INTERVIEW
How does Tern approach product design to ensure that utility doesn’t come at the cost of integration with public transit ecosystems? Public transport is the most efficient way to move large numbers of people over long distances. Period. But not everyone lives right next to a train station, and not everyone’s office is within walking distance of a bus station. This is why we’ve always valued bicycles that fold and can be taken aboard public transport. Each transport company has its own rules for how big or heavy a bike can be to be taken aboard - that’s why we’ve got a variety of different solutions - from lightweight folding bikes to semi-foldable compact cargo bikes. Most of our e-bikes have a special
feature we call Vertical Parking, which means they can be stood up on end and take up very little space, be that in a train car, an elevator, or a corner of an office.
Through your Good Werx philanthropic program, you commit at least 1% of your net profits annually to social and environmental causes. Can you talk us through the core philosophy behind this initiative? The program was named after our dear friend Thomas Losch of Velowerx, who recently passed away. He started as one of our Swiss dealers, who occasionally sent us curmudgeonly letters about how to improve our products. Over several years, we realised that he was frequently correct, and so we invited him to join our International Product Team. He held many strong opinions on how a bicycle should be designed. Example: “always design our parts to be serviceable”. This ethos lives on in all Tern products today. The Good Werx fund goes to organisations and causes
we consider important; these tend to be environmental and humanitarian. The last project Thomas was involved with involved donations of Tern cargo bikes to people in front-line areas of Ukraine. Although Tern is a business and needs to be profitable,
profit is not our only motive. We also believe that businesses can be sources of good.
How much of Tern’s internal R&D is dedicated to accessories versus the actual bikes? We don’t really think of our products separately as bikes or accessories. We think in terms of solutions to problems. Example: gas is expensive, and a family would like to send their kids to school by bike instead of driving the 2 miles to school and idling 15 minutes in a long line of cars at the school entrance. What is needed to allow this? Well, a safe bike that
48 | July 2026
can handle the weight of the kids and is easy to ride for both parents is important, of course. But what else? If you live in a cold, rainy area, as some of us do, then some sort of weather protection is important. Or if you want to use the bike for the weekly shop, can you open the panniers with a single hand while holding an infant or a grocery bag in the other? First and foremost, many of our team are customers. And
we live all over the world, so the daily problems we face are very diverse. So when we encounter a problem, we think about ways to solve that problem, whether it’s through a modification of the bike or a new accessory.
Looking at the wider horizon of the cycling trade over the next five to ten years, where do you see the next major shift occurring?
Lots of change is coming, and we’re all going to need to adapt.
One area for us to study is the difference between how auto dealerships and bike dealerships make money. Most bike dealerships make the majority of their money selling new bikes. How many have profitable service centres? Auto dealerships, in contrast, look very different financially.
One very large dealer informed me that their dealership earned only 30% of profits from new car sales, and the remaining 70% from service, financing, and certified pre- owned sales. We believe we need to learn more about these other potential profit streams from auto dealerships. Tern is setting up the programs to help dealers earn more from long-term, ongoing service and certified pre-owned sales.
For dealers interested in learning more about Tern, contact them at
james.parker@
ternbicycles.co.uk
www.bikebiz.com
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