Living Car Free - My car is a reflection of who I am...

i flip through some of the bicycle related magazines at work sometimes and i am amazed and disgusted by the ammount of automobile ad's in them.

Let's face it, this country (and increasingly, the world) revolves around car ownership. It represents freedom, individuality, etc etc, bleh.....

the big goal of 'most every teenager is a car. A prime status symbol in 3rd world countries is a car. Personal car use continues to increase in Europe despite rising (on top of already very high) cost, and cities not built for it.

sorry, but we car free or car lite folks are a very small minority. we're swimming against a big wide strong river. I hope we don't drown :)

cheers and keep on pedaling!

Pleased to say I called the wreckers and had them drag my two cars off the other day.

sorry, but we car free or car lite folks are a very small minority. we're swimming against a big wide strong river. I hope we don't drown :)

cheers and keep on pedaling!


Having grown up in the golden age of cars, I find it impossible not to be pulled in both directions. I live car-free but a part of me would still like a deuce of my own. :rolleyes:

Having grown up in the golden age of cars, I find it impossible not to be pulled in both directions. I live car-free but a part of me would still like a deuce of my own. :rolleyes:

I'd rather find a vintage bike and spend some time restoring it. Another option would be to get an old bike to use as the bicycle equivalent of a hot rod project.

The cig companies pioneered this tripe. By linking the product with the identity of the consumer, they can use emotional and irrational methods of persuasion. The car is freedom. The car is sex. The car is success. The car is rebellion. The car is a shock to the system. The car means you control the system. The car is speed. The car is fresh and radical. The car is fine art. The car is old school quality. etc. etc. Of course, in real life the car is a grossly ineffective, extremely expensive and noxious machine that churns out more carcinogenic compounds and does more harm than any tobacco smoke.

The car is asbestos. The car is lead. The car is benzene. The car is carbon monoxide. The car is a mangled child. The car is global warming. The car is nitrogen oxides and volatile organic chemicals. The car is considered hazmat and has dozens of MSDS associated with it. Your hands must be washed after touching the car. If car enters your eye, flush with water for five minutes. The car is $150 a month in insurance and $400 a month in debt payments. The car eats the food for your family. The car eats the college savings for your child. The car devours the countryside. The car induces a trance-like half death. etc.

The cig companies pioneered this tripe. By linking the product with the identity of the consumer, they can use emotional and irrational methods of persuasion. The car is freedom. The car is sex. The car is success. The car is rebellion. The car is a shock to the system. The car means you control the system. The car is speed. The car is fresh and radical. The car is fine art. The car is old school quality. etc. etc. Of course, in real life the car is a grossly ineffective, extremely expensive and noxious machine that churns out more carcinogenic compounds and does more harm than any tobacco smoke.

i think this applies to just about anything for sale.....

"Buy our product! it will make you young, rich, fit, and desireable to the opposite sex! Financing available - get it now, pay for it later!"

doesn't matter if it's a car or a computer. sometimes i see tv ads that show young attractive people doing something or other, and I have zero idea of the product till the end, when it turns out it's a drug or cologne or pet food.

We are emotional and irrational creatures, so it works:rolleyes:

Having grown up in the golden age of cars, I find it impossible not to be pulled in both directions. I live car-free but a part of me would still like a deuce of my own. :rolleyes:

yep. I watch certian car ads, I must admit:D

Lifestyle Marketing.... amuse and confuse. The whole idea that saying a certain type of person will use/consume this product or that this product will make you ...blah blah blah is incredible. It still boggles my mind that this type of advertising has such a strong influence over consumers.

There are a lot of TV haters on this thread, and i can relate because i was one of you, and to an extent still am. I kept a TV out of my house for years only to resurrect it recently. A blank screen staring at me at all times drive me crazy, so it is usually covered. Honestly i like to watch some show on PBS, such as the jim jones documentary, or the one about google the other day, and they always have some great programming about science and technology that fascinates me.

Also, we have some incredible news programs that we can get here with the rabbit ears that i never could get where i lived before. I was watching the german news the other day and learned things about the european market and investments and news that maybe i would not have seen if i did not watch the TV. TV has it's place at times, but i think that it is a shame that people let their children zone out with it for hours a day, effectively utilizing it as another parent.

