I posted about my experience of my X10 frame shearing in two in 2014, and eventually my dealer offered me my money back and a £200 voucher. I was totally disgusted with this approach but due to ongoing injuries to my wrists and unrelated issues I have not yet settled the matter.
I thought that readers might be interested in my experiences as I suspect that I am very different to most of you. I am a lady aged in my 50's weighing 140 pounds and 5'9"tall. I am an experienced cyclist although I am am now slow, careful and not very strong. I used it to cycle along quiet roads and cycle paths for pleasure.
My husband bought me an X10 as I needed a folding bike and this one was lightweight and a beautiful orange colour.
We bought it directly from a dealer although we got it at a discount as it was used as a sample bike in the store. I took it in for a six week service in July 2013 and I understood that the next service was due one year later.
In May 2014 I had just freewheeled down a steep hill and stopped at the bottom for a moment. Setting off again the bike came apart at the hinge and I fell onto the ground. As I was not going fast I only suffered minor injuries.
I was shocked and realised that I had it happened a hundred yards earlier than I could have been killed.
Once I had calmed down I called Tern as I was so shocked and assumed that it was the first time that this had happened to anyone.
To cut a long story short no one at Tern or Evans, the dealer was concerned.
After long conversations with them both I returned the bike to Evans and this is what they wrote to me:-

As previously indicated and after provisional inspection by our head of Warranty, when returned to us your bike was found to have a very poorly adjusted main hinge; having spoken to my colleague and Mark Bickerton at Tern, this issue is a known factor in causing frame failures and is not related to the quality of manufacture or initial assembly.

Folding bikes in particular have a relatively high maintenance requirement and the main hinge in question is designed to be adjusted during routine maintenance, in order to ensure that the correct closure tension is achieved.

In this regard, our records indicate that you have not had the bike serviced by Evans Cycles since 11/12th July 2013 and, assuming a reasonable amount of usage in the intervening time, this would not be deemed to be an adequate service level, unless of course the work has been carried-out by a third party.

It is the case that riding a Tern such as yours with a loose main hinge, as was found on your bike, will place excess strain on the adjoining welds and can onwardly cause them to fail catastrophically; in the view of my colleagues this is the cause of your frame failure, rather than any manufacturing defect or assembly error.

For clarity, although there was a product safety recall in relation to early batches of these frames, the frame on your bike was not one of those affected and Tern are not aware of any strength or safety concerns with the batch of frames to which yours belongs and our view at this point is that it entirely complies with the relevant UK and European safety standards.

Given this our view is that the issue, highly unfortunate as it undoubtedly is, was not caused by a poorly manufactured or assembled product and therefore Evans Cycles would not accept liability in any way for the situation....

They looked at two separate pieces of bike and decided that the hinge was incorrectly tensioned. I know for certain that it was not as I folded it away after every use and then opened it out and clipped the hinge together.
Before I sent it to them I tried to put it back together for photographs and as it was broken it just fell apart so there is no way what they are saying is true.
Apparently the alleged loose hinge caused the weld to snap.
Does anyone have any comments?
By the way I insisted that they return the bike which is now sitting in a storeroom at my solicitors office.