Tern teams up with Evans Cycles

Starting January 1st 2012, Tern the new bike brand - or 'urban transport specialist' as they're putting it - started by Joshua Hon of the original Taiwanese Dahon family will start selling their folding bikes through the Evans Cycles chain.

"We're incredibly pleased to be partnering with Evans Cycles for distribution in the UK," said Joshua Hon, Tern vice president.

"Evans has a fantastic, passionate team and are a perfect fit for Tern. They have been responsible for selling a significant proportion of all the folding bikes sold in the UK for best part of 40 years. The combination of their strong retail presence and their rapidly expanding import portfolio of bikes and accessories makes them a natural choice as a partner."

For his part Michael Rice Managing Director of Evans Cycles said, "We are looking forward to working with Tern, who are already recognised as a leader and innovator in the folding bike market. Their urban bikes really hit the mark for our commuting customers and will make a great addition to our Ride2Work offerings."

Verge Duo  £699.99: a sporty 2-speed model but there are derailleur options, too.

Tern bicycles will be available through Evans stores 'and other complementary independent bike dealers' as Tern are phrasing it in the news release. Sales, marketing and after-sales activity will be administered through Cyclemotion headed by Mark Bickerton who already has quite a name in the history of the folding bike market.

"Evans were the first retailer to stock my father's folding bikes 40 years ago, so I have a long-standing relationship with Evans," according to Bickerton who is also the President of the Bicycle Association of GB.

We had a good look at the Tern range at Eurobike and the bikes' details are certainly exquisitely wrought with a particularly nice hinge and clamp mechanism which is intuitive and comfortable to fold and unfold, lock and unlock. There are 22 models in the range, 17 of which we'll see in the UK and based on seven platforms from the decidedly sporty to the utilitarian.

The big insider news at Eurobike, however, was the furious accusation match going on between the two parts of the Dahon business as Joshua Hon and his mother in one camp were battling with the father and founding Mr Hon over territories, factories and patents in the other. It's an ongoing saga but one which doesn't appear to be stopping the progress of the nascent Tern name.

UK price list from 1st January 2012

Verge X30    £1,599.99
Verge X20    £2,299.99
Verge X10    £1,349.99
Verge S11i   £1,599.99
Verge Duo      £699.99
Verge P18      £899.99
Link P9 P      £629.99
Link P7i       £799.99
Link P24h      £799.99
Link D8 D      £449.99
Link D7i       £629.99
Link Uno       £449.99
Link C7 C      £349.99
Joe P24 P      £629.99
Joe D24 D      £499.99
Joe C21 C      £399.99
Eclipse P9     £799.99

Details: ternbicycles.com