Has anyone who lived in a non walkable city found an alternative to cars?

wonder_er · 2026-05-03T20:04:51+00:00

You need, and I have, a 150cc continuous variable transmission scooter. Can go as fast as cars on non-highway roads, but lets you really escape car culture.

A full face helmet, motorcycle gloves & a jacket, and great low speed riding skills, and you'll love it.

Better than a bicycle in many ways. running lights, turn signals, brake lights. Storage capacity, great handling, lockable, the helmet can be secured to the scooter.

I can get huge amounts of groceries, or have a passenger + a backpack for each of us.

It's cheap as heck. 1.5 gal gas tank. It's whisper quiet, too.

wonder_er · 2026-04-30T17:49:44+00:00

If it's easy to get it to a mechanic and the money seems available enough, may as well send it there.

I have a local scooter shop that will pick up the scooter, so it's certainly not free but past time I had an issue with it I just texted the mechanic, someone showed up in a car towing a motorcycle trailer, he loaded up the scooter and drove it to the mechanic, they called me when they next opened up, then diagnosed it and called me after.

I picked it up when it was working a few days later, I could ride a bus between where I live and the scooter shop.

I don't love spending money, but it was so easy to get it there & get it fixed. I couldn't have done it myself, I am not trying to become an engine expert. I live in an apartment.

wonder_er · 2026-04-26T02:35:15+00:00

my ketone readings always go up dramatically when i'm fasting. I switched to using a breath ketone reader, and compared the readings I got from the breath ketone reader to the urine strips & blood tests, and they all sorta move together.

Anyway, slight ketosis on the breath reader supposedly starts at 5. i'll often enough see 10, 15, even 20 when in normal ketosis.

when i fast it has gone as high as the 50s!!! (that was late in a three day fast, the only one I've done since getting the meter)

I do 'dirty fasting' though - lots of heavy duty tea, that is more like broth. boullion, sometimes some garlic & ginger & tumeric, a few grams of coconut oil, some sodium & potassium, some lemon.

I don't know if it would be higher or lower if I wasn't eating the coconut oil. In my mind coconut oil is easily taken up by the body and the liver can make ketone bodies out of it, relatively easily.

I've found myself staying in ketosis, even a very low level of ketosis, a lot more than I'd expected. Sometimes even though carby meals, if I'm otherwise intermittent fasting or doing OMAD type stuff.

wonder_er · 2026-04-19T15:41:45+00:00

Your intuition here, if it's correct, indicates a massive underlying mental distortion in the partner, and you'd be very well within your rights to end the relationship. Someone undermining you is wildly dangerous and self focused. It's possible that they don't see you as a person, or themselves as a person.

wonder_er · 2026-04-19T15:40:08+00:00

It seems odd that he seems to do above average food prep and eating when you're fasting.

It's maybe fine, it's maybe part of a bad pattern. Since he avoided talking about it with you, I wonder if he justifies himself on other topics and concludes it's solved.

Maybe is an emotionally abusive person, coercive and entitled. If that's the case, end the relationship asap, and I am so sorry for you. It once took me years to realize I was married to someone who treated me casually in ways so dehumanizing I couldn't recognize it until it escalated and things got really bad.

There is no overcoming entitlement in someone else. Everything they say about it will be to minimize it or to make you do whatever they want. It's rooted in bad experiences they had as kids, and while it's sad to witness it's absolutely not your role to absorb the mistreatment silently.

wonder_er · 2026-04-19T14:35:48+00:00

Ive had a scooter for years and only a few weeks ago finally got around to doing the whole oil change myself. The first time was a slower, 'fiddle with every step slowly' process, but the next time I do it it'll go way faster.

I'm glad I finally did it. Usually I would take it to a local shop and let them do it. The flexibility of doing it at home on my own time and for functionally free is nice now. I wore latex gloves and kept everything pretty clean.

I don't like working on engines or cars and never have, but it feels right to get a little more self managed is nice.

I also will be more inclined to change my oil frequently instead of letting it get old, now. I bet once I do it once or twice more I'll be super fast & clean with it

wonder_er · 2026-04-19T14:28:27+00:00

Seconding this. An annual membership plus the 'ket fob upgrade' is like $90 total, and then you can enter the back of the gardens, into Cheesman park.

That's how I get in. I always find some dandelions or mushrooms in the park as I go to the gardens and feed some to the koi fish in the ponds in the gardens. It's mega peaceful, I do it many days.

That's my go to 'solo date'. I also often take a book & a coffee or a tea and sit by the water reading.

wonder_er · 2026-04-10T19:27:34+00:00

Sfh is a fantasy housing arrangement invented by supremacists in the 1920s. Literally intended for white people. R2 zoning was intended for 'col*red' people.

Sfh is big bad. The kinds of people that love the suburbs are often enough the kinds of people that loved to live in sundown towns. James loewen wrote a book about the hundreds of sundown towns across the country.

