The New Tern GSD Is the Best-Equipped Electric Cargo Bike
The Takeaway: The new Tern GSD pairs a stronger, extremely useful frame with top-notch components and cargo-focused features to form the most complete electric cargo bike on the market.
Bosch Cargo Line motor climbs every hill with ease
SR Suntour front fork improves the ride
New features include a remote locking kickstand, a rear brake light, and an Abus front wheel lock
Price: From $4,599 ($8,399 as tested)
Wheel size: 20 in.
Weight: 82.1 lb.
Range: 63 to 128 miles
Max assisted speed: 20 mph
When it came out in 2017, the original Tern GSD was one of the most useful e-bikes we’d ever tested. The new one is even better. The frame is stiffer, it can carry heavier loads, and there’s a 70mm suspension fork now, making the latest GSD (get stuff done) ride ultra smooth while carrying heavy loads.
Every model in the range gets the Bosch Cargo Line motor, with 85 Nm of max torque and extra support at low cadences to get you off the line. The cockpit features a high/low beam switch for the headlights and there’s even an always-on brake light that intensifies when you squeeze the Magura MT5 eStop levers. That’s just the beginning of a long list of improvements and design elements that will make you want to move some money around to put one of these machines in your garage.
Odds are you came here to get the lowdown on every new feature of the 2020 GSD, so we’ll lead with that. The performance and features of the $8,399 R14 earned it our Editors' Choice award, but we're even more excited by the $4,599 base model because Tern did an excellent job of maintaining most of the features across the three-bike GSD lineup. We’ll get into why the R14 model costs so much and whether it’s worth it shortly.
Frameset
The old GSD was already a solid, cargo-worthy bike, with a combination of round and rectangular tubing that boasted a 400-pound gross weight limit (rider and bike included). The new bike has wider, internally reinforced tubing, so the gross weight limit is up to 440 pounds. Tern slackened the seat-tube angle slightly so that the seat moves even further away from the handlebar as you raise it, increasing reach for taller riders—a smart update on a one-size frame. The new frame also has integrated lower decks that support heavy panniers and give passengers a place to rest their feet. There’s a dedicated trailer mount and, like the last bike, this one stands on its rear end to take up minimal floor space in apartments and garages.
Suspension Fork and Seatpost
The new GSD gets a SR Suntour suspension fork that was custom-tuned for Tern. It has preload and lockout dials for on-the-fly adjustments, and we found that the fork makes the bike much easier to control than the previous one while riding over chunky pavement and rooty tow paths. For your bottom, a Cane Creek suspension seat post damps vibrations and provides modest cushioning over bumps. You can even customize the seatpost suspension by swapping out the elastomer damper for firmer or softer options.
High Beams and Brake Lights
To make the GSD even more road worthy, Tern added a high/low beam headlight that peaks at 700 lumens for the R14 and LX models. The light is actuated by separate buttons on the left side of the handlebar: an on/off button and a high-beam button. The latter allows you to quickly flash the brights or leave them on. You can also adjust the angle of the light by hand, which is handy for not blinding drivers, other cyclists, or pedestrians.
Tern also equips every model with brake lights. They work regardless of whether you have the headlight and taillight switched on—squeezing the brake lever flickers the light on to alert nearby road users that you’re slowing down. This feature is a smart addition to road-going e-bikes—one that’s made possible by the brake light feature of Magura’s relatively new MT5 eStop brakes, so we hope to see it proliferate on other bikes soon.
Lockstand and Abus Lock
If you use your GSD to go shopping, you’ll want a stable and convenient kickstand and a method of securing the bike while you’re away from it. So Tern introduced the Atlas Lockstand, which automatically locks in place—simply stomp on one of the feet and push the bike backward to secure it. When you’re ready to ride, a lever on the handlebar unlocks it. It’s a slick and convenient mechanism, only marred by the fact that the feet aren’t far enough apart to keep the bike stable on off-camber surfaces. The bike can also tip over if you unload one pannier and leave the other pannier fully loaded—just don’t do that, alright?
On the fork, an integrated Abus wheel lock secures the front wheel and makes the bike unrideable when engaged. We’d still recommend an additional frame lock to prevent your GSD from ending up in the back of someone’s truck, but the sheer weight and size of the bike make it an unlikely short-term theft candidate for anyone without a big vehicle to put it in and the strength to lift it (as I learned hauling it up the stairs to my apartment). The key for the wheel lock stays in the keyway until you’re ready to lock the bike—just remember to take it with you because it’s also the key that removes the batteries.
Build-In Chain- and Wheel Guards
A rear wheel guard is essential for carrying kids, keeping their feet from going into the spokes. Most cargo bikes only offer them as an option, but Tern puts plastic guards on both sides of the rear wheel. And whereas the old GSD had a partial chain guard, the new one has a full metal chain guard to keep your feet away from the chain or belt.
