31
2008
Score One for Planet Earth
vs. 
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, yesterday my wife and I were able to part ways with a former member of our household… That’s right, we got rid of Rachel’s 2005 VW Jetta. Actually her lease was up, and we decided not to purchase the car, but rather just turn it back in to the VW dealer. Now, I know what you’re thinking: If we turned in her car, what did we get to replace it? That’s right, we got this bad boy…
The Mongoose 700c Men’s Paver Commuter
And you know what? I’m actually pretty excited about it. You see, Rachel actually stopped working on Friday (because Zeke’s due date is only 3 weeks away!!!), so between the two of us, we’re hopefully going to be doing a lot less driving. And since I work a mere 4 miles away from home, I am more than capable of riding this wonderful mode of alternate transportation. And what’s even better, is according to carbonfund.org, in the next year, we will have caused 4.26 tons less of C02 emissions.
So just for a test run, I rode my bike to work today, and it took me somewhere around 20 minutes to go 4 miles. That’s pretty good considering that it takes me about 12 minutes to drive that same distance because of all the stop lights. And to boot, there are some monetary benefits that we didn’t even think about:
- Obviously we no longer have the lease payment, which was about $200 per month ($2400 per year)
- It ends up that after calling our insurance agent, we will save $130 per month in car insurance (which is $1,560 per year)
- If I can ride my bike to work even 100 times in the next year, it will save us at least 800 miles of driving, which at $3.30 per gallon, that’s almost $132 over the next year (though I expect this amount to be much higher)
- There are no oil changes on a bike. And if you read my post on the “Most Expensive Oil Change Ever,” you’d know that we would be spending about $500-$700 per year on maintenance with the Jetta.
So, yes, ladies and gentlemen, it looks like Rachel and I may be able to save somewhere in the neighborhood of $5000 by putting up with the minor inconvenience of only having one car. And, quite honestly, that’s a sacrifice I am definitely willing to make. And on top of all of that, it ends up that 20 minutes of bike riding can burn anywhere from 117 to 257 calories. That’s a lot better than the 3 calories that I’d burn sitting in my car.
So overall, I think that the $5000 saved, the 4.26 tons of reduced C02 emissions, and the 30,000 calories I’ll burn this year are definitely worth it. And if you’re interested in how to go without a car, I found a really interesting book called “How to Live Well Without Owning A Car” by a guy named Chris Balish. Might be worth checking out.
Anyways, hope all is well for anyone reading this.
March 31, 2008 10:55 pm
Every little bit (or big bits) counts, just ask us!! YAY! Saving the planet!
May 29, 2008 11:12 pm
Hi Josh,
I found this post on your Jetta vs. bicycle post when I Googled the 700c Men’s Mongoose Paver Commuter Bike. I saw it at Walmart tonight and at first glance/sit, it seemed like a great bike. We’ve had one car for about four years now (that’s me, my wife, and three kids). People think we’re crazy, but we’ve made it work. Long story short, I recently started riding the 7 miles one way to and from work b/c gas is getting so high and with one car, it’s easier to juggle school schedules with my kids. Just curious how the bike’s worked out for you. Any problems with it? I have a Walmart mountain bike that’s working ok, but I’m really interested in this one. I’m sure I’d recoup my $120 fairly quickly, but don’t want to drop the dough if I’m going to have problems with it sometime soon. My email is cpstaggs [at] gmail [dot] com. Thanks in advance.
May 29, 2008 11:22 pm
Topher,
Thanks for checking out the site. The bike is great. So far I’ve ridden it about 120 miles, and I’ve got no complaints. It does seem that the tires need to be topped off with some air about every month or so, but I guess that’s pretty normal. Other than that, it’s definitely performed way better than I figured a $100 bike would. We’ve easily recouped the cost and then some. Anyway, good luck, and stay safe.
Josh Boldman
May 30, 2008 6:43 pm
Hey everyone, I purchased this bike and have been using it for short trips around town, so far so good, the only complaint I have is since Wal-Mart assembles the bikes, I need to tighten up or tune up the chain because I have noticed that the chain skips when in high gear on a high incline, I dunno maybe thats just the way it is I’m not sure, but I’ll definitely take any responses on this, thanks.
-b3ck
May 30, 2008 9:36 pm
@b3ck, while I don’t doubt your experience, I haven’t had the same problem with mine, but then again, I guess every experience is different. To be honest, my expectations weren’t very high (being that it was a $100 bike from wal-mart), but I’ve been pretty impressed. I guess that even if it needs a little maintenance here and there it’s still better than paying $3.84 a gallon for gas, right?
Anyway, thanks for stopping by.
June 9, 2008 5:09 pm
I ride a Paver to work. It had the problem with the chain slipping also.
The shifter has ‘click stops’ and the derailer needs to be adjusted to calibrate with those positions.
Shift into the gear that has the most problems slipping. Dismount and, from the rear of the bike, sight in on the chain, the gear and the derailer. You may see that they are not in a flat plane.
Notice the nurled barrel that the shift cable passes through. Turn that barrel right or left and watch the derailer move. Turn the barrel until the derailer appears to be straight in line with the desired gear. This should clean up the shift for the middle 5 gears. If there are problems with the top or bottom gears after this manuver shift into the problem gear and adjust the ‘Stop Screw’ with a phillips screw driver until the derailer is aligned.
December 13, 2008 1:00 pm
I hav a bike like that. I can not find inner tube replacement (28 * 1,75). Can you help me?
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