How my Onewheel adventures started
It was almost two years ago when I first saw a Onewheel, I was waiting for a trolleybus on Nagymező street, and my first thought was: "holy crap, what is that, I totally want one".
A group of tourists were riding Onewheels accross the street, while my face just simply fell. I grabbed my phone, trying to figure out how to search for it. One... wheel... and bang, there it is. Then I saw its price tag, and my face fell again.
The thought of having one never really left my mind since then, I followed the happenings around Future Motion, the manufacturer, and I kept drooling at Youtube videos. There were no European distributors back then, ordering it from accross the pond would have been another small fortune, so I just kept on dreaming.
From time to time I checked the hungarian pages, but there was nothing but a couple of intro articles. Then about half a year ago, a page called Onewheel Hungary popped up. They were not into sales, but they offered tours with training, so I signed up for one to check out for the first time what this beast has to offer.
I was not disappointed. It was phenomenal, we were floating for about ninety minutes with my significant other at Normafa, and it enforced the feeling even more, that I'd like to have one. By the way, I wholeheartedly recommend them, if someone wants to try it out.
Casting a wider net, I started to check out European pages as well, and I've found a German and a French shop where it was on preorder for 2.000 euros. I still could not make up my mind, but at least it was very promising, that the Onewheel finally started to spread on this continent too.
At the end of October, thanks to my job, I could spend three weeks in San Francisco, practically in the neighbourhood of the manufacturer, so my enthusiasm soared up again. The $1.800 price tag suddenly seemed very reasonable, compared to 2.000 euros, but of course some complications popped up as well. How would warranty work from the distance of 10.000 kilometers? How would I bring home the huge board with a brutally powerful battery?
Due to the battery, it can not be just checked in, but if I disassemble it, it's a coinflip whether the airline permits the battery to be carried on. So, I decided not to buy one, and just kept staring enviously at the considerably larger masses of lucky bastards riding Onewheels on the streets of San Francisco.
November brought news of the Onewheel maybe soon being distributed in Hungary, but nothing happened ever since.
Then came springtime, the skies finally turned blue, and I started to think about getting one again. At least I would go outdoors, since I stopped rollerblading about a decade ago. I quickly check the German and French stores, whether the prices have gone down, but of course, they haven't. But look, there is a new Dutch distributor. No, two new Dutch distributors. Naturally they align themselves with the existing price tag, so I am not actually closer to buying anything.
Mid-march, I went on vacation, and during the weekend I caught myself browsing the Onewheel online stores. Should I buy one? Should I not? It's awesome. But it's ridiculously expensive. Should I buy one? Should I not? If I should, where from? Then for some totally unknown and random reason, I click the link to the Croatian store of Fatdaddy, and the first thing I see: the Onewheel+ XR is on sale. Oops.
Is this serious? I check out their Facebook page, and it is there as well, but with the additional information of the sale lasting only for a week more. What should I do? I ping them on Messenger, whether this is still on, and if I could order from them from Hungary. The answer is yes to both. Oh lord, the plot thickens. They might sense my throes on this end, as they also offer a package deal, if I purchase one with a fender included. Naturally, that is the idea.
This is it, I am lost. Of course it's late in the night, my significant other is sleeping already, so I need to wait until the morning to ask for the advice of a cooler head, for I feel that by now I've completely lost my objectivity. I ask for some time to make up my mind, and I force myself to sleep, which does not come easy.
In the morning I am still as enthusiastic as yesterday, and I get confirmation that if I really would like one, and it's as clear as day that I do, as I am about to soil my pants in excitement, then let's get one, and it's quite unlikely that an opportunity like this is going to present itself twice. That's it, the decision is made.
My mind is blown. If I buy it on Monday and they send it quickly it might arrive as soon as before the weekend. My vacation is still on, plus there is the weekend, the spring weather is beautiful, the timing is perfect, the whole thing is just one big wonderful synchronicity. Or so I though.
At this time I can only pay with wire-transfer in the Croatian store, and the clearing of a SEPA transfer takes 1-3 workdays. Should I order it using a credit card from the Netherlands or Germany instead? Do those couple of days worth the price difference? What the hell should I do? Let's see how my bank performs SEPA transfers. Wow, there is a super proud blog post from two years ago, stating that by joining the this-and-that system first in Europe, my bank can do SEPA transfers in four hours. Okay, this sounds cool enough, it could be even better since then. The dice is cast, it's Monday evening, and I do the transfer.
Tuesday morning the transfer is cleared on my side, nothing on the receriver's. Noon, nothing. The store pings me that if I can provide a SWIFT transfer code, that's enough for them to start shipping. All right, let's get a SWIFT code. I call my bank, I would like a SWIFT code for a recent transfer. Of course, just a moment, says the operator, then with full seriousness, he tells me the SWIFT prefix code of the bank. Thank you so much, this is very good to know, but this is not what I need. Transaction. SWIFT code. Oh, that one, that they can not provide, but in three workdays, the transfer should be cleared.
Seriously. You charged my account, and there is no official transaction ID for it whatsoever? Oh, if I want that, for an extra charge, they can provide an official SWIFT transfer certificate. With the SWIFT transfer code, that I can not get. Wonderful, how can I get one? Let's see, via fax (in 2019), in person, in a bank office of my choosing, or via mail. VIA FREAKING MAIL! Since it is urgent. What about an e-mail? So sorry, in 2019, that is not an official communication channel.
I contact the store again to tell the bizarre situation and to ask if they have a fax number by any chance. Thank god, they have one. Okay, I am calling the bank again, I need a SWIFT transfer certificate, via fax, to this specific Croatian number. Of course, sir, right away! On a hunch I ask the operator how right away that right away actually is, and he reassures me, that it will be sent no later than 4PM. At this moment I cry a bit internally, and a movie starts to play in the darker bowels of my psyche, starring myself, a sawed-off shotgun called The XXI. Century, and lots of bank employees.
After this, things speed up a bit, on Wednesday the package is with the Dutch Post, early Thursday it's in Germany already, and I start to be hopeful that it might actually arrive by Friday. The fact that the Hungarian partner of the EURODIS delivery network is not the Hungarian Post supports this hope. If you are like me, who've actually witnessed the delivery truck of the Hungarian Post slowing down at your address, then driving away without a stop, while the status of your package changes to "unsuccessful delivery", then you understand why.
Of course, in the end it did not happen like this. The package got stalled in Germany from early Thursday to Monday for some reason, maybe there was a secret German techno mega-party for international parcels, I will never know. What matters is that it started to move again on Monday, crossed Austria, and arrived to Hungary in the evening. But this is a story for another time. There's gonna be turmoil, tension, unexpected turns of events, and even a car chase!
Photo from Future Motion