Artkansas hit on a great point. I grew up in a TV and car culture, so i always needed both around. Turned 16 and got a car, drove everywhere, sometimes for no reason at all. To grow up being programmed by the television and car culture is a very difficult thing to fight, and even though we like to be car free, tv free, or whatever, we still have those urges at times. It would be nice to have a car to be able to get out of the city on the weekend. I even considered getting a scooter so i could make short trips around to some of the beautiful wilderness areas around here.

One day i realized that i had a bike that could do that for me, and since i have taken a couple of weekend tours, camping out, challenging myself, and having an overall great time, and it is more satisfying than driving there. I have always been an avid hiker and backpack, and some of the best places to do those things are assessable easiest by car, especially when you work and only have the weekend. However, i will continue to use my bike to try and do these things because i really enjoyed it and it now is an extension of my hiking and backpack. The idea of taking off with everything i need to live in a backpack or on a bike is something that i treasure, and i decided to not let the lack of a car stop me from enjoying those activities. Of course, by the time i arrive to the wilderness areas my legs are so beat that i cannot go for a hike! Well, maybe i will be able to once my legs get stronger and i can take more time to tour.

I just want us to remember that these decisions we make are difficult for most people because it is like an addiction that you must fight. Why fight the addiction when it is easier to just keep doing things they ways you have always done them? I can only hope that i can make my family and friends think about their own transportation needs and question the car culture that we live in, and i know the only way i can do that is by example, but i must fight the daily bombardment of manipulation by the corporations.

Cyclists around here can be nuts too.

Something similiar to your sentiments was passing thru my mind as I wrote my comments. I still think a fewer percentage of cyclists are as crazed as motorists tho.

Something similiar to your sentiments was passing thru my mind as I wrote my comments. I still think a fewer percentage of cyclists are as crazed as motorists tho.

Well, most of us were motorists at one time...:D

Honestly i like to watch some show on PBS, such as the jim jones documentary, or the one about google the other day, and they always have some great programming about science and technology that fascinates me.

Also, we have some incredible news programs that we can get here with the rabbit ears that i never could get where i lived before. I was watching the german news the other day and learned things about the european market and investments and news that maybe i would not have seen if i did not watch the TV.


There is a huge body of scientific studies associating TV watching with low cognitive skills. Query PubMed with "(TV OR Television ) AND Cognition" to read some of the abstracts. Your incredible programs are probably feeding you incredible misinformation. Because of the immediacy and multi sensory nature of TV your brain cannot filter plausible from implausible it all gets filed away jumbled together.

Try looking at the incredible program schedule and find a program next week that interests you. Get online beginning at Wikipedia and bone up on the topics using reputable sites. Or go to the library. Have a friend who knows nothing about the topic watch the program. Next day, have dinner with the friend and chat about the program topic. Did your friend become as well informed as you did? If you are a good reader and web surfer or library user, probably not. For example I became much more knowledgeable about car free living through reading on the internet than through all the tons of "environmental awareness" PBS shows I watched as a kid.

There is a local commercial here for a car dealership that is advertising how they can get a loan for just about anyone who has a job. At one point in the commercial, there's a woman sitting in her new car and she says, "Beaman put me in the car I deserve!" I think that says alot about the average American attitude.

There is a huge body of scientific studies associating TV watching with low cognitive skills. Query PubMed with "(TV OR Television ) AND Cognition" to read some of the abstracts. Your incredible programs are probably feeding you incredible misinformation. Because of the immediacy and multi sensory nature of TV your brain cannot filter plausible from implausible it all gets filed away jumbled together.

Try looking at the incredible program schedule and find a program next week that interests you. Get online beginning at Wikipedia and bone up on the topics using reputable sites. Or go to the library. Have a friend who knows nothing about the topic watch the program. Next day, have dinner with the friend and chat about the program topic. Did your friend become as well informed as you did? If you are a good reader and web surfer or library user, probably not. For example I became much more knowledgeable about car free living through reading on the internet than through all the tons of "environmental awareness" PBS shows I watched as a kid.

