Kell
Veteran
- Location
- High Wycombe/London
In fairness, my original post pointed out that I had no direct experience with Tern, but I was put off considering them seriously because of my experiences with Dahon.
The problems for me went deeper than just mechanical issues. Not only did I go through the rigmarole of all the failures, but I was left with no one to turn to. Even though my original bike had a five year frame guarantee and the frame snapped at four years, it was right about the time that Dahon was (pardon the pun) folding and Evans refused to help me out with getting the frame replaced. No one was importing them, so there was no one in the UK that could help. Evans told me to contact Dahon direct as they'd stopped dealing with them. So I did that and was told that I'd have to strip the frame down and post it (at my cost) back to them. They'd then decide whether or not it was a warranty claim and then replace it. They also said that there was a current waiting list of 3+ months for a response. Given that cycling to work saves me around £200 a month, then I'd be out of pocket by £600 plus the cost of shipping and stripping the bike down by the time I even got a response. Given their state at the time, there were no guarantees that the company would even be trading.
So it's partly the heritage of Tern, plus the fact that if they do start running into problems, then you could find yourself in the same position in that they may just decide to end the operation rather than fix all the claims.
I know it's not the same company, but it always seemed too convenient to me that right when they were experiencing the worst problems and the highest amount of negative publicity, two of the main parties start up on their own.
I did briefly look at Tern bikes before getting my Brompton, but as above, my experience with Dahon (and Evans) put me off. I did then look at the Bickerton Docklands, but it's just a rebadged Tern, so I'd be no better off.
And this is coming from someone that actually wanted to like them as I'd never considered a Brompton seriously before because their image is a little 'tweedy'.
It's great that you love your bike and I hope it continues to perform well, long after the warranty has run out.
As for whether or not they're different designs... there's not really that much in it. And by the time I'd started looking, I was already reading online reports of hinge failures and that sealed it for me.
)) All VERGE series bikes are amazing. I am selling it because I want a folding road bike, but it is great machine.