Bike brand Tern, popular for their electric urban and cargo bikes has today announced the newest addition to its stable: the Orox. It is designed to be an “adventure cargo” bike, which essentially means it has a powerful Bosch Performance Line CX motor, large volume tyres and the ability to carry a lot of stuff. You can read more about how it rides in our first ride review. The Orox models will start at £5,900 so at the premium end of the e-cargo world.
Whether the world needs something like this remains to be seen. From first glance, perhaps it could be of use for National Trust areas and maintenance teams in the UK. But it might be something that's more of use in places like the US where they have a bit more wilderness to explore. If you want to see what sort of bikes it's up against (albeit with a pinch of salt), read our guide to the best electric cargo bikes.
The Tern Orox
Tern bikes have long been a popular and reliable option for those looking to invest in ditching the car and using bikes as alternative transport. With bikes like the Tern GSD, HSD and so on, they’ve made carrying anything from kids to fridges possible. Now, they’re targeting the world of off-road.
Tern Team Captain, Josh Hon commented on the launch: “We love seeing all the amazing things people are doing with the GSD in crowded cities. But we also realized that there are plenty of places people want to go that are unpaved. And they want to bring their gear. For those trips, we made the Orox.”
When you think off-road and carrying things you may think of bikepacking. In the UK, at least. So mounting points for lots of bags, wide tyres and comfortable geometry. For Tern, they’ve taken this principle and boosted it with a Bosch Performance Line CX motor, and the option to use Bosch’s DualBattery (two batteries) which can accommodate up to two 800Wh batteries.
Running both 800Wh batteries gives a claimed range of 300km+, although we’d suggest exercising caution with that figure it you’re planning on fully loading the bike. If you’re wondering what that black bag in the mid-frame is, it’s the frame pack which houses the batteries and keeps them safe from water and dirt.
Off-road capabilities
It comes with 180kg carrying capacity off-road (or 210kg on-road), and the ability to change the forks to suit different wheel sizes. You can choose between 26in, 27.5in or 29in. The tyre width depends on the wheel size, but the 26in comes with a 5in tyre, just for reference. That’s pretty fat, and would likely only be needed in extreme conditions.
Interestingly, Tern has gone for a rigid fork – the reason for this is that Tern says there is “no suspension fork rated to 180kg MGVW for off-road use.” The benefit of this is that there’s extra room for storage solutions. Tern has included 14 braze-ons for “additional cargo customisation.”
Gearing wise and there are two models of the Orox to choose from: the R14 which uses Rohloff’s 14-speed Speedhub and a Gates belt drive, or the S12 which uses a 12-speed Shimano Deore XT groupset.
Both models come with Magura 4-piston hydraulic disc brakes, with 203mm rotors. You also get to choose from two frame sizes: medium, which fits riders from 155cm and above, and large, which fits riders up to 195cm.
The bikes start from £5,900 and bikes should arrive in Europe and North America in April, with the rest of the world following later on this year. If you want to get a better picture of the bike, read our first ride review or head to the Tern website.