Which Version Is Right for You
We got the range-topping GSD R14 for our test, effectively the Rolls Royce of the e-cargo space. It features two Bosch 500 watt-hour batteries for a combined 1,000 Wh—enough to go more than 60 miles on Turbo mode and up to 128 miles in the Eco setting. A big Bosch Intuvia display gives you easy-to-read metrics on speed, battery life, torque output, and the current gearing of the Rohloff E-14 internal geared hub, which is connected to the crank via a Gates CDX Carbon Belt Drive.
I wouldn’t splurge on the R14 because the in-between model, the GSD S00, gives you most of the features for $2,400 less. It comes with a single 500 Wh battery, although you can spend more to get a second one, and an Enviolo internal geared hub connects to the same Gates belt drive. The Enviolo hub offers a smaller gear range (380 percent to the Rohloff’s 526 percent) and isn’t quite as efficient, robbing you of a probably imperceptible amount of power and a minor amount of range. Where you’d want the Rohloff’s 14-gear range is during low-end grunt situations like hill starts, but the Bosch motor has so much torque that most of you won’t need the Rohloff’s smallest gears for anything but insanely steep grades. Apart from the hubs, number of batteries, and display (you get the smaller Bosch Purion on the S00), the bikes are identical.
The base-model GSD S10 starts at $4,599. A Shimano Deore Shadow+ drivetrain takes care of shifting and the battery is down to 400 Wh. If a low-maintenance belt drive is attractive to you—one you can shift while at a stop—go for the S00. Otherwise, the Deore Shadow+ drivetrain takes care of business and saves you a lot of money. The suspension seatpost and headlight that come on the R14 are options in the LX package for the S00 and S10; the LX package also ups the battery capacity to 500 Wh for the base-level S10.
Panniers and Accessories
The ability to accessorize a cargo bike to fit your needs is what makes it most useful, and few bikes have more available accessories than the GSD. You can fit multiple sizes of panniers; the largest, at 52 liters, will hold a week’s worth of groceries. For hauling big kids and adults, the new Clubhouse+ passenger enclosure provides a secure enclosure for carrying kids, and the Captain’s Chair add-on serves as an adult-sized rear seat. There are also front and rear racks, trays, baskets, straps, and more—find the full list on Tern’s website.
Tern GSD R14 Details
Motor: Bosch Cargo Line (85 Nm torque, 400% max assist)
Battery: Bosch dual-battery system, 1,000 Wh
Display: Bosch Intuvia
Fork: SR Suntour MobiE A32 Cargo, 70mm
Drivetrain: Gates CDX Carbon Drive Belt, Rohloff E-14 internal geared hub
Rims: Tern Atlas, 36mm wide
Tires: Schwalbe Big Ben Plus, 55mm wide (front), Tern x Schwalbe Super Moto-X 62mm (rear)
Seat post: Cane Creek suspension
Saddle: Tern comfort
Brakes: Magura MT5 eStop
The Ride
We received our GSD R14 only a few days ahead of the official launch, so what follows are initial impressions from a few trips to run errands. It’s an excellent bike. The 20-inch wheels and low-standover frame keep the weight close to the ground, minimizing the bike’s propensity to rock side-to-side when you make a sudden turn with added weight over the rear tire. The suspension fork makes the ride even smoother and the bike even easier to control when you encounter rough pavement or gravel.
The Bosch Cargo Line motor continues to impress, with enough grunt to carry us up an 8 percent grade at 15 mph with 40 pounds of groceries in the panniers. It’s also one of the smoothest torque-sensing pedal-assist systems on the market, eliminating the jerkiness you get from lesser drive systems.
The Rohloff E-14 hub is also very slick: Two buttons on the right side of the handlebar control up and down shifts through the 14 gears. Holding a button down for a moment shifts you through three gears at once, a handy feature for getting up to speed or snap downshifts when the road kicks uphill. There is a momentary dropoff in pedal assist while the hub is shifting; to me, it felt longer than the dropoff you get from comparable chain-drive systems like the Deore Shadow+ on the S10. By comparison, the Enviolo hub on the S00 has no dropoff while changing gear ratios and allows you to shift while at a standstill (although the Rohloff downshifts for you when you come to a stop). The benefit to the Rohloff is the wide gear range and renown durability under heavy load, but most GSD users will be satisfied with the Enviolo hub or Deore Shadow+ chain drive.
For day-to-day usability, we love that the adjustable stem and telescoping seatpost allow multiple riders to use the GSD without needing tools to dial in the fit. And vertical parking and the folding handlepost make it easy to fit in your living room or in an elevator.
Tern thought of just about everything while redesigning the GSD. If you’re in the market for a new cargo bike or kicking around the idea of a car replacement, this bike should be at the top of your shortlist.
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