Yeah, TV sucks and rots the brain. But you also make the assumption that it can only be one or the other. There is nothing wrong with occasional pure entertainment or getting an interest about something technical or scientific or historical thru TV - you can't expect to learn about everything (say like car free living) but you can certainly be exposed to things you hadn't before. As long as it's done in moderation your not going to 'get stupid', moderation meaning wisely chosen and a few programs over the course of a month. If you not stupid you can figure out what may be controversial information in these 'incredible programs'.

I dunno, maybe that's me and my background. I grew up without a TV and didn't get one until my 30s.

Al

Oh, "lifestyle marketing" is nothing new -- it's as old as marketing itself. It was probably invented by the Sumerians. ;)

(kidding about Sumer, but y'all get my point, I'm sure)

And it's a bit of a double standard to criticize car culture for doing it while bicycle culture does it just as much. Maybe even more, since we seem to immediately dismiss nicely-kept modern bikes as "non-utilitarian" posermobiles.

^^Word^^ Since when was it wrong to buy yourself a nice bike if you wanted to?

For a two wheeled example of Lifestyle Marketing ... Hipsters and the Fixed Gear explosion.

There is a huge body of scientific studies associating TV watching with low cognitive skills. Query PubMed with "(TV OR Television ) AND Cognition" to read some of the abstracts. Your incredible programs are probably feeding you incredible misinformation. Because of the immediacy and multi sensory nature of TV your brain cannot filter plausible from implausible it all gets filed away jumbled together.

Try looking at the incredible program schedule and find a program next week that interests you. Get online beginning at Wikipedia and bone up on the topics using reputable sites. Or go to the library. Have a friend who knows nothing about the topic watch the program. Next day, have dinner with the friend and chat about the program topic. Did your friend become as well informed as you did? If you are a good reader and web surfer or library user, probably not. For example I became much more knowledgeable about car free living through reading on the internet than through all the tons of "environmental awareness" PBS shows I watched as a kid.

Well, i know that they did not do an injustice to the story of jim jones around here because the people lived through that and are educated on the subject. I have read up on the story of the people's church, jim jones, and i have seen this documentary.

Again, the google documentary was about a local company that could, if not more closely scrutinized, have a monopoly over the information on the internet.
Take a look at two statistics:

"Google's domestic market share rose to 42.3 percent in February, up from 36.3 percent a year earlier, ComScore said."

"Citing data culled by comScore, Bear Stearns said Google's international market share in November rose to 71.3% from 68.9% in the prior month. Google's growth rate was almost double the rate of that of the entire search industry, the firm noted."

Google is slowly becoming big brother, and if google's share continues to rise, and some other search engines can't keep up and fail, then you might have a link to information just as limited as your television.

This documentary is being shown on public television, without commercials, to a large population google's employees. I think it is important to get a different perspective that will allow you to start to question something that maybe you didn't question before. Common television programs do not do this for me. I can guarantee that i would not have been looking up google's market share if i had not seen this program nor would i have search for information on my own on the subject. It was not something that i was thinking about all the time and looking up on the internet, such as a car free lifestyle;)

That's my perspective. By nature i am a critical thinker, and i will never let one television program, one documentary, one news source, nor one religion form the base of my knowledge on the subject.

Well, most of us were motorists at one time...:D

I still am and guess always will be. Still feel happier and safer on the bike. I consider myself not a part of the fast lane, when on the bike. That white line, I hope seperates me from the rat race- I always tell myself.

I sometimes see a reflection of myself in other peoples cars, mostly SUVs, more often though a shadow of who I am.

Al

I'm replying to Zoltani's long post... you prove my point.

here is some cream to go with your coffee
all those traits, sleek, sporty, etc. are what are she is actually missing, things she don't have, so she have to have the car to in actuality compensate for what she is lacking! :lol:


That's the entire point of lifestyle marketing, no? That's why it works.

My bike is definitely a reflection of who I am. I've personalized it to a much greater degree than any car or truck I've ever owned. I added fenders, rear rack, grocery panniers (Which very rarely come off... even when I'm doing 100 mile+ rides), new bar tape with gel underneath, aerobars, my own head badge, extra water bottle holder, lights, pump, rack bag....

