ThorUSA

no broken frames in the US of A
even the last years recall of a batch of Verge frames was done because a couple had broken somewhere else but none in the US, despite that, Tern replaced the US ones as well.

I assume that the UK Verge which is broken is one of the recalled ones from last year.

No word from Tern yet to us dealers to stop selling or that there is a recall on certain bikes.
If and when such a recall will be made, I will be the first to officially post it here. AND I will of course email my customers as well. Same like last year when we replaced the batch of Verges. No problem.

Thor

smallwheeler

ugh.

tern has four basic frame types: eclipse/verge, link/node, swoop, and joe.



i would not be surprised if the same fault exists in the swoop and joe models as well but, due to much lower numbers of them being sold, the problem hasn't yet occurred or been reported.

this is a terrible problem. i'm imagining cruising down hill on second ave at 25 mph and having the frame snap in half.

photobiker

..

Blopslee

Bruce,

Thanks for bringing this conversation over here - been following it on the Tern board since the beginning and I still can't believe how they are (not) handling this. I think it is good that there can at least be more discussion about it.

Christineenglan

It was my bike that broke in half in England yesterday and I have had a sleepless night thinking about how near I came to getting killed yesterday. I have the bike in my possession and I am not a typical user of these forum sites, or of the Tern Verge X10. Apart from the financial aspect of this issue - this is by far the most expensive bike that I have ever bought, and the most problematic - I am extremely concerned that other people could be killed in the same circumstances that I encountered.
My husband bought me the bike as it is extremely lightweight and I am a 52 year old lady who is not very strong. He thought it might help me keep up on rides with him. I am a leisure rider who cycles fairly slowly and very carefully. I cannot understand that I would ever have put any stresses on the bike and never jump up or down kerbs, never mind any fancy wheelies or such like - I am old enough to be someone's grandma after all. If my bike can break, then anybodies could. My question at the moment is knowing what I know now, could I live with myself if I just take it back to where I bought it from, get some sort of refund, bandage up my injuries and just move on without alerting other people to it's dangers.

Still Pedaling

They will find out soon enough when a number of owners have had their faces rearranged on asphalt.

I worked for years in drafting and design. We had a motto "No time to get it right the first time, but plenty of time after". Drawings had to get out by a certain day - hook or by crook. When they come back for changes, which is usually the case, we had plenty of time then to correct any mistakes. Bloody marvelous! The same is true with manufacturing. Get the product out in the market before the competition, then sort out the problems/issues after. In so many cases, especially when it comes to cameras, this is the case. No worries - problems, errors will be sorted out later with firmware changes. Never mind the inconvenience to the customer. But when you look at it from the manufacturer's point of view, they are forced to send out a product with known issues. So many variables. Engineering and R&D departments failing to do their jobs properly as an example. Human error comes to play in those departments because of the huge amount of pressure to get the product ready in a time frame set by management. Like I said, too many variables. I worked in this kind of environment for more years than I would like to remember. I'm so glad I'm finally retired and shod of that crap for good.

LeeT

Hi all,

I'm Lee... the original poster on the Tern forum who this happened to first of all.

Addressing the comment above... I dont know who told you that I was doing ' extreme riding and jumping curbs' I couldnt do ' extreme riding and jumping curbs' if I tried!!! Looks like they really wanted to sell you that bike if they were going to lie like that.

I rode sensibly and I loved my Link D8... right up untill it broke in two leaving me unconscious in the middle of a busy London road!!!! This was back in December 2013. I've had a replacement bike (not a Tern) as a good will gesture from Evans Cycles and a phone message in March from Mark the UK Tern rep saying that the frame was possibly faulty due to a bad weld.... that's it.

I personally would never buy a Tern again...and after speaking to someone at Evans Cycles, I gather that they arent going to continue to stock Tern bikes.

