busybee fluffy rambles

Through the magic of buying two of them…

I looked into doing an e-conversion on my Priority Turi but it seemed pretty fraught and I didn’t want to deal with it, so I’ll just have two bikes, and maybe having an ebike will help me to build up leg strength to the point that I can ride the Turi directly, or maybe I can find a buyer for the Turi, or some secret third option.

I did find people successfully using the Hilltopper conversion kit with mine, but it costs twice as much as the whole-ass ebike did.

Cargo trikes

Standard ebikes don’t really have a lot of cargo capacity, so it doesn’t actually solve my whole “large grocery haul” problem (or even the lesser “I want to buy a case of seltzer and a bucket of cat litter” problem). Eventually I might want to get a cargo trike to have more cargo capacity.

I’ve found the following interesting options:

• Oh Wow Conductor Plus Rickshaw: This one gets many extremely glowing reviews on YouTube, and also provides substantial cargo space as well as passenger capacity (not that I have any need for that specifically). It’s also quite expensive at around $4000, and is currently in preorder status so it would take several months to arrive.

• SOMTOM Cargo Trike: Being an AliExpress item I can’t find any trustworthy reviews, but the specs are all there, and it includes a cargo bin that has a pretty decently flexible design. It also looks narrow enough that it would work on most bike lanes here (although I can’t find specific measurements), and it at least claims to have way more range than I’d need. Currently it’s on Black Friday sale for under $1500.

• Triciclo: Another AliExpress special, this one costing around $1300 when including shipping. Similarly to the SOMTOM I’m not finding any credible reviews. It has similar stated specs, but the cargo system on it doesn’t seem as versatile. It does provide specific measurements and at 85cm (34") wide it would probably be fine.

• Mooncool TK1 Folding: Currently on Black Friday sale for $1400, this has a decent (but limited) amount of storage, has a 1000W peak (750W sustained) motor, and generally favorable reviews. But the large basket still isn’t large enough to accommodate Tyler’s carrier.

• I’d also consider getting a cargo trailer (e.g. this one) for my bike; this is the setup I had on the Polaris Strive I owned back in the day and it worked pretty well, aside from the Strive being badly underpowered for the hills. That would probably give me the best of both worlds and would certainly be the cheapest option. It also provides a bit more cargo space than most of the trikes I’m finding, and would handle the aforementioned grocery issues.

Ongoing ruminations

I spent several hours wondering if I was hasty in accepting the Carvana offer and not at least trying out the Mazda3. But I just can’t see myself enjoying driving right now. The math from the previous entry still makes the most sense to me. It just feels emotionally Bad, and I keep on thinking about hypotheticals which are just… not very relevant.

Do I really need a vehicle that makes it easier for me to haul cargo from the hardware store all the time, when the rare times I need stuff from there I can just get it delivered?

Would I really be going to Costco regularly, when my bimonthly-ish deliveries from them are working fine?

Similarly, for the (extremely rare!) larger grocery hauls that wouldn’t fit in my granny cart or on whatever cargo bike setup I land on, why not just pay the $5 to have Safeway deliver it?

And for those times that I want to drive for fun, well, that’s why I have a VR sim racing rig.

I really see no rational reason why I should own a car.

I chatted about this with my parents last night and they said they were surprised I even still had a car, after all the issues I’d been having and with how little I drive.

Carport stuff

One of the dumber reasons I’m concerned about not having a car anymore is that my house has an open carport, and having it be empty would make my house look unoccupied and therefore a theft/breakin target. But I got to thinking about how for my birthday party a few years back, since it was raining (uncharacteristically for mid-June), I just parked my car on the street and then set up a sheltered “living area” in the carport. And like, why not just do that permanently?

Basically, I’m thinking I could move my patio furniture into the carport (or, more likely, get new stuff that hasn’t been water-damaged to hell), set up my firewood holder as a front wall of sorts (which also makes it possible to access my firewood when it’s cold and icy here, something I can’t easily do normally), have a better installation for my outdoor patio heater that points inward, and just basically have a little outdoor living room. Maybe I could also renovate the workshop area in the carport or something. I dunno.

I guess I should figure out what to do about the L2 charger, since it won’t be getting any use at all. The 240V outlet it’s connected to could be useful for workshop purposes, at least.

I have a bunch of vague ideas for things that I could put in this new outdoor workspace, although I’d still be worried about people just showing up and walking off with things.

And of course there’d be a little parking area for my bikes. I’ll have to figure out a plan for that.

EV hyperfixation

I think I’ll still be hyperfixated on the state of EVs, but with much more of an eye towards bikes. I do like keeping up with technology and having opinions on things though. My last entry on this sure aged like milk.

Here’s my current thoughts on EVs in the USA:

• If you need a car, consider an EV, but remember there are unexpected costs that can make it super not worthwhile if you don’t drive a decent amount
• Hyundai/Kia/Genesis have a lot of issues that involve critical design flaws that they do not want to take responsibility for, and while the Ioniq 5N was my “perfect” car for ages, I can no longer recommend that anyone get any of their vehicles, especially with the news that they’re also screwing over what few DIY repairs were left to do
• Ford and Nissan seem to have their act together for now (at least as far as consumer-grade EVs go, Nissan as a company definitely has problems)
• I do not trust VW at all
• Fiat and Mini are generally not worth the money unless you get a specifically good deal (like the “Free” Fiat 500e offer available in Colorado)
• Slate and Telo are super compelling and I hope they make it
• Aptera is weird but interesting and I hope they make it (disclaimer: I am an investor in Aptera)
• GM has made some very dumb decisions and I cannot recommend them
• Rivian still seems cool (disclaimer: I am an investor in Rivian) and I hope they actually bring the R2 and R3X to market someday Wait never mind I forgot that they have a bad track record of safety violations, discrimination lawsuits, and failure to actually deliver their promises, this is what I get for writing this at 3 AM
• Honda, Toyota, and Subaru still need to get their act together
• Volvo and BMW seem okay but overpriced
• Fuck Tesla

My shortlist of currently-available EVs to consider (for an American audience, anyway, obvs if you’re in other countries you get way better choices):

• Nissan ARIYA
• Nissan LEAF (3rd generation)
• Ford Mach-E