It's reliable and dependable. A jack of all trades, master of none, but whatever task I set out to do, I know my bike is up to it!

A grocery hauler with aero bars! That does say something about you, but I'm not sure what. :p I knew a guy near Laytonville CA who used to haul firewood in a little MGB convertible. He was pretty cool, and like you a jack-of-all-trades. Maybe that's what it means to have a utility bike with aero bars? You're ready for anything. :) I bet you look like you're riding in a time trial when you go to the supermarket. Or maybe you ride 1/3 of the way to Krogers, run 1/3 and swim the rest of the way. :D

I wonder what my bike reflects about me. It's stripped down, kind of dirty, on the heavy side but in pretty good shape.....

A grocery hauler with aero bars! That does say something about you, but I'm not sure what. :p I knew a guy near Laytonville CA who used to haul firewood in a little MGB convertible. He was pretty cool, and like you a jack-of-all-trades. Maybe that's what it means to have a utility bike with aero bars? You're ready for anything. :) I bet you look like you're riding in a time trial when you go to the supermarket. Or maybe you ride 1/3 of the way to Krogers, run 1/3 and swim the rest of the way. :D

I wonder what my bike reflects about me. It's stripped down, kind of dirty, on the heavy side but in pretty good shape.....

Wait till tomorrow when I take the trailer out for the first time. *scratches his head* Yeah. Aero bars and a trailer. ;)

Using your car or clothes or other possessions to communicate what you're about is fine by me. I mean each of us has a different bike chosen for different reasons, right? (Some functional, some aesthetic). I just wish there were more choices in some things though, including cars.

Using your car or clothes or other possessions to communicate what you're about is fine by me. I mean each of us has a different bike chosen for different reasons, right? (Some functional, some aesthetic). I just wish there were more choices in some things though, including cars.

In order to buy a car, clothing, a bike or other possessions to communicate what you are, you first need to know yourself and be comfortable with who you are.

Too often, products are marketed with the promise of transforming the customer. For instance, some alcoholic beverages are marketed as making their drinkers young, attractive, popular and funny. Depending on the brand, computers are sold as no-nonsense business machines with the power to perform or as the choice of a hip, modern generation. Sport utility vehicles are promoted as ways to make an ordinary person into a rugged outdoors type. Powerful sports cars are advertised as the impressive rides of the young and virile. I've even seen a senior scooter marketed as a way to enjoy all the freedom of the open road.

Well, this certainly is a multifaceted topic. As I'm sure we all know. Let me add my two cents...

First with respect to the effect of advertising on the way we see cars: what about the times before we had TV? Now correct me if I'm wrong, because this is way before my time, but even in the early days of the automobile, before TV was invented, let alone turned into what it is today, there were a huge number of people (mostly men) who chose to customize and express themselves through their car. The huge number of choices in vehicles nowadays lets people express themselves without going through all the trouble of customizing. I see no reason with people choosing a car that suits their personality as well as needs. I also have no problem with people choosing a bike based on these same things. I can't entirely understand why anyone should have such a problem.

To me, this seems one more argument that car-free people have in their favor of being better than those with cars. I won't get into that. But I will say that I think a person's driving habits are a much better indicator of the type of person they are than the car itself. And same with bikes. With regards to the sports car: I know a kid from high school who bought a Corvette, similar to one which a friend of my father has. Very similar cars. Dad's friend cruises with it on nice days, and is a very considerate driver. The friend of mine drove like a jackass. The behavior indicated the personality, not the car.

Second case: myself. I've been driving the same car for about 3 years. It's a '94 Celica, which is a small, compact, semi-sporty car. I bought it because it was economical, had looks which fit my personality at the time (early college kid, looking to drive a compact, sporty car), and is a lot of fun to drive (5-speed, tight handling). When I bought it, I was always in the fast lane, but was in general a courteous driver. I never weaved in and out of traffic, always signaled, made sure never to cut anyone off. I drove fast, but never got road rage. I started cycling recently. For some reason, there has been a drastic change in my attitude on the road since. I drive slow, but still as courteous. In a 4-lane highway, I went from leftmost to rightmost lane. Part of it has to do with high gas prices, part with a new attitude that I don't really need to be anywhere that fast. I'm not really sure what my conclusion here is. Except maybe that a cyclist and non-cyclist can drive the same car? That maybe they'll drive it differently?

