Tern outs aggressively styled street shredding machines

Tern outs aggressively styled street shredding machines

The RIP could become the ideal short distance commuter

Warren Rossiter/Immediate media

Published: March 22, 2017 at 6:00 pm

Tern bikes has built its reputation on making niche, clever folding bikes, expanded its range from folders to e-bikes and now, at the Taipei bike show, it’s showing a new range of aggressively styled affordable street machines designed in conjunction with Japanese design house Kitt.

Smaller sizes of the RIP come with 650b wheels (carrying fat 30c rubber). Above 54cm it switches to a more traditional 700c wheel - Warren Rossiter/Immediate media

The all-new Tern RIP is based around a sharp angled, aero styled butted aluminum frameset with clean graphics and super fat teardrop shaped main tubes with this 8-speed street machine.

Big tear drop shapes in the frame are for pure styling not aero reasons - Warren Rossiter/Immediate media

The simple single ring drivetrain comes with a chain guide in place for security and steep sharp angles for traffic busting agility.

Our short test ride around the Taipei shows demo day course certainly left us wanting more as the RIP felt more like a track-derived fixie than your typical flat-bar urban hybrid.

The narrow riser bar could be considered a bit hipster, but it works well with the bike's snappy handling - Warren Rossiter/Immediate media

The steep angles and narrow riser bar certainly make it a bike that’s imminently chuckable and a blast to ride quickly.

If Tern can bring this one in at an affordable price then the RIP could well become the ideal short distance commuter cum pub bike.

The single ring chainset comes with a chainguide mounted - Warren Rossiter/Immediate media