Agoura Hills (not cheap) or San Diego or Tucson. Santa Rosa has too high a likelihood of being rainy.

A mid 20s crisis?

The only crisis I can recall during my 20s was not being able to buy beer on Sundays until after noon.

I vote Arizona.

My wife thinks I'm having a midlife crisis because I want to buy a sports car - I'm really intrigued by the Subaru BRZ even though there is no room for hauling bikes.

I've had my truck for 10 years and at the rate I'm going, I'll have it another 10 years before it dies. I don't really have a good reason to get rid of it, and I am much too and practical to trade in a perfectly good, and paid off, truck for something that requires car payments.

What I really want is a second car that I can take out on weekends and for fun but still drive the truck regularly. I briefly considered getting an older Porsche, but a buddy of mine who restores old Porsches said it would be a money pit. And my wife really hates the idea of a third car as it would mean her car would have to be in the driveway instead of the garage. (My truck is already parked in the driveway - we need a place for bikes and stuff.)

I bet you can get a bike in the BRZ. It's designed for the back seat to flip down, allowing it to haul 4 wheels for track days. I'm assumming based on that, that it would take a bike with one, possibly both, wheels off.

It's a nice looking car, and not terribly expensive.


And having had 2, 5 figure engine repairs, I can second the opinion regarding older Porsches being moeny pits.

A neighbor's dad just got a 2001 911 Turbo for $28K, with 27,500 miles on it. I'm doubtful that it's going to be much budget trouble for the near term. Of course, buying a Porsche, you'd be accepting a certain level of expected costs.

I had my mid life crisis when I turned 30: I quit riding, got a motorcycle and started dating goth girls.

I'd have a BRZ if it was turbo, awd and had a hatchback. Basically a new version of the old Eclipse. I had one of those and it was a lot of fun. The hatch allows putting two bikes and wheels etc in the back.

I mentioned one of those reedickulousy horsepowered Mustangs to my wife.

It was summarily and unilaterally vetoed. Just as well. The insurance would have been a deal breaker for me.

I mentioned building a punkin chunker to my wife. She too vetoed.

I know nothign about cars.

Can't participate in this conversation.

BRZ + Roof rack, problem solved.

I've had my midlife crisis in my early 20s. I'm only 23 and had a neon with over 450whp. Had a motorcycle. Now have a new Audi. Scared to see what I get during my actual midlife crisis. Maybe I'm just getting it all over with while I don't have a woman in my life because that makes it much easier.

ain't no car

thinking of getting a parts washer such as: http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/WES...TV9?Pid=search

Anyone have suggestions for better/different/ideas etc? Would be for washing chains/cassettes/chainrings. I know from experience, the non-waterbased degreasers are a LOT better than water based. but I can't find small non-waterbased washers. Can I just throw some deisel in this thing and use it?

I had a larger version of the same parts washer. The pump crapped out after less than a year of very moderate use (on motorcycle parts). Then there's the problem of disposing of the dirty solvent. You can't just flush it down the drain.

I don't miss it for bike stuff. For cleaning cassettes and chainrings I just use paper towels with some wd40 sprayed on. I never remove a chain to clean it as wiping down with a rag suffices.

I often drive part way to work, do a ride, then finish the drive. I'm not leaving a good bike on a roof rack all day, or driving at 70 mph in the rain with the bike on the roof. I'd never own a roof rack anyhow as it's too likely that I or someone else would drive into a low garage or tree with a bike on the rack.

you might want to do a search on garagejournal.com . They have really good reviews of cheap to expensive tools (including parts washers). I read a thread sometime back about someone who bought a cheaper parts washer and used an oil filter relocation kit to put a filter for the fluid to run through. That allowed him to continuously recycle the fluid and just change the filter out every now and then. He gave parts numbers, etc.

And now you dress up in a lycra clown suit and ride bicycles? What the hell happened?

I have a large tank unit, owned it for years. No issues. Once the solvent pump jammed up with grit. I took it apart, cleaned it out, and it has been fine since. I use mineral spirits in it. I have used Safety-Kleen to recycle the dirty solvent. I have also burned it. If I had to do it again, I would buy a large ultrasonic cleaner and use Dawn with water.

I don't understand the point of a non-AWD Subaru.

Same. Makes about as much sense as a FWD Audi. Lame.

Turbo version is supposed to come out as a 2014. The pass through back seat looks like it will hold a bike, 2 and wheels likely a stretch.

http://image.automobilemag.com/f/395...FR-S-trunk.jpg

The BRZ is rather slow by modern standards, but it supposed to handle exceptionally well, looks great, and $25,000 is actually pretty cheap as new car prices go now.

It's basically designed as a sports car with the 'WOO!' factor without having the 'OH F*CK' factor that comes with having too much HP for someone that isn't terribly experienced.

I want to play in one :)

The best reason ever for a 1983 VW GTI or a racing go kart.

Honestly. Once I became aware of what is involved in a really fast car (i.e. one that doesn't go on the street), I became pretty ambivalent towards them, at least for myself. If others want to spend the $$$ on one, cool. I'm perfectly happy with the family mini-van or my old Toyota pickup.

This pretty much sums up why I want this car.

I've driven really powerful cars in the past and they kind of freak me out a bit. I don't have the experience or training to properly drive something overly powerful. Plus, I have a history of speeding tickets that I don't need to repeat.

The BRZ, which is a joint project with Toyota (Scion FRS in the states and GT86 overseas), is by all descriptions just a really fun car. It has not received a single bad review, and the general consensus is that it is among the most fun cars to drive.

And Merlin, I figured I could fit at least one bike in there with the seats folded down and the wheels removed, but right now, we (my wife also races) rely on the truck for going to races, and that includes hauling our bikes, spare wheels, a cooler, trainer...

On another note, my wife did her second cross race this past weekend and rode much better. I was quite impressed. She made it down the two steep hills and back up one of them - she ran the steeper of the two. And she successfully dismounted at the barriers.

While I told her what a great job she did, she has been much more critical of her performance, only noting that she finished DFL. I simply pointed out all the great things she did.

Anyway, last week, I bought her a cross bike on eBay - a Cannondale CX-9 with Force BB30 crankset, Rival RD, Apex shifters, Stan's Tubeless wheelset, TRP carbon cantilever brakes, Fizik Arione CX saddle and Zipp Service Course bar and seatpost. It looked pretty good in the pictures, but I was a bit nervous as this is first bike I've bought over eBay and my most expensive purchase on eBay.

Well, it arrived today, and the pictures didn't do it justice. The bike looks brand new. The tires look like they were ridden on a dirt road for a little while, but otherwise, there's not a spot on the bike. Even the chain and cassette look shiny and new. It was a steal of a deal. I'm a bit jealous now. Her cross bike is way nicer than mine.

My trainer still works. That's good.

Anybody ever do DirtyKanza? (http://www.dirtykanza200.com/dirty-k...-riders-bible/).

Most years, I pick something stupidly difficult, for me at least, to shoot for as a goal. Thinking about Dirty Kanza for next year.