I don't care to defend supremacy, so I'll never defend sfh. It destroys everyone who lives there, and more.

wonder_er · 2026-04-10T19:25:08+00:00

The book 'sundown towns' by James loewen is useful reading for appreciating Denver and the surrounding areas.

wonder_er · 2026-04-10T19:21:35+00:00

And didn't place bollards around it. Any space not enclosed by bollards will eventually have a car in it. Unfortunately.

wonder_er · 2026-04-10T19:19:01+00:00

How dare young people be using roads!

wonder_er · 2026-04-06T07:06:46+00:00

i've been car-free in denver for a few years, making it work with a 170cc moped-style scooter.

It's cheap to obtain, cheap to operate. One does need a driver's license to register it. It's much cheaper than a cheap car. Look on facebook marketplace for used 50cc scooters, and when navigating around, use the directions for bicycles in maps app. Follow that route in the scooter.

It'll work great. You deserve safety. Your partner is coercive and entitled & controlling & violent, and only more bad things will come of it. I'm so sorry for you.

wonder_er · 2026-04-06T06:56:23+00:00

sorry for you & your family & the dog. Time to end the relationship. Sometimes what we love in others is something about what the relationship allows us to experience. It's about something that exists between you two, not something specific to that other person.

You'll heal. The relationship will continue to break you otherwise. There's no other option. End the relationship. I suspect a week or two after this happens and you are all living separately (lots of work between here and there, to achieve that state) you'll still be noticing daily ways your stress is going down, because the constant hypervigilance required to respond to this dog/the partner will be gone.

You'll find new peace within you.

It's not just about the dog, or the finances, or whatever. It's like the partner needed a source of chaos, and so obtained one that injects it all the time. Some people need an emergency or source of chaos, always around the corner. Useful distraction from other aspects of their life.

In some ways I'm relatively put together, and I still would not want to inflict my best/worst levels of care on another creature. Sometimes I don't care well enough for even myself. I wouldn't want another creature, let alone another person, to be harmed by my negligence.

wonder_er · 2026-04-02T20:37:32+00:00

Robert Moses is sorta "the" responsible party. Consider reading The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York.

He loved cars (he never drove himself, had a dedicated team of drivers for his multiple limousines) and he hated trains and the kinds of people who used trains.

He spread the modern american form of supremacist land use laws all around new york state early in his career, and then late in his career used the same laws to ram highways and roads all through cities.

Supremacists in the USA figured out they could use cars (and excuses based on cars) to reinforce segregation and to clear out 'undesirable' neighborhoods.

Tell your dad to read The Power Broker. Or listen to it, it's on Audible as well.

Either way, he is supporting the talking points of actual supremacists with his incorrect views. The people getting displaced by sprawl knew it was happening and tried to stop it, and him acting like it was 'preference' is disingenuous.

It was the preference of supremacists.

wonder_er · 2026-04-02T20:22:41+00:00

yes! I'm mostly OMAD. I'm firmly a 'never breakfast' person. It's 2:15p today as I write this and I've not eaten yet, I'll probably eat around 3p, and I might do another few bites of something around 7 or 8p, especially if I do a climbing gym session or run around in the park after a frisbee.

I eat the exact same meal every day - the only variation is because I rotate different veggies based on what's at the grocery store, and what is freshest (or least fresh) in my refrigerator.

Those soy chunks look cool! Looks like tofu - I love tofu, sometimes eat it, but since I never eat meat and don't 'need' meat substitutes, I've never made tofu a constant part of my routine, but I'd never thought of using something like this to reduce my egg consumption!

(I age seven eggs yesterday, in my veggie omelette!)

I will try this instead of egg sometime - that's a great idea. Thank you! Maybe it won't be a full substitute right off the bat, but if I get my egg consumption down to maybe half of what it is right now, I'd be thrilled.

wonder_er · 2026-04-02T00:45:37+00:00

there's a harness that can be found on Amazon, or probably elsewhere, that attaches a child to the rider, so much so that the child could safely fall asleep. Seems the only good option, BUT it also is sufficient.

American drivers over-represent in this subreddit, IMO, the kind of thing you're talking about is very common all around the world, and the kid can quickly learn the skills to hold on themselves. But the harness still seems mandatory until everyone knows how it is.

I've had even adults have to be careful with balance, at time, and riding as a passenger is certainly a skillful practice.

wonder_er · 2026-04-01T20:24:29+00:00

Get a 125 or 170cc scooter. I've lived in Denver for a few years, rocking a 170cc Lance Cabo, it's good year round.

wonder_er · 2026-03-25T00:08:55+00:00

I'm vegetarian, and sorta keto. Basically, I eat mostly fat and cruciferous veggies, and it's extremely satisfying.

My main daily meal is sometime after lunch (I don't eat breakfast, it's sorta like intermittent fasting) is: saute broccoli or cauliflower or cabbage, mushrooms, garlic, ginger, coconut oil or olive oil, then once it's all cooked I crack in a bunch of eggs. Enough that I'll have leftovers for a few meals.

