Living Car Free - Say hello to my new "car" (pics)

Goodbye Honda Prelude.
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/2748/prelude9ud.jpg

Hello Bianchi Volpe!
http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/6288/volpe0ts.jpg

I am now officially car-free! I've been mostly car-free for a while now, but I've finally sold my car. My girlfriend still drives me around sometimes, but that's mostly because she didn't have a bike. Now that I have the Volpe, I sold her my Trek 7300FX that was too small for me. She just bought a brand new Civic, so I don't think she'll be car-free anytime soon, but I'm hoping that now that she has a decent bike, she will use it more often than the car and we can get into shape and do our part for the environment together.

nice! I hope things work out well for you. No doubt ppl here can help with the uncomming challenges.

Wow, nice Prelude!

Oops - sorry...

nice volpe, and the roadmorph kicks much a$$

The Volpe should be a great all-purpose sort of bike for being car free. Congratulations!

Hey, IA, good choices--

both the lifestyle and the bianchi!! :)

I'm in almost the exact same situation. I just sold my car a couple of weeks ago b/c it hadn't been used in about 2 months and it was just sitting there sucking up money. So, I'm car-free but I live w/my girlfriend and we still use her car but we use our bikes whenever it is reasonable. So, really we're 'car-lite'. We still drive for trips to the next town and if we have to pick up big things. In general, however, we don't need to do those things much so we use our bikes. We've gotten grocery shopping, and farmer's market shopping down to the point where we can use our bikes and not have to skimp on buying anything.

Right now, since I just got rid of the car I have some disposable income that's screaming out the name of a bike, I just have to decipher which name it is. Any suggestions?

Thanks for all the encouragement! Now I just need to master clipless pedals. I replaced the crappy Wellgo pedals with Time ATAC Aliums that are a lot easier to clip in and out of and seem more secure while clipped in. I rode around in the alley behind my place for a while today to get the cleats adjusted, which helped a lot, but it's still weird.

I've also ordered all my accessories. I need to go over to REI and pick up my Topeak MTX rack and I got a DXP trunk bag for it in the mail today along with 28c Gatorskin slicks and a new blinkie. As you can see in the picture, I had already put on the SKS fenders. Now all I'm waiting for is the L&M Arc HID headlight and I'll be all set. I just need to keep myself from wasting $200 on Sidi Dominators (they're on sale at Nashbar!) because the Specialized Taho shoes that I bought work perfectly well and are extremely comfortable (they just don't look as cool :D ).

Wow, nice Prelude!

Oops - sorry...

LMAO!! I thought the same thing! But that is a darn pretty Volpe too! Congrats!

Thanks for all the encouragement! Now I just need to master clipless pedals. I replaced the crappy Wellgo pedals with Time ATAC Aliums that are a lot easier to clip in and out of and seem more secure while clipped in. I rode around in the alley behind my place for a while today to get the cleats adjusted, which helped a lot, but it's still weird.

I've also ordered all my accessories. I need to go over to REI and pick up my Topeak MTX rack and I got a DXP trunk bag for it in the mail today along with 28c Gatorskin slicks and a new blinkie. As you can see in the picture, I had already put on the SKS fenders. Now all I'm waiting for is the L&M Arc HID headlight and I'll be all set. I just need to keep myself from wasting $200 on Sidi Dominators (they're on sale at Nashbar!) because the Specialized Taho shoes that I bought work perfectly well and are extremely comfortable (they just don't look as cool :D ).

You will love the clipless pedals for your long jaunts but I have found that for around town, regular shoes rule. Of course, this is just my personal experience and your mileage may vary :)

Sweet bike!

How do you like your Road Morph? I have one for traveling with my folder, but I can fill a tire with my full size zefal hpx in about half the time with less effort. I have several friends with mini pumps on full size bikes, and it baffles me.

Sweet bike!

How do you like your Road Morph? I have one for traveling with my folder, but I can fill a tire with my full size zefal hpx in about half the time with less effort. I have several friends with mini pumps on full size bikes, and it baffles me.

So far, the only time I've used it is when I put on my slicks and it worked pretty well. It requires a fair amount of effort, but it didn't take very long to get to about 105 psi. The gauge on it kind of sucks but it's better than no gauge at all.

I just need to keep myself from wasting $200 on Sidi Dominators (they're on sale at Nashbar!) because the Specialized Taho shoes that I bought work perfectly well and are extremely comfortable (they just don't look as cool :D ).


The Dominators are AWESOME. I waited until I got them on sale though. I have a cheap pair of Shimano shoes as well which are great for knocking around. Still clipless but the sole is not as stiff so they walk nice.



How do you like your Road Morph?

The Road morph is an awesome pump. Works almost as good as my floor pump.

-D