Nexus 7 on my e-bike. Also - for the vestigality of said rack, although my fit-for-26" Tubus might fit over that skinny fender just barely... This is probably the most practical option thus far (besides just getting some 700c x 38 tires for the 29er and riding it as is), but at that ridiculous price tag I just don't see it happening!
Novara Gotham. $1190, currently marked down.
Like that Specialized, only with a NuVinci instead of Alfine 11 hub. No integrated front light setup. Looks kind of busy. Still a very practical option, and at ~40% the price it certainly looks like a better deal.
Redline Monobelt. $1700 per the Bicycling mag review, which had the gall to call that price cheap!
Not viable as a commuter (or any more viable than my current geared 29er), but it sure is pretty. Hmm. I wonder how much garage space I'll have?
At $1700, though, it's not so attractive...
Cliffs Notes: **** be expensive, yo.
Spot Rallye. Beautiful again, but $3k for a single speed aluminum 'cross bike without rack/fender eyelets? Does not compute.
Specialized Source Eleven. $2,750.
+ for lights/dynamo, belt drive with protector, fenders, vestigal rack. - for Alfine 11 hub--I never liked the mushy feeling of the Nexus 7 on my e-bike. Also - for the vestigality of said rack, although my fit-for-26" Tubus might fit over that skinny fender just barely... This is probably the most practical option thus far (besides just getting some 700c x 38 tires for the 29er and riding it as is), but at that ridiculous price tag I just don't see it happening!
Novara Gotham. $1190, currently marked down.
Like that Specialized, only with a NuVinci instead of Alfine 11 hub. No integrated front light setup. Looks kind of busy. Still a very practical option, and at ~40% the price it certainly looks like a better deal.
Redline Monobelt. $1700 per the Bicycling mag review, which had the gall to call that price cheap!
Not viable as a commuter (or any more viable than my current geared 29er), but it sure is pretty. Hmm. I wonder how much garage space I'll have?
At $1700, though, it's not so attractive...Cliffs Notes: **** be expensive, yo.
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Then you have Neal Saiki's take on what I home-built back in 2008 with my electric bike. It has much of the same ideas in mind that I had, namely a lack of derailleur, clean lines, rack and fender functionality, and electric bits underhood.
It looks much better executed overall, though, which is unsurprising since Neal Saiki's other company is Zero Motorcycles:
NTS Works Fat Free. Another big advantage it has over my now ex-e-bike is in running its motor through a transmission (NuVinci in the frame centrally for the motor, NuVinci in the rear hub for pedaling, afaik) and in integrated, central battery mounting.
Downsides are price ($2,600--not bad, really), 48 lb weight (albeit much lighter than my hub motor/big battery e-bike build), September planned availability that really means wintertime given reality, limitation to 350W, and general dorkiness.
It looks much better executed overall, though, which is unsurprising since Neal Saiki's other company is Zero Motorcycles:
NTS Works Fat Free. Another big advantage it has over my now ex-e-bike is in running its motor through a transmission (NuVinci in the frame centrally for the motor, NuVinci in the rear hub for pedaling, afaik) and in integrated, central battery mounting.
Downsides are price ($2,600--not bad, really), 48 lb weight (albeit much lighter than my hub motor/big battery e-bike build), September planned availability that really means wintertime given reality, limitation to 350W, and general dorkiness.
Bikes I shall be test riding in the next month or so:
The aforementioned Novara Gotham, the value leader.
Downsides are busy look, potential NuVinci parasitic drag, and lack of fork bosses for easy low-rider front rack mounting. Upsides are price, Gates trickery, and general completeness.
Specialized AWOL Comp. Definitely not the value leader: just under $2k in Comp trim.
Downsides are that price and Specialized well-intentioned speccing of progressively shorter cranks/narrower bars on smaller sizes–I'd probably be on a M, possibly ML–that go against what I'd spec personally, that being wide bars and full meal deal 175 mm cranks. Upsides are Reynolds tubing (on the Comp alone, not on the regular AWOL), split seatstay for future Gates belt drive retardedness (ditto), pivoting dropouts for chain/belt tensioning, clean lines, and front/rear rack braze-ons galore.
It could serve as a slow road bike, a commuter, a tourer, and eventually a child trailer-hauler, but it'd have to be pretty sweet to justify that price. I'll give it a shot, though, especially since the local dealer carrying them is truly local, all of 1 mile away or so. If I liked it but not the spec, I could build one up from a frame, too, although that exercise could quickly get very expensive.
