My new car is an ebike. It’s a Tern GSD S10 in Tabasco Red from leading Electric velocipede retailer Fully Charged, and without two weeks of riding it I am a well-constructed convert. I have officially gone electric.
This wonderful, practical machine has replaced my velocipede and my car (for local journeys), and I’m not sure I can overly go back. Read my review to find out how the Tern GSD electric velocipede could goody your life, helping you to finger safer and increasingly secure on the road, use your car less and get increasingly stuff done.
If you buy an e-bike from Fully Charged you get a Cyclechic Deco helmet and pair of Retro crochet cycling gloves for free! Just quote the lawmaking ‘Cycle-e-chic’.
I’m a rented working mum of two and getting stuff washed-up is upper on the agenda. And when I squint on the frame of The Tern GSD, it says those very words: ‘Get stuff done’. This velocipede is speaking my language.
I have unchangingly cycled a lot for local journeys, but sometimes the car is just quicker and easier. And as my youngest daughter, nearly five, gets worthier (and I get older), getting her on the when of my regular velocipede is rhadamanthine harder and harder. Yes, she can trundling her own bike, but as many parents know, with rented roads and recycling bins in your path, that’s not unchangingly an efficient, stress-free solution. You need to get them on and go, unhook them safely to school, and get on with your day without turning into a shouty, stressed out mess, all surpassing 9am.
Enter the Tern GSD…
How does it finger to ride? It may sound cheesy but when the electric power kicks in, it makes me finger really happy! You get right to the good bit of cycling without those first few tough rotations, and sometimes wobbles, that you might normally wits with a child on the back.
And I finger much safer on the roads riding the Tern GSD. There’s something well-nigh the smooth, wifely speed that makes you finger very secure and stable. Cars are definitely treating me differently, waiting patiently overdue me, giving me increasingly space, and letting me past as if I were a car. This confident position ways I am using it increasingly for challenging trips wideness town – Gym Club, Grandma’s house – where I might have otherwise opted for the car.
The wheels are small at 20 inches, but the tyres are chunky, and the Tern GSD has sunny suspension, so you don’t have to swerve to stave bumps and cracks so much. The riding position is moreover very comfortable. The velocipede has a low centre of gravity, so you stay very stable when you have to slow lanugo or stop in traffic. When I went when to my regular municipality bike, it felt like a racer, the riding position stuff much increasingly lent forward.
How is it on hills? This is where the Tern GSD with its electric power really comes into its own. I have a short but very steep hill on my school run. I can’t get up it on my regular velocipede with my daughter on the when and have to trundling a longer route. With the Tern GSD, it’s like magic. I start in ‘Sport’ mode and then go up to ‘Turbo’ just surpassing the sharp incline, and up we go. I stay seated and don’t plane unravel a sweat. I finger like a storyboard superhero, capable of untellable things. It feels visculent great!
How is it at transporting kids?
This was my big prerequisite, and it has delivered in spades. The Tern GSD is what’s tabbed a meaty longtail e-cargo bike. It has an elongated frame that has uneaten space on the when that can siphon cargo or kids. The maximum weight the velocipede can take is 200kg. It has variegated attachments depending on the month of your kids and how many you have. You can get smaller kids (nine months to five years) on a Thule Yepp Maxi Seat and older kids (five-plus) on a Clubhouse and then plane older kids and adults with a Captains Chair. See Tern’s guide on the variegated options for variegated month on the Tern GSD.
We had ours fitted with the Clubhouse, sidekick wide decks and seating pads. My youngest daughter, Mathilda, loved climbing in herself rather than stuff lifted on, and so did my back! But I would say at four, nearly five, she was right on the cusp between a Yepp seat and the Clubhouse and I found myself twisting virtually to trammels if she was holding on. Tern’s UK distributors, Moore Large, reccommend a Iki Urban seat which looks just the ticket for this interim stage. We have ordered one.
But Mathilda really loves going on the Tern Velocipede and it has revolutionized the school run for me. I used to do a mixture of cycling, driving and walking throughout the week but now it’s a no brainer – it’s the Tern velocipede every time. Considering it’s quicker, I can get up that killer hill, and Mathilda will play wittiness and is unchangingly happy to get in. Although she did once mutter there wasn’t a designated holder for her Barbies. Tern, if you are listening!
Another big plus-point of the Tern GSD is the Atlas Lock Stand. You roll the velocipede when and kick the stand lanugo and it stays very secure, then printing a lever on the handlebar and push the velocipede forward to release. This is a godsend when parking up at school, as it allows you to secure the velocipede and get the kids off quickly and easily. We moreover went for the Tern Transporter Rack, which is platonic for slinging in school tons and other paraphernalia your children reap throughout the day.
