I thought I had four options for getting around Mérida other than my legs, public transportation, or an Uber: a bicycle (including e-bike), a scooter/moped, a motorcycle, or a car.

As I pondered my getting-to-Pilates dilemma and started to price e-bikes, I thought, no, what would change my life here is a powered vehicle, something that would allow me to get somewhere on my own schedule without arriving soaking wet from sweat. I just could not imagine myself on a scooter or motorcycle, so that left me trying to figure out how to pay for a car, a purchase that would take months even if I had the cash.

I did not know there was another option, sitting between e-bikes and scooters like Vespas or Italikas, the Honeyway U1S:

The U1S is an interesting device, and there are no real comps on the market (although Kiwo comes close in design if not quality). It’s not an e-bike in the sense that there is no pedal assist. But it doesn’t have the road presence of a scooter or a motorcycle. It’s like a hybrid, best of both worlds where you get a a sturdy device that can handle the rough roads here and give you speed, range, and ability to carry cargo, but it can take bike paths is slow enough to feel safe. It was also 95.6% cheaper than the car I was looking at.

The weight rating for this unit is a surprising 150KG, higher than mopeds, so I can carry some cargo. I’ve calculated that on a full charge with a good road, I’ve hit about 25KPH, and I have a range of at least 35KM before I notice a decrease in power. All of this is perfect for my lifestyle, and this is the perfect transportation device for my part of Mérida, where there are tons of small side streets to avoid big avenues. 3KM suddenly feels close, and I can pop out to get a BBQ chicken or some Subway in a fraction of the time the same errands would take on foot.

I’m surprised by how quickly I was able to take to riding my U1S, quickly gaining confidence for longer and less planned runs. I’ve been from the northern edge of the periférico right to the bottom in the north and southwest quadrants, and have made a few jaunts into the north and southeast quadrants, but I don’t like going out there as much as the roads are less friendly for a small e-moto like the U1S. I take advantage of quiet Sunday mornings to explore that half of the city. I’ll give more details on these rides in future recaps.

Getting groceries used to be such a hassle, but now it’s an excuse for a ride. The U1S has a front basket. I added a soft trunk that straps around the rear seat (Honeywhale does not recommend a hard, lockable trunk like you see on motorcycles), and I got an insulated backpack, giving me ample cargo space for a week’s worth of groceries. My favourite errand so far was brunch followed by picking up a 10lb bag of rice at Asianmart, then going to Office Depot, for a ream of paper and a box of file folders. Might not sound like much, but I could tell I’d reach the U1S’s maximum weight rating!

What I think is super cool about the U1S is it has a key and alarm fob, so if you’re just popping into a store or you have eyes on it at a restaurant, you don’t need to use a chain because someone can’t just roll it away as setting the very loud alarm also locks the wheels. It is quite heavy so it needs at least two people to throw it into the back of a truck — I can’t even lift it over a curb. I do have a very good lock for it, but I’ve hardly ever felt the need to use it. One place I was glad to be able to lock up was Galerías as I was going for lunch and a movie. I was grateful they had a bike rack as so many places don’t.

At home, I have a carport with automatic doors, so it’s super easy to get in and out of the property. My garage door opener is finally getting a workout!

I really didn’t anticipate that I would be so comfortable on the U1S and that it would become my default mode of transport. I envisioned that I’d be a little fearful and just take it to Pilates and back. I’m writing this on May 2nd and have been riding since the start of March. I’ve taken an Uber twice in all that time, to take Dodger to the vet and to do a huge Costco run. I’ve also left the house a lot more than I would have if I was relying on Ubers.

The other way that the U1S blindsided me is that it makes my days feel so much longer. I can run errands in the worst heat of the day when the stores and roads are nearly empty because I catch the cool breeze even if the sun is nuclear. It used to feel that I was limited to going out very early or after dark. And that’s the other thing. I don’t like driving at night, but I’m fine riding my U1S after dark off main roads. I wear a high-vis vest and have a ton of reflector tape, plus a strong headlight. I’m so low to the ground and can slow down enough to see obstacles. I did get a taste of one limitation, though. We had some heavy afternoon rains recently that reminded me that I can’t get used to riding in the evenings. So I moved Pilates to 9AM, which works great now that I can leave at 8:45 and am back at my desk by 11:00. However, afternoon rains mean morning lakes. I was grateful when I first encountered morning lakes on my usual route to Pilates that there were high, clear sidewalks with on and off ramps on which I could walk my U1S back to dry road.

I’ve had a couple of tumbles, resulting in only bruises not the road rash I’d get from falling from a bike or a motorcycle, so it hasn’t been that bad! The turning radius on the U1S is terrible and it just took me a while to get used to feeling like I was on a bike but not having the manoeuvrability. It was nothing that made me fearful. I also haven’t really had any close calls worth mentioning with drivers.

I needed Pilates as the impetus for the purchase, but it would not have been the right device to go to the old studio. The gym with the pool is next door and I’ve only made it there twice so far. The route there is Not Good on the U1S, requiring me to take a very dangerous intersection that is tricky on foot. The best route is such a detour that I might as well walk. The ideal thing would, of course, be to go in the middle of the day, when my work schedule the past two months has not been conducive to trying that. But I’m keeping up the gym membership while I continue to search for the best slot in my schedule for at least one swim a week.

I really love my U1S and feel that for city life, it was a much better purchase than a car would have been. It’s so economical to run (one charge a week) and so much more nimble. I sometimes feel like I can do a quick round trip faster than it would have taken me to ease a car in and out of the carport!

My two biggest complaints about my life here were how much effort it was to eat healthily and access green spaces, with the traffic from poor road planning being a close third. I can run up to Costco or the new Fresko (more on that in a future post!) in about 15 minutes now, so I’m getting groceries in person more often instead of relying on delivery, meaning I can get more fresh items. The frutería also makes a big difference. I’m eating more fresh fruit in a week than I was in a month before. El pollo feliz restaurant has a great Tuesday promo on BBQ chicken that I can now take advantage of — it was quite a realisation coming out of Pilates one Tuesday morning that there was no reason I couldn’t detour to go pick up a chicken before going home! I’m still not making it to green space as much as I’d like, but one recent Sunday, I made it to the Paseo Verde. Tomorrow, I may try to find a route to La Plancha that does not require getting on big avenues. Being able to go walk around the artificial lake a few times a month would be lovely! And finally, traffic doesn’t seem so bad when I can go out in heat of the middle of the day and avoid it.

I think the biggest indicator of just how much freedom I’ve gained is that I was sitting here one night when I saw a post from the frutería indicating that they had caimito, a local fruit with a very short season. I was out the door to pick some up within minutes, and then headed north from there to get nachos at one of my favourite taquerías, enjoying a cold passionfruit agua fresca and some Bon Jovi on the big screen by 7:30.

I thought I needed a car or even to move, maybe both, to gain traction in my life. No, I just needed a U1S!