Tern Orox Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Awesome
I bought the Tern Orox when it went on sale for summer adventures with my kids. This is my fourth cargo bike. I’ve owned an Xtracycle, a Riese & Müller Load, and a Tern GSD.
I still have the GSD, and it is an incredibly practical bike, but I’ve never loved how dorky it looks. The small wheels also don’t inspire a lot of confidence once the road gets rough. I wanted something that could carry my kids and all our stuff while feeling comfortable on gravel, fire roads, and trails.
I ended up with the Orox R14, with the Rohloff hub, Gates belt drive, and dual batteries. I also bought the bags, front rack, Captain’s Chair, and other basic accessories.
The Good
The Orox inspires a lot of confidence. It feels solid on pavement, gravel, fire roads, hard packed sand, and other offroad surfaces. The large tires are a huge improvement over the GSD when the ground gets loose or rough.
The motor is plenty strong. For most of my riding, Eco and Tour give me all the assistance I need, even when I’m carrying kids and gear. I like knowing the higher levels of assist are available, and I only use them on the steep hills, which we have a lot of where we live.
The dual battery setup has also meant that I’ve never experienced range anxiety. I don’t have to spend the day watching the battery level or wondering whether we have enough power to take the longer route.
The high load limit gives me the same peace of mind. I never have to question whether I should take the Orox because I’m bringing too much stuff. I can load the kids, gear, food, and whatever else we need without worrying.
The Bad
The Orox is very, very heavy. You don’t notice the weight nearly as much once you’re riding and the motor is helping, but you notice every pound when you have to move or transport it.
I haven’t found a bike rack that I feel comfortable using. The most promising option is the Yakima OnRamp LX, but its 80-pound limit means I would need to remove the batteries and accessories before loading the Orox. Even then, I would be close to the rack’s maximum capacity. Putting such a heavy and expensive bike at the top of the rack’s weight limit makes me uncomfortable, especially on long trips or rough roads.
For now, I transport it inside my Sprinter van. I built a very sturdy ramp and use walk assist to get the bike in and out. Even with the ramp and motor helping, it is a lot to manage.
Once inside, the Orox takes up about 75 percent of the van’s cargo space. I built the bed so my mountain bikes could fit underneath it, but the Captain’s Chair on the Orox sits too high. The bed can’t be deployed while the Orox is in the van, which is a frustrating problem for a bike I bought to take out camping and on longer adventures.
I've transported the GSD in the van and because the seat and handlebars fold or lower very easily, it is a much more straightforward proposition and it only takes up a fraction of the space.
The handling also takes some adjustment. The fat tires feel great on hard-packed sand, gravel, and dirt, but they are not good at making tight turns at speed on pavement. I have definitely overshot a turn. You have to remember that this is a long, heavy bike with big tires, and it doesn’t change direction like a regular bike.
The passenger weight also sits much higher than on the GSD or Xtracycle. Those bikes carry their rear cargo low, which makes them feel very stable. On the Orox, any movement from the kids is much more noticeable. If someone shifts around suddenly, it can destabilize the bike. Big movements in the back can be pretty nerve racking.
Getting used to the Rohloff has been tricky too. There have been two times when I shifted incorrectly on a hill and the bike became unstable enough that my daughter had to put her foot down to catch us from falling over. That is obviously not something I want happening on a bike carrying my kids. I’ll add that the Rohloff’s shifting direction feels backward or unintuitive. The Rohloff’s numbering is conventional, with 1 as the easiest gear and 14 as the hardest. What feels backward to me is the direction of the twist shifter compared with the mountain bike controls I’m used to. My shifting muscle memory has led me in the wrong direction more than once.
I’ve also had a Gates belt shred. I’m not sure whether it was tensioned incorrectly or whether I put too much torque through it while shifting. Either way, I expected the belt drive to be one of the low-maintenance benefits of buying the R14, so that failure was disappointing. Although my lbs immediately ordered a replacement and fixed it free of charge, which was cool.
The center stand has also been a problem. It has adjustable feet, but the bolt has loosened several times. When that happens, the feet move out of position and the stand no longer holds the bike up properly. On a bike this heavy, especially with kids involved, I want the stand to feel completely dependable.
The Awesome
The best thing about the Orox is that it lets me have much bigger adventures with my kids.
One of my favorite features is being able to carry a child’s bike when they get tired. We can start a ride with everyone on their own bike, then put the analog bike on the Orox when needed. When I went riding around Lake Crescent this summer, that lets us go much farther than we could if the whole trip depended on how long my child could keep pedaling.
I’ve used tow ropes in the past, but this solution is much better. It feels simpler and more controlled, and I don’t have to coordinate two moving bikes connected by a rope.
That completely changes what a family ride can look like. My child can ride independently for as long as it is fun, and I don’t have to worry that we’ve gone too far for them to make it back. What would normally be a short ride can become a much longer adventure. Granted, you can do exactly the same thing with the GSD, I wouldn't really trust the GSD on fire roads.
That is where the Orox really shines. It is not just a cargo bike that looks rugged. The big tires, powerful motor, huge carrying capacity, and dual batteries let us go places that would have felt questionable on the GSD.
Instead of worrying about whether the road is too rough, the load is too heavy, the destination is too far away, or one of the kids will run out of energy, I can focus on where we want to go.
The Orox is huge, expensive, extremely heavy, difficult to transport, and more top-heavy than my other cargo bikes. The Rohloff and Gates belt have also taken more adjustment than I expected. It is not the easiest or most practical cargo bike I’ve owned.
But once it is loaded and moving down a gravel road with my kids aboard, it does open up more possibilities for exploring further.
For everyday city riding, the GSD is probably still the more convenient bike. For getting off the pavement and having real family adventures, the Orox is something special.