Cheers,
Lee

Christineenglan

Hi Lee
I amg lad to get to write to you as I originally wrote to you yesterday as at that time I thought we were alone with our accidents. I am just calming down from it now although you had it way worse than I did. I can't believe what happened to me. I had ridden it for over 50 kilometres, the last k being all downhill on a busy Bridge, a sharp right hand corner and then flat for a few hundred metres, all for me at top speed. I then stopped and leant it against a seat forab out a minute while I checked my phone. When I then got on to ride it then suddenly I was pedalling and falling and moving forward all at the same time. I came to rest in a heap a little away from my bike while my husband ran towards me. I had no idea what had happened and he just stood there shouti ng in disbelief at the two pieces of bike.
I am so glad to see your last paragraph as I know how lucky I am and these bikes are death traps. I am going to call Evans later and will also be taking legal advice. I don't know if you have tried to get in touch privately as I had notification of a private message but I currently can't access it. I will try again later and I will keep posting here as we may have more to say to each other in the future.
Christine

Christineenglan

To the person who just sent me a private message. I have read it but can't reply privately to you as I have not made 50 posts. However, my answer is yes, you can use the photo.

CbadRider

You can leave a visitor message on a member's profile page without needing 50 posts. Click on their username to get to their profile.

CbadRider
Forum Admin

Christineenglan

I am getting a bit of technical information now from friends online. This may mean something to people out there. My frame number is one of those listed for the recall in early 2013. However, when we followed the instructions and gave my service tag it said that it was not one of those affected.
My bike was ordered after the date of the recall from the main UK dealer and I was completely unaware of it.

badrad

Wow - Send them a photo of the break and your injuries and ask how it's not one of those affected! Now that is a lame reply to a customer problem!
BTW - sorry to hear of your incident, hope none of the injuries you sustained are long term. You can give up on brands but don't give up on riding!

BadBoy10

Thank you for the information. I appreciate greatly the alert...I want a Brompton but have actively been looking at other folders.
Believer it or not in South Florida many of the dealers only have one folding bike in stock usually a Dahon and the sales staff are not overwhelmed with excitement to sell. I was ignored by a sales person at Big Wheel Cycle because he was trying to "show" much more expensive bikes to another customer. I had cash in hand and well...
Another shop allowed me to test the Tern but it felt "narrow". It was weird.

This is scary. I am glad you are okay and I hope Tern improves their quality control. I'm not clear about the mechanics specific to engineering but I know aesthetically---the designers really need to work on the WOW! factor of Tern. The bikes are not particularly moving...I do not see the rationale in paying the price point...the Downtown Nova is a nice looking folder, the Strida packs a punch.

I don't like the double color scheme of the Terns. Again, I hope the company rebounds.

fricker61

Where on the Tern forum are you seeing this information? I poked around a while and couldn't find a thread.

And do we know that these aren't actually 2013 stock that is failing?

fourknees

Have to log in to see the whole thread: Tern Link D8 frame shearing in two | Tern Folding Bike and Folding Bicycle Accessories | United States

BruceMetras

Tern has initiated a voluntary recall on certain Tern Link models.. No mention of the Verge or Eclipse models which also suffered catastrophic frame failures.

2014 Link/OCL Limited Voluntary Recall - FAQs | Tern Folding Bike and Folding Bicycle Accessories | Worldwide

https://www.ternbicycles.com/support/notice/14/05

HGR3inOK

FWIW, certain Verge and Eclipse models were recalled in the U.S.A. last year. See:
Stile Products Recalls Tern Folding Bicycles Due to Fall Hazard | CPSC.gov

I believe certain Verge and Eclipse models were also recalled in Europe last year. The recent (05/16/14) report of a Verge X10 frame failure in England appears to be an instance where the dealer failed to replace the frame of a Verge that was subject to the 2013 recall before selling the Verge X10 to a customer.

