As a noob to eebs…. how does assistance work on these- is it proportional to effort, or is the full power for the assistance level provided as soon as you start a pedal stroke? I’m guessing that pedalling doesn’t really do. much, is this correct?
I ride a Tern GSD pretty regularly (it’s not mine, it’s a community bike, I’m one of the delivery riders).
The Bosch mid-motor gives 400% assistance (up to 15.5mph) so it’s pretty effortless. Never ridden the Trek but the Tern weighs about 35kg and on full turbo mode, it’ll leave road bikes for dead uphill, even with a load on board.
The solid “bucket style” panniers on the Trek look good – much as I love the Tern, the canvas panniers are sometimes a bit of a pain to cinch down properly, they need careful loading so as not to bulge awkwardly. Specialized have similar solid plastic “panniers” on their Vado range of e-bikes.