Obviously I'm a car owner. I read this forum because it interests me. I'd rather be on my bike than in the car, so many topics are relevant. I also all but stopped watching TV when I started riding. I think it just came naturally with having a more active lifestyle. I hate ads, and do shake my head at most of them, feeling slightly disappointed at where our society is at the moment.

But don't be so quick to judge someone by the car they drive, or the bike they ride. I think we all realize that there is a widely varying demographic on each kind of bike out there. There are people that ride like jackasses in spandex and logo-covered jerseys, just as there are 'hipsters' on fixies, as there are people in suits on commuter bikes. And there are just as many considerate bikers fitting the same descriptions. And there are people in suits on fixed-gear bikes and hipsters commuting to class with fenders and a rack. I'll admit, the superhero jerseys often only come on racing bikes, but that's beside the point. None of these things alone can really be an indicator or the person in the saddle, but many were chosen to reflect the rider's personality. But in which way, you can't know until you know the rider.

Okay, I'm done.

^^nice^^

The after market parts industry is 100 years old next year. Henry Ford knew that winning races on Sunday meant sales on Monday.

^^nice^^

The after market parts industry is 100 years old next year. Henry Ford knew that winning races on Sunday meant sales on Monday.

They say that car racing was invented with the second automobile. ;)

I see just as much customizing these days (some of it inspired by Fast & Furious, sadly enough) as I've ever seen in the past, too.

Oh, "lifestyle marketing" is nothing new -- it's as old as marketing itself. It was probably invented by the Sumerians. ;)

Some say that "the serpent" invented marketing. Certainly the Romans didn't buy Chinese silk because it was a necessity though they must have paid a staggering price once it was shipped overland from China.

I just saw an ad last night for a nissan vehicle, The Armada I think (great name lol)

It went, "your kids think you are a giant, you should drive the most giant SUV you can find"

I laughed out loud, seriously. In the current climate of oil shortage, gas prices and global warming, it seemed like it could have been a joke, but it wasn't.

I overheard a conversation between two women:

w1: I'm thinking of dumping him. He's been such a jerk.
w2: What kind of car does he drive?
w1:Oh, he's got a nice porsche.
w2:Well a porsche can make up for a lot of jerkiness.

I am certain there is no God but I am car free. Most Americans believe there is a God and are not (many God fearing Americans drive large SUVs). Your argument is absurd.

Quoted for truth.

My car is an efficient, practical Korean. I am not.

Actually, it's the love of money that is the root of all evil.
I love money. I want more of it and I work hard to get it. Money buys nice bicycles and buys T-bone steaks for my dog.

PS. I have never driven a car in my life and I am not planning to start now. I am a vegetarian and I recycle like a lunatic.

PPS. Les Triplettes de Belleville say a lot of things that have been said in this thread. In less words, of course :D

Pleased to say I called the wreckers and had them drag my two cars off the other day.M'kay richie rich...

M'kay richie rich...
Hardly, oh, too-quick-to-judge. Both needed repairs, and I'm too poor to have them done in a timely manner, on cars too old to really benefit from it so..... to the recyclers. I REALLY wanted to keep my VW B3 Wagon for a project car but alas, hotrodding/tuning is too expensive for my blood right now.

That's not it at all. If you can afford to send cars off to the j-yards rather than parting them yourself and making a decent chunk of change, you have more than enough money, i.e. richie rich. ;)

I've got nowhere to strip these things down for parts. They're sitting in my parking spots, not in my yard.
Not being willing to take the time to cannibalize them, store the parts, advertise them, and deal with.... naw.. tow em off, give me the 75$ per and be done with it. My time is worth more than I'd ever have gotten from that rubbish. Now I have two off street parking spot I can rent out.. WOOOT! I've never thought myself rich, but I do store food in a fridge, clothes in a closet and sleep under a roof, and that, I heard, apparently, makes me richer than 75% of the rest of the world. SO yea I guess I am rich ...cool!!