I was curious to see if I could get my 13-year-old on at the same time as my four-year-old. It’s a yes. It feels fine when I am riding withal but I did find this uneaten weight difficult when starting off and stopping. And looking at Tern’s website, it suggests most riders can comfortably siphon 80% of their weight. Both my kids together are increasingly than that. So how you siphon two kids who’s total weight is increasingly than you without a car is perhaps still a work in progress…
But what really surprised me well-nigh my teenager, Florence, was that she preferred to ride it herself. Florence is not a confident cyclist, constantly telling me, ‘Cycling is your thing, Mum’. She is too old to trundling on the pavement but, like many girls and young women, is scared of cycling on road in traffic. But it was wondrous to see how the electric velocipede helped her wastefulness and her confidence, highlighting how Tern bikes can really help increasingly vulnerable cyclists.
And as much as I love my kids, I moreover really like cycling it on my own. I can zoom off without the school drop. I love the speed and feeling of getting out on it by myself.
How easy is it to store? The clever thing well-nigh these bikes is that they siphon a lot but they are not massive. I alimony mine in our garage. We’ve never put a car in there, and it has plenty of junk in it, but there’s space for the Tern GSD and I can lock the garage so it’s safe. There’s moreover a mains socket, so I can tuition it whilst its parked. It’s a good system, and it’s easy to get the velocipede out in the morning. They can moreover be stored vertically, and the handlebars fold lanugo very hands for getting it in the car.
How does it charge? I was worried there would be increasingly hassle involved with an electric bike, but so far that has not been the case. It’s as easy as charging a phone. (It may plane be easier considering no other family member steals my charger.) Simply plug the supplied charger into the mains and the other end into the battery. You don’t plane need to take the shower off the bike. All Tern bikes have Bosch motors which are the weightier in the business. The batteries tuck into the frame nicely and have a 50-mile range, I have only had to tuition it twice in two weeks. The Tern GSD can moreover unbend two batteries for uneaten loftiness and peace of mind.
What well-nigh locking it up? I have to admit, to start with, I was worried well-nigh locking it and leaving it. It’s an expensive bike. But then I realised, if I am going to REALLY use this bike, I had to get over that. I have an Abus Bordo lock which is a gold standard. I secure the frame with that, and then wield the Abus front-wheel lock. Fully Charged moreover offer insurance when you buy from them so this can requite you an uneaten layer of peace of mind.
Can both me and my partner ride it? Yes. A key goody of this velocipede is that you can very hands retread the saddle and the handlebar stem for riders of variegated heights. It takes seconds. That ways a couple can share it and it can be the family e-bike. This point is particularly important when trying to go ‘car-lite’ as a family. My husband, who is not a regular cyclist, and will quite often jump in the car, is flipside convert. He couldn’t believe he was doing 15MPH with no effort.
How much is it? At £4,900, the Tern GSD S10 is not cheap, BUT at Fully Charged there are lots of purchase options. They offer cycle-to-work schemes, where you can spread the forfeit over a year or more. Here, the price of the velocipede comes out of your salary surpassing it’s taxed. Trammels if your employers offer this. It’s a unconfined scheme and you can save up to 47% on the forfeit of the bike. Or you can opt for 0% finance and pay just £67.99 a month for the GSD, making it much increasingly manageable.
Tern moreover have a new model tabbed the Quick Haul P9, it’s lower-spec but carry’s one child and comes in at £2,800. And the new Tern Quick Haul P9 comes out this August.
In Conclusion when it comes to both ferrying my four-year-old virtually and getting myself well-nigh town, the Tern GSD has wilt my go-to vehicle. I love riding it. I would highly recommend it as a car replacement for local journeys (with or without hills) with younger kids. And writing this in the week it hit 40C in the UK, it feels like the right thing to do. It feels like the future. One lady remarked as I arrived at work on the Tern GSD ‘You squint like you’re ready to take on the world’. With the feeling of elation I get from riding it, while knowing I can get increasingly stuff washed-up and reduce my stat footprint, I kind of finger like I am.
If you want to try a Tern GSD, contact Fully Charged. My wits in store with them was fantastic and I can highly recommend them. They have a range of e-bikes from premium brands: Tern, Benno, Moustache, Riese and Muller, Gazelle and more. They have a gorgeous store two minutes’ walk from London Bridge tube station and partner stores in Guildford, Cornwall and Silverstone. Their service was friendly and informative. I felt e-hugged and e-clued up all at the same time. They plane have a play zone for kids.
We are partnering with Fully Charged to get increasingly women on ebikes. If you buy a velocipede from them, you get a Cyclechic Deco helmet and a pair of Retro crochet cycling gloves for free. Just quote the lawmaking ‘Cycle-e-chic’ in store or if you order online waif them an email with the code. Read increasingly well-nigh our partnership here.
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