Verge X30h Video Review

by Peter on February 10, 2012

Verge X30 folding bicycle

Verge X30 folding bicycle

Speed is what we’re talking about here. Pure speed.

Speed comes from a well engineered and well executed design. It comes from the careful selection of components and tuning them to work in concert. It comes from the joy of feeling the wind on your face and the force of your legs propelling you forward.

The Verge X30 is one of the few folding bikes that attains the level of road bike style speed in such a compact package. Riding it through Central Park I felt the urge to break away and do loops around the park until sunset. I felt like spending the weekend riding up to Bear Mountain State Park and crossing the Hudson River at day break. It is truly an inspiring folding bike to ride.

Before I get to poetical, maybe you should watch our video review of the Verge X30h. See for yourself what makes this such an enjoyable Tern bike to ride.

We have a good stock of the Verge bikes in the shop, visit our Tern Verge X30 product page for details.

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Mini Ortleib Bag on my Brompton

Mini O Bag on my folded Brompton bike

I am always over stuffing my bike bags with way too much. My typical trip finds me pedaling up hill against the wind with the equivalent of a huge sail attached to my Brompton. No fun.

With the Mini O Bag I found it easier to pack because I am limited to the bare essentials for the day but with just enough space to fit everything I needed. Today I fit a book, glasses, change of shorts and shirt, gloves and a hat all in without much stuffing.

The Mini O Bag sits nicely on the Brompton bike when folded, without dragging it to one side or the other. It isn’t so bulky as some of the larger bags. I think the Mini O Bag integrates with the bike design better than any other.

Mini O Bag is neat and compact

My Blue Mini O Bag was filled up right to the top this morning and consequently nothing rattled and or got tossed around. The Mini O Bag also has a rigid plastic frame that keeps the shape regardless of weight loaded on so it doesn’t sag like other handlebar bags.

Mini O Bag - rider perspective

Mini O Bag - rider perspective

The Mini O Bag is easy to access

This Brompton bag is really well designed. It has two buttons on the rearward side which allow you to snap it open while stopped without getting off the bike or leaning over very far.

Here’s a shot of what it looks like when open on the bike. Because the top of the Mini Ortleib Bag swivels open and away from you it means the frontward part is sealed up against rain so nothing will get it coming from the front. While it is certainly not water proof if submerged (which I guess could happen depending on how adventurous a rider you are) it is definitely rain and thunderstorm proof thanks to the rubber like material used.

5 stars for the Mini O Bag

5 stars for the Mini O Bag

A Mini O Bag of my very own…

I couldn’t resist getting one of these sharp little bags. It really works for me because it’s functional, aerodynamic, unique looking, and fit’s just the right amount of stuff. If you find yourself packing up your Brompton bags just to fill the void then you might want to consider getting a Mini O Bag. Really, it’s the perfect size.

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You like bicycling. You like being out in the open, surrounded by the sights and sounds of the world. Maybe you’re thinking of buying a folding bike. Maybe you like the idea that you could pitch one in the trunk, take it on the bus, ride home from the train. Whatever.

Here’s the problem: You’re more interested in bicycling than in educating yourself about all the different folding bike brands. In other words, you’re not looking forward to the selection process. However, you have to make a choice before you can ride a folding bike home. So how do you choose a brand?

Up until this year, that particular task was pretty easy by eeny-meeny-miny-moe standards. In fact, if you walked into a dark room filled with 100 folding bicycles, chances are pretty good that the first one you touched would be a Dahon. Depending on where you get your information, Dahon owns anywhere from 60 percent to more than two-thirds of the folding bike market by volume.

That may start to change this year, as container ships full of Tern bicycles start unloading around the world. On August 1, Tern updated its website with pictures and specifications of its folding bike lineup, which includes 22 folding bike models in five families: Verge, Link, Joe, Eclipse and Castro.

The power behind the Tern folding bike brand…is familiar

Tern represents some serious competition for Dahon because almost all the people behind Tern are former Dahon employees, including Josh Hon, son of the founder of Dahon and the company’s former vice president of sales and marketing.

 

The Dahon/Tern split may end up being good news for folding bike buyers who like choice: they’ll have more models of folding bikes to choose from than ever. But if you’re simply looking to choose a brand and get on with your life, things just got a bit more complicated.

Tern is marketing a simplified line of bikes with 20-inch, 24-inch and 26-inch wheels, all aimed at urban folding bike enthusiasts, while Dahon’s line (at this writing, the 2012 Dahon line has not been announced) includes 16-inch-wheeled folders and mini-velos, the latter category being small-wheeled bikes with a more traditional diamond frame.

Dahon’s the established company, so let’s focus on Tern for now. It’s tough to decide upon a Tern bicycle if you don’t have one in front of you, but the information I’ve gleaned from online descriptions and interviews with Josh Hon and Steve Boyd (in charge of North American distribution) is promising.

Four things to like (or understand) about Tern folding bikes

#1. Tern is making the right noises about parts availability. First, there aren’t as many parts to keep track of. Tern folding bicycles will use one of two handle posts and one of two frame joints. (The three bikes in the Joe family use stems similar to standard and adjustable mountain-bike stems.)

Time will tell whether Tern will continue that degree of standardization in coming years, but it’s an excellent start.

Tern has also thought through the logistics of delivering parts. According to Hon, Tern dealers will order the usual parts from local distributors. If, however, a certain folding bike part is unavailable, Tern will airfreight the part within two days from one of three service centers. (Service centers are located in Taiwan, the United States and Germany.)