Terratrike Traveler folding recumbent tricycle. (I might try a recumbent bike or two as well, but have my doubts about the viability of those for a short, stop sign-ridden commute.)
Downsides are that I fear that I'd look even dumber than on my e-bike, turning radius, the price, long chainlines inherent in such designs, potential difficulty of parking/locking the thing up, and general attraction of ridicule. Upsides are that it could be really, really comfortable from what I've read, and the folding design would allow for transport without a funky wheelchair-carrying rack type contraption. I'm willing to give the concept a test ride, at least…
The aforementioned Novara Gotham, the value leader.
Downsides are busy look, potential NuVinci parasitic drag, and lack of fork bosses for easy low-rider front rack mounting. Upsides are price, Gates trickery, and general completeness.
Specialized AWOL Comp. Definitely not the value leader: just under $2k in Comp trim.
Downsides are that price and Specialized well-intentioned speccing of progressively shorter cranks/narrower bars on smaller sizes–I'd probably be on a M, possibly ML–that go against what I'd spec personally, that being wide bars and full meal deal 175 mm cranks. Upsides are Reynolds tubing (on the Comp alone, not on the regular AWOL), split seatstay for future Gates belt drive retardedness (ditto), pivoting dropouts for chain/belt tensioning, clean lines, and front/rear rack braze-ons galore.
It could serve as a slow road bike, a commuter, a tourer, and eventually a child trailer-hauler, but it'd have to be pretty sweet to justify that price. I'll give it a shot, though, especially since the local dealer carrying them is truly local, all of 1 mile away or so. If I liked it but not the spec, I could build one up from a frame, too, although that exercise could quickly get very expensive.
Terratrike Traveler folding recumbent tricycle. (I might try a recumbent bike or two as well, but have my doubts about the viability of those for a short, stop sign-ridden commute.)
Downsides are that I fear that I'd look even dumber than on my e-bike, turning radius, the price, long chainlines inherent in such designs, potential difficulty of parking/locking the thing up, and general attraction of ridicule.
Upsides are that it could be really, really comfortable from what I've read, and the folding design would allow for transport without a funky wheelchair-carrying rack type contraption. I'm willing to give the concept a test ride, at least…
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In other news, I test drove a 2014 Kia Soul + Red Zone in exchange for $250 today.
Pros:
Re gift cards: If it had been a $250 Visa or even Amazon.com gift card my hour spent at the dealer would have been the deal of the century. As it is it's a smattering of $25 and $50 gift cards only each usable on a given e-retailer website, and small fry ones at that, e.g. zunki.com (wtf?). Oh well, still free money in a sense, albeit harder to use free money.
Pros:
Cons:
Verdict: I was never in the market for one, having driven this just to get the $250 in gift cards. More on that in a bit. The experience in this gas model was off-putting enough, especially with the lack of cargo room, to dissuade me from looking into the Kia Soul EV in the future.
Re gift cards: If it had been a $250 Visa or even Amazon.com gift card my hour spent at the dealer would have been the deal of the century. As it is it's a smattering of $25 and $50 gift cards only each usable on a given e-retailer website, and small fry ones at that, e.g. zunki.com (wtf?). Oh well, still free money in a sense, albeit harder to use free money.
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Ugh. Turned out those sites at which the gift cards from my Kia test drive are redeemable are collectively a steaming pile of crap. I probably got $20 of utility out of those gift cards, and thusly decided to not repeat the "$250 test drive" offer exercise at another local dealer (Acura) peddling the same ****.
I decided to not test ride any of these things. The commute is going to be sufficiently short that a dedicated bike seems like it'd be just pissing $1-2k down the drain.
I then had the not-bad-at-first-gander idea this morning of getting a 29er rigid touring fork (a la Salsa Fargo) and popping it on my 29er with some minimalist Tubus Duo front racks and matching small front panniers. (My 29er lacks eyelets for a rear rack, and I'm not a huge fan of rear racks + panniers because I've had heel clearance issues before. Also, in case it's not clear, my 29er's suspension fork lacks eyelets for a front rack, of course. A touring fork is laden with said eyelets and braze-ons by design.)
Anyway, this touring fork + front rack/panniers idea lasted until just now, when I looked up how big Ortlieb's front panniers are: 9.8" tall, their greatest dimension. My work-assigned laptop is 14.9" wide. Yeah, that's not going to work, which means I'm stuck with my roll-top, sweaty backpack, which means I might as well suck it up and ride the 29er in just as it is.
