When Bonnie Tu stirred the leaders of the largest bike manufacturer in the world to start a women-only brand, males dominated cycling as a sport and industry. It was decades before there was a Tour De France Femmes. And women most often made do with smaller versions of men’s bikes and cycling gear.
Not only was cycling and manufacturing male-dominated, but her Taiwanese culture also placed males at the top of the value chain. In this video, Tu, an only child, states, “My grandma always asked my father to get a second wife in order to bear him a son.”
At 57, Tu became the CFO and executive vice president of Giant Group (Giant Bicycles). Shortly thereafter, Tu rallied the few women at Giant Group to start a women’s-specific cycling brand.
In 2008, Liv Cycling was born. From a humble retail store, Liv became a staple of the industry. And it was a dominant force in forming women’s professional racing into what it is today.
“BONNIE” shows that the namesake of the movie is the stuff of legend.
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