Tern folding bicycles

Tern folding bicycles

#2: Tern sure likes to brand technology. In connection with the frame alone, there’s DoubleTruss technology, which refers to the way the seatstays extend forward of the seat tube to connect to the back of the folding hinge and improve frame stiffness. The OCL Joint is one of the two Tern folding bike frame joints and it features NorGlide Bearings for smooth operation. AutoLock Technology provides extra security when you close the folding lever, and Folding Point Technology allows the lever to fold flat again the joint.

I could go on, but you get the idea. Tern has a special name for everything (so does Dahon). If you’re a fan of Brompton bikes, all this technology naming probably seems like a pretty foreign idea. But it’s just like the world of kitchen appliances. Whirlpool sells Resource Saver refrigerators with MicroEtch spill control shelves and FreshFlow air filters, while SubZero sells…SubZero refrigerators.

#3: A Tern folding bike is not a rebranded Dahon bike. The frame is different and the hinges are different. Even the fold is a little different. Front-end and handlepost geometries allow for the use of N-Fold Technology, which means you turn the front wheel around before the main fold. Tern claims the resulting folded package is 1.5 inches shorter.

#4: That dark room with 100 bicycles in it is likely to get a lot more interesting.

a guest blog by Sam Joslin

Check out some awesome Tern folding bike videos

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As I started up my computer this morning and took a sip of my morning tea (yes I’m a tea drinker now…) I never imagined that today I could make so many people so happy. What can one person working at a bike shop selling folding bicycles do to bring smiles to hundreds of people at a time? And so I got ready for another normal day and left my super hero garb safely stashed in my backpack.

But! As I started up Outlook and read through the subjects one caught my eye, “Dahon Announces Price Roll Back” it read. “Now we’re talking!” I thought.

Dahon folding bike price roll back

Dahon folding bike price roll back

And so here it is, prepare to smile.

Speed Uno was $449 NOW $399
Eco C7 was $539 NOW $499
Speed D7 was $639 NOW $549
Mariner was $699 NOW $599
Speed P8 was $879 NOW $699
Mu P8 was $899 NOW $799

 

No time like the present! So if you’ve been waiting for an excuse to get the Dahon folding bike of your dreams this may it. View our entire selection of well priced Dahon folding bicycles to see all other models.

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Hero Eco merges with UltraMotor

Hero Eco merges with UltraMotor

A2B electric bicycles have been long been some of the most powerful, coolest looking, electric bicycles available in the US. This is part of what attracted electric bicycle giant Hero Eco to their side. Hero has long been a major player in the Indian electric bicycle market, producing top quality electric scooters, two wheelers, and electric bicycles distributed internationally throughout 80 countries.

UltraMotors merges with HeroEco of India

Starting in January of this year Hero has taken over operations of UltraMotors, a move which is sure to bring several improvements to the already sterling company. The first will be service and parts availability. As a manufacturer of automotive and bicycle parts Hero has long experience in the support of the products they sell. One of their primary aims is to bring this aspect of the business to UltraMotor’s A2B product line.

That may not seem like such a big deal to consumers at first but think 3-6 years down the line. The Hero Eco/UltraMotor merge will mean parts availability and support will be consistent, readily available, and comprehensive – all good points to look forward to!

How does this affect our electric bicycle customers?

UltraMotors electric bikes

UltraMotors electric bikes

As dealers of the UltraMotor A2B Metro we’re very happy to see this change take place. Not that the support for the A2B metro was poor initially, to the contrary it was quite good, but to know that our customers will be able to continue to keep their bikes on the road long into the future is a thought that makes us happy. I’m sure you can understand that!

So as always: if you’ve been on the hunt for an electric bicycle that has both power and style the A2B Metro is the way to go. Now you can add top notch service and support to the bike’s long list of pros.

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Our New Years Resolutions

January 11, 2012

Ahh, the new year! It’s been 365 days coming but finally we’ve arrived to 2012, eagerly looking ahead to future possibilities. So, what are our new years resolutions? The first is to become more open and accessible to you. We’ve taken some first steps by enabling commenting though facebook on every page of or website. [...]

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Year end recap, NYCeWheels goes on Holiday!

December 24, 2011

Well, it’s been a great year for us again. Business is up over last year and it actually looks like year 10 has been our best year ever! Score! Haha As we roll through the Holidays we’ve started looking back at this year and forward to next. In the meantime kick scooters are selling like [...]

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Brompton Bike – A Folding Holiday Getaway

December 19, 2011

How many of you are going abroad for the holidays – or at least visiting other parts of the country? Going some place warm I hope? Well even if you’re going up north to the frigid land of Canada you would be best off taking a little portable transportation with you! After all, who wants [...]

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Dahon Stow Bags – In Stock for Holidays

December 14, 2011

It’s been several month now that the Dahon Stow Bag has been out of stock. After the split between Dahon and Tern both companies have been shifting production and re branding their products. As a very cool result of that process Dahon is now manufacturing their bags in the good old US of A – [...]

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Burley Tavoy – How much will it hold?

December 10, 2011

I am adding this to my Christmas list: the Burley Travoy. Damn! It’s just so gosh darn handy. Last week I installed our shop trailer hitch in about 20 seconds and loaded one up with about 60 lbs of computer equipment to cart back to my apartment. It was foolishly highly loaded but still, no [...]

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