Sometimes the path to doing exactly nothing is long and tortuous, eh?
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One of the big reasons we leased a LEAF in Seattle was the low carbon nature of our electrical grid. Not only is the baseline heavily weighted towards hydroelectric generation, but we pay $12/month extra to Seattle City Light via its Green Up program to get all of our usage offset by wind energy Renewable Energy Certificates.
Thus my wife and I were a bit dismayed by the knowledge that Colorado's power grid is inherently very dirty at baseline thanks to all the Wyoming coal-fired powerplants supplying it. The Union of Concerned Scientists computed that a LEAF-sized BEV running on the CO/WY grid would have the equivalent GHG emissions of a 33 MPG gasoline car. We thought that we'd have to live with this dirty grid until we could build some radical net-zero house laden with insulation and solar panels, such as these offered as a spec design in Stapleton, where we'll be living for at least the next year.
Just yesterday I discovered (rediscovered? I think I'd read about this but it had slipped my mind) that Xcel Energy, which I believe supplies Denver based off of this published tariff, has a Windsource program that basically duplicates the Green Up program we like so much. The one difference is that it's not a flat fee per month but rather a tiered fee per 100 kWh used, but it looks like it'll work out to about even given how much electricity we use.
With this Windsource program the equation has been changed: If the electricity that we use is net zero carbon per unit (and furthermore supports the development of wind infrastructure) then what's our incentive to buy/build a net zero energy use house?
Given that Stapleton is a newly/recently built community anything we conceivably will end up in won't be some leaking old nightmare, of course, but mentally freeing ourselves from only looking at net zero designs will allow for much more floorplan, window area, etc. flexibility. (This also means that I should morally choose electric air heating/water heating even though NG will probably continue to be half the price of electric for the next few decades. Choosing NG would be subsidizing my lifestyle on the backs of the poor schmoes who happen to live over US and Canadian shale beds.)
Thus my wife and I were a bit dismayed by the knowledge that Colorado's power grid is inherently very dirty at baseline thanks to all the Wyoming coal-fired powerplants supplying it. The Union of Concerned Scientists computed that a LEAF-sized BEV running on the CO/WY grid would have the equivalent GHG emissions of a 33 MPG gasoline car. We thought that we'd have to live with this dirty grid until we could build some radical net-zero house laden with insulation and solar panels, such as these offered as a spec design in Stapleton, where we'll be living for at least the next year.
Just yesterday I discovered (rediscovered? I think I'd read about this but it had slipped my mind) that Xcel Energy, which I believe supplies Denver based off of this published tariff, has a Windsource program that basically duplicates the Green Up program we like so much. The one difference is that it's not a flat fee per month but rather a tiered fee per 100 kWh used, but it looks like it'll work out to about even given how much electricity we use.
With this Windsource program the equation has been changed: If the electricity that we use is net zero carbon per unit (and furthermore supports the development of wind infrastructure) then what's our incentive to buy/build a net zero energy use house?
Given that Stapleton is a newly/recently built community anything we conceivably will end up in won't be some leaking old nightmare, of course, but mentally freeing ourselves from only looking at net zero designs will allow for much more floorplan, window area, etc. flexibility. (This also means that I should morally choose electric air heating/water heating even though NG will probably continue to be half the price of electric for the next few decades. Choosing NG would be subsidizing my lifestyle on the backs of the poor schmoes who happen to live over US and Canadian shale beds.)
As one of those schmoes whose access to my property/mineral rights has been on lockdown due to the politics and hypocrisy of fossil fuel guzzling NIMBYs for going on 7 years now, I must state your viewpoint is refreshing indeed.
Denver house hunting trip:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/+ToshiClark/albums/6023148407738606401
Sister's baby (just shy of a year) starring in a photo for once instead of my doe-eyed Mariko:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/+ToshiClark/albums/6023148407738606401
Sister's baby (just shy of a year) starring in a photo for once instead of my doe-eyed Mariko:
Re: actual house hunting, the New Town Builders ZEN houses (Zero Emissions Now) are off our list after touring 'em. Too small (2000-2100 sq ft) and cramped feeling layout, more importantly. What's on the list currently is still a bit in flux, but it looks like the stars are aligned with regard to school district quality and commute in Stapleton, and Stapleton alone.
