Help with choice - Tern HSD Gen2 vs Canyon Precede:ON 7 Comfort

[Cyprian]

Good evening y'all,

This year for my fiancee's 30th birthday I thought an e-bike would be a nice gift. And she loves the idea of it. So we went for it (although couldn't decide on my own so had to let her in on the surprise).

Context:

We're a couple living and working on London. We're moving to East London where there's more limited tube lines than in West London where we currently live. Hence why, the thought of an ebike. The purpose for her would be mainly to commute to work (8km one way), go shopping and from time to time (if bike allows) give me a lift or go somewhere together.

We're not yet planning to have kids (maybe in 3-5 years) and potentially will have a pet in the next year or two.

The bikes:

The idea was born out of curiosity about Cowboy bikes. Our friends has a Cruiser ST and we loved it. Done some research and concluded that I'm put off by proprietary parts + Vanmoof story. But they look beautiful. But no.

Then I went down the Gazelle route. They're nice and we both test rode Grenoble and Avignon models. She preferred Grenoble because of the lower price and couldn't perceive the added comfort of Avignon too clearly.

Then enters Tern HSD 2, completely serendipitously - we never thought of a cargo bike. Indeed, subjectively, it doesn't look too beautiful, but nor do Gazelles (they can't match the Cowboys for sure), but it has the added obvious advantages of slight foldability and the carrying capacity. Definitely a plus to be able to carry groceries but also sometimes carry each other when we need to get somewhere together. We also have a car but that's more for trips outside of town.

The only problem with her riding with me on the back is that she found it quite challenging - maybe because most of the weight was balanced towards the rear and hence with front being less stable. I think it's something that she'd learn and gain more confidence because I didn't necessarily have problems with her at the back (I weigh 66kgs and she's 54kg) but I probably am a more confident rider.

Tern started to become the main contender also because of the fact that it fits her perfectly. Even though I thought she's a normal woman's height at 159.5cm apparently the e-bike industry does not like short people and there's only a few models that would fit her size.

Almost pulled a trigger on Tern but then saw that Canyon very recently released the Precede:ON 7 Comfort model. https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/electr...fort-7/3925.html?dwvar_3925_pv_rahmenfarbe=RD. It isn't a cargo bike but looks nicer than Gazelle's and just like Canyons do has really good hardware and the price is lower.

It doesn't have the obvious capacity to ride together but it has the same motor and belt drive that Tern HSD P10 does not have (which costs £300 more for Tern with P5i).

She's drawn to it due to what the looks and perception of the brand - I've only had good experience with my Canyon Ultimate and it's an absolute pleasure to ride.

The small caveat is that it's apparently suitable for people from 160cm and with her 159.5cm I'm not too sure it'd be a comfortable size. And also, more importantly, it does not have a suspension fork which is a bummer as I think suspension seatpost won't offer as much comfort as the fork would.

So, with no kids in sight for the next 3-5 years and only an infrequent sight of us riding together, we're torn between the two bikes.

Sadly, it seems like no-one with Internet access has bought the Canyon just yet cause apart from one rather poor French review of the model, there's literally 0 information about it online. No one mentions the driving experience, the comfort (I mean you'd expect a lot given it's in the name...)

Would love to hear what people think - I appreciate it's a bit of an apple to oranges comparison but this is where we are and trying to decide what would the best choice be!

Tl;DR - Tern HSD gen 2 vs Canyon Precede:ON 7 Comfort for 159.5cm lady. The bike will be mainly used for commuting to work/grocery shopping/going around London. No kids for now (maybe in 3-5 years), no pets. Pls advise.

 

[indianajo]

At 172 cm height I find "one size fits all" bikes do not fit me. I checked canyon website and I would have to download a pdf to read dimensions so I will leave that up to you. Then you can go to a bike store and have your fiance sit on similar sized bikes. Ideally you would visit a store that stocks the canyon, as in store service is important to people in cities that do not have room for a workshop in their apartment. I personally like to be able to touch the ground with at least one toe with out the bike leaning excessively. I do find leaning forward to reach a far away handlebar annoying. And the seat should allow me to pedal with the leg slightly bent at the bottom crank position without having to use my toes as the push point. I pedal with the instep of my foot, in normal walking shoes.
Tern is a top tier brand with only 1 post on the brand forum "known problems" topic. Tern does have dealers. Canyon has 4 posts on their "known problems" topic, not many but their market share is tiny.
Living in a city that has potholes that the government waits until summer to be repaired, I am suspicious of the 20" wheels of the Tern. In following a car through a traffic light or when it is raining, I cannot always see and avoid potholes. I ride a cargo bike, one that is suitable for riders to 137 cm height. Now discontinued, but replaced by this model: https://yubabikes.com/cargobikestore/kombi-e5/ This model has 24" wheels and a shimano mid-drive rather than a bosch. Combi only allows riders to 152.4 cm. Yuba does have dealers, although I do not know if they have one in southeast UK. The combi has 200 kg weight limit. My yuba bodaboda with 26" wheels allows me to carry up to 36 kg cargo on the rear without instabiity. I do have about 6.8 kg in the front basket that yuba sells. The yuba basket does not steer with the front wheel, which cargo I found on a previous bike inhibited steering speed. This cargo ability has allowed me to abandon my automobile. I rent trucks occasionally for appliances or building materials. I can carry one 3 m board through my legs tied to the rear rack and suspended from the handlebar by string. Yuba sells a pad for passengers on the rear rack. A welded rack does not swing from side to side as bolted racks do, and the rack never scrapes the tire or warps the fender as baskets did on previous mountain bikes and cruisers. Yuba has snap on footrests, which also support the bottom of loaded panniers to keep them from swinging. My yuba sold panniers have velcro loops sewed to the bottom to hold to the footrest. I tie the plastic bar of the pannier to the child rack with baling twine and slip knots, which allows quick removal if I have to flip the bike to change a tube or tire, or adjust the brakes or derailleur.
One additional criticism of the canyon or any cruiser bike used for shopping. When I shopped off mountain bikes and cruisers, I found weight on the back lifted the front tire. This lack of weight on the front tire led to instability of steering. 2 mountain bikes and a cruiser threw me over the handlebars on my chin 2008-2018 before I bought the bodaboda. The front wheel would snap sideways on high pavement separators, a ridge of gravel, a speed bump, a stick. Then the seat would lift up and over I would go. The slowest when this happened was about 2 mph. The fastest was 25 mph, which broke my chin. If you do buy the canyon, buy her a helmet with a chin guard like my fox rampage. Wear substantial clothes on elbows and knees, and wear gloves.
As far as quality, the yuba arrived perfect in a double box (no dealer here) and spokes have not required adjustment in 11000 miles. Cable adjustment is much less frequent than my previous diamondback and pacific MTBs made of grey metal instead of steel. There are e-bikes sold with similarly troublesome components, example rad with 275 posts on known problems thread last time I looked.
One advantage of the shimano mid-drive versus the lower 3 bosch models: If you run down the battery or it is stolen, you do not have to drag the motor armature with your feet to ride unpowered. At my age I ride unpowered for exercise, limiting electricity to headwinds over 20 kph or hills over 8% grade. In winter I leave the battery in the garage under a heating pad.
A similar bike with a short known problems list and a slip clutch equipped mid-drive is the giant momentum pakyak. 31.5" seat height, 24" standover height. 24" wheels.
Happy shopping and later riding.