I’m looking for a folding bike and the two I’m considering most closely are the Tern Verge D9 and the Link D8.
I like that the Verge D9 has disc brakes and I have a strange attraction to its 451 wheels.
The Link D8 has a wider variety of compatibile tires but I don’t prefer V-brakes.
Do you know a strong reason to choose one over the other? A strong reason I should be looking at something else entirely?
Build quality to your opinion?
Excellent, but I haven’t really had any experience with other folding bikes, either.
The stock Schwalbe Big Apple tires are great. The rims, even after over 5,000 km, are still in perfect condition, and I use kool stop salmon pads. I did put a suspension seatpost for added comfort, and I recently changed the shifter to an older style friction shifter, since it’s my preference. And I also upgraded the cassette recently to a 34 tooth, which slightly benefits climbing ability.
I added a front rack as well as the luggage truss which allows you to attach all kinds of different basket and bag options.
It’s absolutely a head turner, and I get asked about it all the time, pretty much every time I take it out. People ask if it’s electric, and they want to know more about the folding bike and whatnot. It’s awesome.
But when compared to my road bike, or even my 90’s mountain bike, it is the slowest of the three. Which may not be a big deal for some, but it should be noted.
Excuse me but… how did you put a suspension post on that? The pics show a single continuous, long seat post. The suspension posts I’m aware of aren’t that long. Did you do some tube-in-a-tube expletive?
Thanks for all the info!
Great question. It’s fairly easy, but needs an extra component.
Tern has a product called the telescopic seatpost, which allows you to use more conventional 27.2 mm seatposts, since the telescopic post is in two parts (the lower half goes into the bike’s frame).
Then I got the Suntour SP12 NCX, and replaced the top half of the telescopic seatpost with that.
Installed and saddle, and that’s it.
It really helps to smooth out jolts, and find it much more comfortable when riding on a bike with smaller tires.
🤗
Beautiful, so they sell you the pipe to put the other pipe in. Nice. 😄 And yeah, I ride suspension post too. Kinekt in my case.
Awesome! They make a nice suspension stem, too.
Is the Suntour damped or just a spring?
It uses an internal (adjustable) spring, and the design allows the saddle to pivot back, rather than up and down. This keeps your leg length to the cranks the same throughout the motion.
It’s very comfortable, and almost no maintenance (you lube the spring every once in a while).
When I got it, it was just over $100, which was way cheaper than any of the other high end suspension posts. I think it’s gone up at least $50 since then, but that’s still a good value. LOL