The 9, 9, 8 cluster centered in this map are Stapleton schools. It's not until one gets far south of this map, which is beyond my commute tolerance, that one gets into consistently good schools again.
Stapleton residents are guaranteed admission to one of four elementary schools, all within Stapleton but spread out (as the development is truly massive). There's a small element of priority for people within a particular sub-neighborhood going to their local-to-them school, but the important thing to me is that a Stapleton address would guarantee access to a non-crap public school, which is decidedly not the case even one street over…
The 9, 9, 8 cluster centered in this map are Stapleton schools. It's not until one gets far south of this map, which is beyond my commute tolerance, that one gets into consistently good schools again.
Stapleton residents are guaranteed admission to one of four elementary schools, all within Stapleton but spread out (as the development is truly massive). There's a small element of priority for people within a particular sub-neighborhood going to their local-to-them school, but the important thing to me is that a Stapleton address would guarantee access to a non-crap public school, which is decidedly not the case even one street over…
****'s starting to get real: Two weeks left of work here, and then time to hit the road.
I'm going to have quite the cashflow crunch before my first real paycheck in Denver. Fronting about half the costs of the move (which will be reimbursed, inclusive of the house hunting trip to Denver last weekend), a wedding in Tahoe this weekend, security deposit + first month's rent on the new place, and the upcoming two week period of unemployment between here and there are all to blame. Through all this somehow I need to come up with August rent.
Ugh. If I have any sense to me, this will be the last time I have to go through this living on the edge exercise (I'm pretty sure I have enough socked away to pay all the bills and the rent, but it'll be a tight one.)
I'm going to have quite the cashflow crunch before my first real paycheck in Denver. Fronting about half the costs of the move (which will be reimbursed, inclusive of the house hunting trip to Denver last weekend), a wedding in Tahoe this weekend, security deposit + first month's rent on the new place, and the upcoming two week period of unemployment between here and there are all to blame. Through all this somehow I need to come up with August rent.
Ugh. If I have any sense to me, this will be the last time I have to go through this living on the edge exercise (I'm pretty sure I have enough socked away to pay all the bills and the rent, but it'll be a tight one.)
Living beyond your means.... It's the 'merican way yo! (just ask JP Morgan they'll back me up on that!)
Although we've certainly been guilty of living beyond our means by sheer virtue of having chosen to move out from the (very cheap, utility free, but roach-ridden) hospital housing in New York, this issue is merely a cash flow problem.
Admittedly, this cash flow problem wouldn't exist if I still had the prescribed 6-months-expenses rainy day fund socked away, but I tapped part of that to fund our IRAs for last tax year, trading some security for less (no!) taxes since I won't be able to avoid the latter very well in the future!
Once I get my moving costs reimbursed and start getting paid from my new job things shall be peachy keen... I think. I still don't have a great concept of what I'll be pulling down each month once taxes and the like are extracted, as I've never been in this tax bracket and furthermore will be trying to hide away as much pre-tax in retirement accounts as is legally possible.
Admittedly, this cash flow problem wouldn't exist if I still had the prescribed 6-months-expenses rainy day fund socked away, but I tapped part of that to fund our IRAs for last tax year, trading some security for less (no!) taxes since I won't be able to avoid the latter very well in the future!
Once I get my moving costs reimbursed and start getting paid from my new job things shall be peachy keen... I think. I still don't have a great concept of what I'll be pulling down each month once taxes and the like are extracted, as I've never been in this tax bracket and furthermore will be trying to hide away as much pre-tax in retirement accounts as is legally possible.
1.5 workdays left, this afternoon included.
Movers packing up our **** tomorrow, and loading it on the truck Monday.
I pick up the rental car carrier trailer on Tuesday and start driving (with my dad assisting) Wednesday.
I ran the numbers and will have to carry a balance on my Amex until the first long-awaited paycheck (which should include a nice "bonus" to reimburse for moving costs already accrued).
Heading forwards after that first crunch month, if ADP can be believed, I'll be able to pay down our 0% credit card debt before it turns into a 15% pumpkin, and can then put that extra money towards paying down student loans quicker than a 10 year pace. There's also money for a mortgage in there, albeit not much for a down payment, so a "doctor's loan" it shall have to be, or waiting an extra year in the rental, perhaps.
Once I get student loans paid off I shall reward myself with a cheap-ish toy car, methinks. Once the mortgage is paid off then I'll really have some play money... but that's a loooong way off yet.
