I don't own a tern. I've had Dahon speed frame with a hinge that gradually developed a gradually increasing play in the hinge until I had to permanently weld it together. I didn't know if I was just unlucky or if the loaded touring over 2000km with some dirt and gravel roads plus air transport had anything to do with it. For the next bike I thought about getting a tern until I read about the weld cracking problem. So I got another Dahon, but a Vigor aluminum frame this time. I figured that I might have better luck with the different hinge design. So far after 2 years and over 3000km of commuting it seems to still be ok. I had looked at other bikes like bike Friday, Eve, Birdy, etc, but the Dahon had the most readily available replacement parts, at a fairly low cost, with least complexity.