Hello

For a new folder, I'm looking at Tern and would like some feedback from anyone who rides the Eclipse X20.

Once folded, it's not much bigger (42 x 89 x 76cm) than a Verge (38 x 79 x 72; P20 or X10), so I was wondering if its 24" wheels are worth the extract money.

I'm also curious as to how a 24" folding bike compares to eg. Birdy and its full suspension.

Thank you.

Samo a resident of bikeforums owns one and he rides alot!

The Samosaurus Chronicles: Test ride: Tern Eclipse X20

he has alot of neat articles of his crazy journeys he does with his bikes. The x20 is a sweet bike but 24" folders would never fit under my desk at work.

I have both an Eclipse X20 and a Verge S11i. The Eclipse replaced my road bike for home use while the Verge is one of the bikes I travel with. Although they don't seem to be much different in size when folded there is a significant difference. The Eclipse is much more cumbersome. As far as differences in ride, neither of them ride as smoothly as a bike with suspension. I was able to smooth out the ride of the Verge a little by replacing the Schwalbe Marathon tires with Big Apples. Both are a comfortable ride for me. I'm 6'3" and at max rider weight. If I had to choose between the two I would pick the Eclipse just because of my size. I would be happy with either one though. Both are great bikes.

Thanks for the feedback. What do you mean with "cumbersome"?

The Eclipse is much more difficult to carry when folded than the Verge.

Ok. Not a problem for me since I'll only fold it when travelling, not commuting.

Since meters of development is very close (Eclipse X20 ~ 8.86 m, Verge X10/P20 ~ 7.95 m), I guess I'll go for the Eclipse for the smoother ride.

SKS tells me that their 11049/11048 will fit on the Eclipse, while a retailer tells me it could be a no-go:

SKS Germany

I really need fenders since I'll ride that bike in the rain.

Is there anyone here who uses fenders on the Eclipse?

Thank you.

The bike was delivered yesterday and I took it for a a few hours' ride. Here's some feedback.

The bike is light and fast. The position is more upright than the Birdy Speed I previously had, and I expect to be less sore after riding a whole day.

Just a few small issues I noticed:

• Obviously, with 24" wheels, it's not as compact as a regular folder so might be too big for commuting, but for taking trains while touring on vacation, it does the job; Just get the CarryOn Cover bag so the bike won't stand out in the bagage area
• The stem riser is fixed, so its height cannot be changed. It can only be tweaked a little by adjusting the stem; I wish the handlebar could be lowered a bit to get a more sporty ride when needed
• Once the Kanga rack is hanging from the luggage truss, the cables rub against it; A work-around is to use a velcro band to pull the cables closer to the stem riser
• As an alternative to the luggage truss in the front, I'll check if I can find a solution similar to Carradice's Bagman2 rear-rack that would be compact enough to stay in place even when lowering the seat and folding the bike.
• I find the Kore Road Performance seat is too hard, at least when not spandex-clad
• The 40-507 Schwalbe Kojak tires are slick so could be slippery in the rain, but thick enough for some light off-road riding
• Even at 2.0, the magnet still isn't very strong to keep the two parts together
• When folded, the bike doesn't roll because the brake pads press against the rims
• The smallest cog is 11; On flat terrain, I could go for a 10 or even a 9; I'll see if I can put a new SRAM cog wheel

sure you got a 2.0 magnet ? Most bikes in the dealer pipeline still have the older one...
I literally have complaints that the magnet is too strong ..lol

I don't know. The bike is brand new and Tern's web site mentions the 2.0 magnet, so I assumed it's what it is, but it could be the older one.

I'll keep a strap handy to fasten the two parts together just in case.

I had an idea for a better front-rack: In addition to the two screws, there's enough space on the frame to add two straps above and below, so that the rack could hold more weight if need be. Obviously, that'd require having a rack custom-made.

You DO KNOW the Tern bikes have a built in luggage truss designed to mount various baskets and bags to the front of the bike.

Slick tires are not an issue in the rain,as it's almost impossible for bikes to hydroplane.

10t SRAM cogs are only available for XXI,which is 11spd. You'll need to replace the hub,cassette,chain,and front ring,as well as the derailleur and shifter(note: rear spacing will also need to be 135mm). 9t cogs are 9spd Shimano Capreo,which will require the same changes. If you want bigger gears,you'd do better to just swap the chainrings.

dynaryder brings the facts!

Thanks much for the infos. I guess I'll leave things as they are, then :-)

you should be really careful. although, i don't know exactly how you can be careful. when an aluminum weld fails under load, you don't get a warning... currently, 4 different models have had catastrophic hinge weld failure.

verge x30, eclipse p9, link D8, and link C7.

Not only tern bikes have frame failures. Today the frame of my Dahon Vextor X10 had a similar failure. Luckily I was just getting on the bike and not moving. The images show a failure very similar to the ones on the Tern bikes.