Movers packing up our **** tomorrow, and loading it on the truck Monday.
I pick up the rental car carrier trailer on Tuesday and start driving (with my dad assisting) Wednesday.
I ran the numbers and will have to carry a balance on my Amex until the first long-awaited paycheck (which should include a nice "bonus" to reimburse for moving costs already accrued).
Heading forwards after that first crunch month, if ADP can be believed, I'll be able to pay down our 0% credit card debt before it turns into a 15% pumpkin, and can then put that extra money towards paying down student loans quicker than a 10 year pace. There's also money for a mortgage in there, albeit not much for a down payment, so a "doctor's loan" it shall have to be, or waiting an extra year in the rental, perhaps.
Once I get student loans paid off I shall reward myself with a cheap-ish toy car, methinks. Once the mortgage is paid off then I'll really have some play money... but that's a loooong way off yet.
Cheap-ish toy car idea: Fiesta ST, maybe? If it's really 5+ years off (again, after I pay off our pile of student loans) then there's not much point mulling about the concept, I suppose, but I hope that I can put a big dent in the loans by funneling all supra-expenses money towards it.
(I'm also planning on socking away 50k+/yr in my tax deferred retirement accounts, to preempt that question. It'll be money I'll never see in my bank account via pre-tax deferrals--out of sight, out of mind. Assuming I hold this job or its equivalent throughout my career I'll be ok for retirement.)
(I'm also planning on socking away 50k+/yr in my tax deferred retirement accounts, to preempt that question. It'll be money I'll never see in my bank account via pre-tax deferrals--out of sight, out of mind. Assuming I hold this job or its equivalent throughout my career I'll be ok for retirement.)
1 workday left. Today is the final day that I'm a fellow. (As of tomorrow I'll be merely unemployed... for two weeks.)
I parked next to a Lotus Elise in the garage today. That thing is ridiculously narrow. I knew it was a low to the ground car, but didn't appreciate that each seat frame abuts the other until seeing it, top-off, from the high perch of myLand Cruiser LEAF.
Also, as I noted in the GMT, Mariko started to walk in earnest yesterday after taking a handful of steps here and there the past few weeks. Non-easily-embeddable video here on G+:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/+ToshiClark/albums/6030487218225422049/6030487215804951698?pid=6030487215804951698&oid=115479414905422234350
I parked next to a Lotus Elise in the garage today. That thing is ridiculously narrow. I knew it was a low to the ground car, but didn't appreciate that each seat frame abuts the other until seeing it, top-off, from the high perch of my
Also, as I noted in the GMT, Mariko started to walk in earnest yesterday after taking a handful of steps here and there the past few weeks. Non-easily-embeddable video here on G+:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/+ToshiClark/albums/6030487218225422049/6030487215804951698?pid=6030487215804951698&oid=115479414905422234350
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Car trailer picked up. It's a pain to park and maneuver on narrow residential roads! LEAF is on it, tied down in many ways, with bike rack and 29er on the LEAF. The Land Cruiser itself is packed reasonably full with gear such as my computer, silverware (as in silver silverware), aerobed, etc.
Tomorrow morning I take off, at a reasonable hour so as to be able to have breakfast and say goodbye (for a few days) to Mariko. Pendleton tomorrow night, Salt Lake City the night after, then at the new to us rental house the night of the 4th.
So much change all at once! I'm glad I have a few days to mentally decompress and get used to Denver before starting work.
Tomorrow morning I take off, at a reasonable hour so as to be able to have breakfast and say goodbye (for a few days) to Mariko. Pendleton tomorrow night, Salt Lake City the night after, then at the new to us rental house the night of the 4th.
So much change all at once! I'm glad I have a few days to mentally decompress and get used to Denver before starting work.
Departing Seattle:
First Costco haul to stock up on, well, everything:
The drive itself was ok. As detailed in the GMTs, the parents' Prius cooked something in its gas motor on a desolate stretch of I-70 in Utah. It's getting a refurbished engine stuffed in it now.
After disgorging myself of the U-Haul trailer I went off roading, among other things/errands. I (or more likely my dad while at the wheel) sadly put a few trail pinstripes along the Land Cruiser's flanks. These scratches distress me somewhat but as the movers haven't arrived I don't have my tools with which to buff/polish them out.