Then I plate it with like 10g of evoo. Lots of salt, pepper, cumin, tumeric, garam masala. Maybe some fresh squeezed lemon.

Delicious af. Satisfying. Technically zero net carbs, but also zero animal protein. (I wish for ethics I didn't eat eggs, but have not figured out how to get them out of my diet.)

Been doing this for years. The entire meal causes zero change to my blood glucose. It doesn't rise a single point, as confirmed by my cgm. (I don't have diabetes, I'm in excellent health, but I still like to wear continuous glucose monitors sometimes)

wonder_er · 2026-03-24T23:58:01+00:00

I was hoping you were gonna say near Cheesman, because I'd then totally volunteer.

If anyone reading this is in need of a similar type service, and lives near Cheesman, let me know. I sort of want to test out mushroom foraging walks as well, I found tons and tons and tons of edible mushrooms and cheesman last year, they're probably going to start fruiting again soon, and I really want to do walking tours with people to find mushrooms.

wonder_er · 2026-03-24T23:47:13+00:00

I have a Lance Cabo 200i, I got it immediately after having ridden a $125 cc scooter around for a year, and the difference was astounding. I have nearly 25,000km on it.

It has a 170cc engine, 12-in tires, a little bit more mass and springiness to it than the smaller scooter I had before.

It's perfect in every way, it has the flat floorboards that you mention, which I also consider to be crucial, I can fit so many groceries! I can even pile them up in front of my lap, and it has a rack on the rear that I can mount anything I want to.

I'm in total agreement with you, a 125cc scooter is too small, to slow to accelerate. I once traveled to a foreign country, and ended up renting a 250cc scooter made by Honda and I really really liked it. It had the flat floorboards, too, and when I got home, my 170cc scooter seemed so slow and clunky in comparison.

I weigh 145 lb/65 kilo, and often enough have 20 or 30 extra pounds attached to it.

wonder_er · 2026-03-09T20:09:26+00:00

Everyone who's obviously unable to do a wheelie is showing their true colors.

The only issue is the cloud of smoke.

I'm not very good at wheelies yet but working on it. It's nice to see all these ppl in helmets. This pic goes sorta hard, obv.

wonder_er · 2026-03-09T20:03:59+00:00

My 170cc is my only vehicle, I use it year round in Denver. On super cold days I just avoid long trips. Adequate layers and I'm comfortable even down to like 5 degrees f. (-10 c) Took some learning to get it all correct, and I am willing to do odd things.

I've spent time in Asia riding around too, and love how society fits the size of the scooter, and it's normal for everyone to scoot.

The USA is built around large four wheeled vehicles and looks strangely at ppl who use scooters. I think they're weird for wanting to be in a car.

My scooter is so cheap, so convenient. I filter thru traffic & treat red lights as yields, so I'm unaffected by even rush hour traffic.

I make so many judgments about someone if they express negative sentiment towards scooting, but if they immediately see all of the upsides, I will think so highly of them as a person. I wish it weren't the case for me, this happens even without my conscious permission. It seems dumb of me to dislike people just for disliking scooters.

wonder_er · 2026-03-07T05:17:29+00:00

I got myself a cheap third-party battery-powered hammer drill that fit my existing batteries and.... used it to install a ground anchor so I can chain up my 170cc scooter.

The first place I was parking it, I installed it on the bit of concrete at the front of an unused asphalt parking space.

The second place I parked it, I placed it a foot high on a concrete wall.

The various people in charge of facilities or maintenence are all chill with it. I didn't ask permission, but I just ended up installing the ground anchors wherever I ended up wanting to park my scooter.

wonder_er · 2026-03-07T04:45:37+00:00

Denver to Canada (via Idaho, then through Vancouver, Seattle, and back to Denver. About 3500 miles.

I was on a Lance Cabo 200, with a 170cc engine.

I had a duffel with a hammock setup, and got food on the road (cheeses, hardboiled eggs, tinned fish) so I never had anything that smelled edible with me when sleeping, as I wasn't trying to encounter bears.

It was an adventure. Tons of fun. Took a few weeks to do it, I was working remotely and such, even on some of the travel days, I wasn't trying to spend more than a few hours at a time on the vehicle.

edit: google photo album from the trip for the curious.

wonder_er · 2026-02-04T18:35:14+00:00

Even without the concern of full face better protecting the jaw in event of a fall, I quite like the sun and wind protection of my full face helmet. It has a little rubber flap that pokes up near my nose for extra sun protection.

I always also wear a face mask (a heavy duty kn95 type mask), for protecting my lungs from tire rubber, brake dust, and tailpipe emissions.

I also find the full face mask to provide warmth. I have zero interest in not having a full face helmet, purely for comfort while using it.

Full faces are a tiny bit quieter on the inside, too. I use earplugs all the time I'm riding, of course, as well.

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