-HANK RYAN-
Norman, Oklahoma USA

BikeLite

Could the family spat be so bad as to have a person infiltrate the Tern workforce and sabotage production? Maybe Quality Control would catch anything like that.

smallwheeler

son walks off with 5 years worth of innovation and most of the top designers and staff. father plots to secretly sabotage his son's new company by having spies infiltrate the assembly plant and do lots of bad welding which will result in frames snapping in half all across europe, potentially maming and killing cyclists.

cool story, bro.

for the tale to be complete, you need to figure out how dr. hon.. i mean dr. evil can walk away with one meeellion dollars.

BikeLite

lol

tcs

I'm not in the industry, but to the best of my knowledge there is no "Tern workforce" in the way you are alluding to here.

Dahon reports they have something like ~900 employees and several factories, where folks wear Dahon uniforms/badges and fabricate and assemble Dahon bikes. They also contract out Dahon bicycle manufacture/assembly to other bicycle companies, the most ready example being Maxcom in Bulgaria.

Contracting out manufacture of your designs or bikes to your specifications to other companies is pretty common in the bicycle industry. Probably most of the bikes you might see at a LBS in the USA weren't fabricated/assembled by the company whose name appears on the bike. Giant (the giant bicycle company) reports that around half of their production is contract work for other companies. Giant actually got their big break in the industry manufacturing Schwinn bikes under contract back in the 1970s. The manufacture of R&M Birdy bikes is contracted to Pacific Cycles. Stridas were contract manufactured by Ming Cycle - well, until Ming bought the rights to the bike.

I'm not aware that there are any factories anywhere that say Tern on the side of the building or any happy, smiling workers fabricating and/or assembling bikes wearing Tern uniforms/badges. I believe all Tern bikes are fabricated and assembled by contract manufacturers to Tern's designs and specifications. Interestingly, Josh Hon reported that "Tern no longer uses the company" that built the frames involved in the 2013 recall.

ThorUSA

just to make sure ... this is understood..
there was a recall last year on some verge, eclipse models ( obviously the british lady had one of those recalled frames and continued to use it. Not her fault, and I feel real bad about her and wish her all the very best )
Tern USA replaced a bunch of those frames/bikes here in the USA despite the fact that NONE broke over here.

---------------

Now the Link stuff with the links from Bruce above.... there were like 5 Links breaking in the UK all most likely from one batch manufactured in a company Tern doesnt use anymore. Obviously the official recall in the UK is further ahead as there were actually broken frames there. Which makes the authorities working faster than the US authorities which are in a dilemma as there are 0 ZERO NILL broken frames over here.

Despite this there will be something done over here in the USA as well. But nothing can be done until the CPSC here in the US gives the green light for a voluntary recall. it is burocracy after all.

When this US recall is official than the dealers who sold the bikes will inform the customers and together with Tern USA will work hard and dilligently to solve this with the least amount of pain for the customers who are involved in the recall...
Again 0 broken frames in the USA ( not in the first recall, and not in the one Bruce posted the links, which are not really public yet as far as I understand )

I am positive this will work out pretty smooth and to the benefit of all USA Tern owners.

Thanks Thor

firewave

This was shared by MyBikeShop sg (I think last weekend):
2014 Link/OCL Limited Voluntary Recall | Tern Folding Bike and Folding Bicycle Accessories | Worldwide

Joe Remi

Well, this might explain the X10 being unloaded on Northern California Craigslist for $500 a few days ago. Sheesh!

Agar

Sadly I have to report a(nother) complete frame failure in the UK. My bike is, or was, a Tern Verge S11i. The frame number is not one in the voluntary recall. Last Thursday in London, while slowly approaching a red light on my way to work,the weld in front of the frame hinge failed completely. Fortunately I was travelling slowly, wearing a helmet and in a gap in traffic. I don't want to think what could have happened. Bruised and battered and needing a new helmet but could have been much worse. The bike was a year and two weeks old and regularly looked after.

My frame number was AM1308A163 . I won't be touching another one of these ever again.