In other news, Denver is hot, CenturyLink DSL was DOA/awaiting repair, I'm glad the house has central a/c (and power offset via wind!), and I'm going to go go-karting on Thursday at a place that will rent shifter karts once one proves one's mettle in the standard 15 hp machines.
Updates: see below wrt karts. Prius engine problems were caused by a camshaft that broke (!), presumably just due to its 212k mile life.
First Costco haul to stock up on, well, everything:
The drive itself was ok. As detailed in the GMTs, the parents' Prius cooked something in its gas motor on a desolate stretch of I-70 in Utah. It's getting a refurbished engine stuffed in it now.
After disgorging myself of the U-Haul trailer I went off roading, among other things/errands. I (or more likely my dad while at the wheel) sadly put a few trail pinstripes along the Land Cruiser's flanks. These scratches distress me somewhat but as the movers haven't arrived I don't have my tools with which to buff/polish them out.
In other news, Denver is hot, CenturyLink DSL was DOA/awaiting repair, I'm glad the house has central a/c (and power offset via wind!), and I'm going to go go-karting on Thursday at a place that will rent shifter karts once one proves one's mettle in the standard 15 hp machines.
Updates: see below wrt karts. Prius engine problems were caused by a camshaft that broke (!), presumably just due to its 212k mile life.
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I'm getting too old at heart for adrenaline sports. After the experience a few weeks ago of feeling that a mountain bike ride wasn't worth the drive, time, and pain, I had a similar experience today.
I went go-karting at a pretty decent place, 40 minutes north of me and with a one mile long track. On the drive back after my allotted laps, I realized I probably won't be going back in the foreseeable future due to time constraints, and furthermore that I'm ok with that.
As recently as med school, which wasn't that recently, I guess, I was a regular at my local karting track and autocross course alike. Being fastest meant something more to me then, yet when the guy told me my line was perfect yet I wasn't carrying enough speed to qualify for the unrestricted karts it didn't bother me too much. 
I went go-karting at a pretty decent place, 40 minutes north of me and with a one mile long track. On the drive back after my allotted laps, I realized I probably won't be going back in the foreseeable future due to time constraints, and furthermore that I'm ok with that.
As recently as med school, which wasn't that recently, I guess, I was a regular at my local karting track and autocross course alike. Being fastest meant something more to me then, yet when the guy told me my line was perfect yet I wasn't carrying enough speed to qualify for the unrestricted karts it didn't bother me too much. 
It's like an anti-midlife crisis. Instead of wanting that sports car, I'm coming to realize that I probably wouldn't like it. (And again, I had the sports cars already: 300ZX in high school, riced WRX and RX-8 later in life.)
Magic courtesy of these two fine products:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001E5DLVO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003AKF4EE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This was part of emissions testing:
On Google+ I explain that my Land Cruiser's emissions are still within at-120,000 miles ULEV-II spec (and in meeting these strict limits are at least an order of magnitude cleaner than the lax general limits tested for by Denver).
Of course, there's the bugaboo of 364 g/km of CO2 emissions… but there's no carbon tax, and unlikely to be one in the future (and there's carbonfund.org, of course).
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Finally, to cap off this spate of posts, an M37 (?) parked outside the go-karting place from this morning:
I couldn't get rid of all of the scratches on the Land Cruiser, some of which may have been old, but it does look pretty nice after I hit it with rough Scratch-X polish, a little clay bar action here and there, finishing polish, and wax.
Now it's ready to be a mall cruiser…
Garage stuff being the first that I unpacked, I finally had all my cleaning supplies at hand today, so I went to work.
I couldn't get rid of all of the scratches on the Land Cruiser, some of which may have been old, but it does look pretty nice after I hit it with rough Scratch-X polish, a little clay bar action here and there, finishing polish, and wax.
Now it's ready to be a mall cruiser…
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never made out past junk town...errr...grand junction....
Got 16.9x mpg last tank in the Land Cruiser. Since I found out that its adjusted for post-2008 mpg rating is a mere 12/15 I'm pretty happy with that. I'll try 85 instead of 91 octane next time I fill up to see if that ekes out another point or causes issues. Afaik Toyota is mum on fuel requirements.
In other words, we've had a Fiat 500L rental since yesterday while the LEAF gets a new bumper cover on Allstate's dime (via another driver running into it while it was parked). The 500L is weird. Good power, slightly balky transmission, horrible interior materials, great roomy feel, oddly distant windshield, tiny pillars. It'll be interesting to see how the related Jeep Renegade turns out.
