Car Killer 2: Tern Unveils Next Generation GSD Electric Cargobike

“It’s not intended to be a car killer,” claims Josh Hon about his firm’s genre-defining compact electric cargobike, the Tern GSD. Launched in 2017, the bike — which flips vertically and can fit in the space of a pot plant — became an instant classic, and now, with the global launch on August 10 of the second generation machine, Hon’s claim that it isn’t a car killer looks somewhat shaky.

Like the 2017 machine, the MKII GSD — the TLA stands for “Get Stuff Done” — can carry two kids with ease and still have plenty of room for the weekly shop.

Not a car killer? Tell that to the co-founder of Jimmy’s Iced Coffee of Dorset, England. Jim Cregan replaced his Mercedes C63 with a GSD MK1 and, he says, it proved to be the “most useful thing I’ve ever, ever owned.”

Cars are great for long-distance trips, offers Hon, speaking to me via a video chat. “But for short trips, less than five miles, driving a car is is a bit silly,” he reckons.

The new GSD is packed with the sort of features that come standard on cars.

“The idea was to make a bicycle that’s convenient,” says Hon.

“When going out for a bike ride, I used to look for my lights, my helmet, my lock, the kids’ lights, and I’d have to see if [the lights are] charged—when you go out to drive your car, all you need is your keys. With the GSD, the thinking is the same. You have a trip to the market, a trip to the library, a school drop off? You just grab your keys and hop on the bike: everything that you need is already there.”

And that includes carrying capacity. The GSD MKII is the length of a standard bicycle, has space in bucketloads, yet it can be flipped up and then partially folded to fit in elevators easily.

Need to carry heavy loads? Up steep hills? No worries, the new GSD has the latest Bosch electric cargobike motor, which delivers plenty of pedal assistance. 400% of your effort, when required.

The new model, which goes on sale towards the end of the year, is a little longer and heavier than the original but has a stronger, stiffer frame.

“The stiffness matters a whole lot,” says Hon, “because when you have kids on the back, or you have cargo, and you’re maneuvering through traffic, if you get a little bit of a wiggle, it makes you feel uncomfortable and unstable. Torsionally, the new GSD is 15% stiffer and 40% stiffer vertically than the first version.”

Other improvements include a proprietary kickstand that’s “incredibly strong, incredibly stable,” says Hon.

“The beautiful thing about it is that it locks into place. So when you lower it, it locks automatically. It’s safe. [The bike] won’t tip over. It also has a remote unlock. So you load up the bike, and then you step over, press the remote unlock, and roll forward, and you’re off.”

According to Hon, Tern’s Atlas kickstand is a huge improvement on third-party devices. “There’s nothing out there on the market like it,” he believes.

The new features across the three bikes in the range add about $500 to the cost of an already spendy bicycle. The top of the range new GSD R14 — with belt drive, Rohloff Speedhub, and suspension front and rear — will cost $8,399.

The R14 also sports electronic gear shifting. “When you come to a stop, you hear it go ck-ck-ck,” says Hon.

“It has downshifted for you, so you have the perfect gear to start off.”

Tool-free adjustments let the GSD fit riders from 4’11” to 6’5”, making it easy to share between different users. Fitting collapsible parts comes naturally for Tern: the company began in 2011 as an upscale maker of folding bikes, co-founded by Hon and his mother, Florence. (Hon’s estranged father is Dr. David Hon, the laser scientist who, in 1981, left Hughes Research Lab to found Dahon folding bikes.)

“We believe in bicycles as a form of transportation,” says Josh Hon.

“We have road riders and mountain bikers in the company, but our guiding principle is that bicycles should be the way to get around for short distances in cities.”

Many of Tern’s staff are international high fliers, happier working for a bike company than a faceless corporate.

“All of us could have gotten higher-paying jobs someplace else,” stresses Hon. “But we believe in bikes. If we were just here to make a fast buck, flip it, and then exit, the company would have finished a long time ago.”