JohnInSacTown
New Member
I purchased my first eBike about 3 weeks ago - Tern HSD S+ — love it. I have been biking old school for a long time, but wanted to get a cargo bike to be able to do all my local errands on (grocery, Costco, Home Depot, etc). Both for environmental concerns and exercise and fun. So far it has hit the mark on all 3.
I was concerned about the Automatiq transmission when I was looking at bikes. The dealer (Blue Heron in Berkeley) had to order it in, but after a 30 minute test ride I was sold! My concern was that I would be at the mercy of how the engineers thought the bike should shift. The algorithm uses rider applied torque, speed and cadence. The cadence target is set by the rider and is easy to adjust as you ride. It shifts very close to optimally. Sometimes starting out I would prefer a quicker up shift, but it is not bad. Plus, I never have to think about it or anticipate — on my manual bike I would occasionally forget to downshift as a hill comes up or I stop for traffic. So cargo, belt drive and automatic transmission, perfect for my needs
I outfitted it with a couple of REI soft side coolers as the Central Valley in CA gets really hot in the summer (but it is a “dry” heat!
) so my cold or frozen stuff would make it home. Gotta protect the Pliny the Elder beer from the heat!!. Already had my first flat — thank goodness it was the front tire. Love that my Tern can set up vertically on it’s rear end. Put everything at eye level standing.
Here is a pic with my soft side coolers:
Cheers John
I was concerned about the Automatiq transmission when I was looking at bikes. The dealer (Blue Heron in Berkeley) had to order it in, but after a 30 minute test ride I was sold! My concern was that I would be at the mercy of how the engineers thought the bike should shift. The algorithm uses rider applied torque, speed and cadence. The cadence target is set by the rider and is easy to adjust as you ride. It shifts very close to optimally. Sometimes starting out I would prefer a quicker up shift, but it is not bad. Plus, I never have to think about it or anticipate — on my manual bike I would occasionally forget to downshift as a hill comes up or I stop for traffic. So cargo, belt drive and automatic transmission, perfect for my needs
I outfitted it with a couple of REI soft side coolers as the Central Valley in CA gets really hot in the summer (but it is a “dry” heat!
) so my cold or frozen stuff would make it home. Gotta protect the Pliny the Elder beer from the heat!!. Already had my first flat — thank goodness it was the front tire. Love that my Tern can set up vertically on it’s rear end. Put everything at eye level standing. Here is a pic with my soft side coolers:
Cheers John