In other words, we've had a Fiat 500L rental since yesterday while the LEAF gets a new bumper cover on Allstate's dime (via another driver running into it while it was parked). The 500L is weird. Good power, slightly balky transmission, horrible interior materials, great roomy feel, oddly distant windshield, tiny pillars. It'll be interesting to see how the related Jeep Renegade turns out.
As of late I've been having recurrent urges to sell the Land Cruiser.I couldn't get rid of all of the scratches on the Land Cruiser, some of which may have been old, but it does look pretty nice...
Now it's ready to be a mall cruiser
I think these urges actually reflect my inner dissatisfaction with how basically all my time is now allocated to work (inclusive of thinking up publishable ideas, since that's why I'm on faculty), family, with the odd bit of trumpet practice snuck in the garage at 9 pm. In other words, I'm now in Denver, yet don't see how I'm going to be able to take advantage of the mountains for several years yet.
The tiny garage on this rental house exacerbates things, in particular my perception of the Land Cruiser as oversize/overkill. I posted the actual garage and car dimensions on Google+, but suffice it to say that this garage would only be comfortable for two cars were each of the cars a half foot narrower than the already small LEAF.
Dropping time at work isn't in the cards since I both need the money due to my pile of loans and need to advance in the department in the next few years. Spending less time with family isn't a good option, either--I like my wife and daughter, and it really is quite nice to be able to spend half an hour with Mariko before dinner time thanks to my better hours and shorter commute here. (In Seattle, I'd go multiple days where I'd wake before she did and get home after her bedtime.)
Thus my mental urge to change things I can change, even if they're not the root of the problem. Even with this recognition that it's not what ails me, I might end up selling the Land Cruiser next June or so, before registering it for another year. The LEAF lease is up in August 2015, after all, and I might have a bigger/normal size garage of my own by then... One can always dream in car-land, even if the constraints of reality mean that my life will stay the same for all intents and purposes no matter what's in the garage.
I can't justify another car based on gas cost, as my short commute means only $300 or so in gas for a whole year... but I potentially could justify buying and then selling a brand new LEAF each tax year.
Say what? I think I've mused about this before, but here are some numbers:
Exhibit A: Nissan LEAF SV. I could buy one new for $32k + TTL without drama via Costco or Truecar. With one year on it and 8-10k it looks like it should fetch $20k per autotrader.
Exhibit B: $7,500 Federal and $6,000 Colorado EV tax credits. A LEAF at this price and battery capacity would qualify for both of these credits in full: CO goes by msrp x kWh / 100, iirc.
Rinse and repeat each tax year for profit, or at the most a small loss via TTL? I don't see any provisions limiting the number of times one can take these credits, which would be the only show stopper that I foresee...
Hmm. For garage space reasons it might not be feasible to have two LEAFs at our current house, but I must consider this seriously once said current leased LEAF has been returned to the Nissan mothership.
Say what? I think I've mused about this before, but here are some numbers:
Exhibit A: Nissan LEAF SV. I could buy one new for $32k + TTL without drama via Costco or Truecar. With one year on it and 8-10k it looks like it should fetch $20k per autotrader.
Exhibit B: $7,500 Federal and $6,000 Colorado EV tax credits. A LEAF at this price and battery capacity would qualify for both of these credits in full: CO goes by msrp x kWh / 100, iirc.
Rinse and repeat each tax year for profit, or at the most a small loss via TTL? I don't see any provisions limiting the number of times one can take these credits, which would be the only show stopper that I foresee...
Hmm. For garage space reasons it might not be feasible to have two LEAFs at our current house, but I must consider this seriously once said current leased LEAF has been returned to the Nissan mothership.
Didn't you *just* buy that thing...
I am fickle. I still like the Land Cruiser, but with it on the street instead of crammed into the tiny garage, plus its running costs, plus the ease of parking the small LEAF with its Around View cameras, we end up taking the electric car most of the time.
I hope that I'll have more chance to get up into the mountains in, say, 5 years, but my life for the next few years will be very urban and very centered around work and kid-stuff. Hmph.
I hope that I'll have more chance to get up into the mountains in, say, 5 years, but my life for the next few years will be very urban and very centered around work and kid-stuff. Hmph.
Who would have ever thought that a Land Cruiser would pose such problems? Perhaps a trade for an H2? That might work out better for you.