Thanks for the perspective!!!

Might of been able to hock them off for $200 a piece as parts cars. What I will probably do when and if my 91 Stanza ever breaks down. I've just hit 2000 miles on it since I got it in April 2006, so that might take a while. Oh yea, if that VW was Diesel, then that is a crime to haul off to the junker.

If you can afford to send cars off to the j-yards rather than parting them yourself and making a decent chunk of change, you have more than enough money, i.e. richie rich. ;)

I've sent one car to the junk yard and got $100 for it. I had more important things to do with my time than to get into parts sales from this vehicle, especially when the vehicle is so old as to be almost obsolete.

no diesel 1/4 million clicks on the VW 16V 4cl. electrical issues, 92 Stanza, rusted to hell engine work needed and had already rebuild tranny. A few hundred bucks is about a good afternoon of my time so , good riddance to what were well loved and used cars. Now if I want to take. the wife away for a romantic night say Niagara Falls, or the kids snow boarding, I'll simply rent a nice car for the day/night. This way I can try all sorts of cars out.. I still love cars.

Shoot, ya don't need an entire garage to part a car. Once yer done, you can fit everything of value in a closet, and tow the shell to the scrap yard w/ a decently geared bike provided you avoid any really steep (~8-10% grade) hills. That being said, given your assumptions about parting, I'm guessing it would've been far easier and more lucrative to just fix and sell 'em. Although, it doesn't seem like you mind being richie rich, so whatevs... You must make at least $30+ per hour though, to make fixing and/or parting not worthwhile. Cushy gig meng. :D

Whoa, it seems like yer not alone TRaffic Jammer. Welp, I guess people just don't like fixing and/or fiddling w/ things. I see what shops charge as outrageous, since I can do most of the stuff myself in less time for nearly free and not rip myself off. But, if no one wants to do it, why not charge ~$50-100/hour and rip 'em a new one? Some people say Amerika needs more math/sci edu... We need more not lazy is what we need. :p Not counting the richie riches of course. ;)

Cushy gig that cost me a BMW in student loans and 12 years paying off. Tow the shell behind my bike... picturing a uni body B3 wagon being pulled behind me.. ah no thanks, I'll pass. Way too expensive to fix to any sort of level i'd make anything sellin' them AND tip the hat to your industriousness. Hey if I could have fixed it myself I would have, but I simply know where my limits are....fixin' cars, beyond minor things are beyond my knowledge.

In my mind as well fixing a car to a barely running/will-it-make-it state isn't sufficient either, I wanted/dreamed of the Volks being my hotrod, and just would have required tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours better used elsewhere.

It's all in books meng. VW electrical gremlins are easy peasy to fix IME. A repair manual, a $1 test light, a $3 multimeter, and a few hours is likely all you'll need. Even if you parted it, once you're done stripping/trashing what ya don't want off the unibody, it'll weight a few hundred pounds, maybe up to five hundred, but you can always cut off the front end if you're really worried about weight. I stripped a bunny and rolled it around my yard. The thing couldn't have weighed more than a couple hundred pounds. The Nissan would've been good for odds'n'ends and the trans, then give it to the junkers for free since you'll likely get more selling off the rebuilt trans alone. But.... If ya got more loonies than pesos, that's cool. I don't think I could stand wasting stuff, but that's just me.

I don't think I could stand wasting stuff, but that's just me.

I don't think the junkyard will waste them, though; plenty of people scour u-pull-it yards for cheap parts. They'll just be doing the parting-out instead of TRaffic Jammer here.

Traffic, I just remembered that my car was also a 92 Stanza! It wasnt that god awful Gold looking color that all of them seem to be was it? Maybe white? Those seem to be the only 2 colors they made!

:lol: It was indeed white!!

A vehicle *does* say a lot about its rider, if picked without outside influence. Need, opportunity and restriction don't really count.

I don't agree any more with the ad than anyone else though, convincing people that buying this vehicle is a fit for someone who is "sleek and elegant". Anyone who has real character picks the vehicle based on what they see in the vehicle and what they want, not what marketing will tell you something is. Its when someone picks what they like based on their own human ideals, that you can glean something about the owner from the ride.