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Georgena Terry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Georgena Terry is an American bicycle designer and businesswoman who began the first women-specific bicycle company, Terry Precision Cycling, in 1985.[1][2]

Biography

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Raised in Alabama in the United States, she gained a degree in mechanical engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University and worked at Westinghouse Electric’s nuclear services division during summer breaks. While working at Xerox Corp in Rochester she began making bicycle frames for friends.[3] The bicycles were hand-built with frame geometries and wheel sizes designed to better fit women, and her business grew rapidly from 20 bicycles in 1985 to 5,000 in 1987.[4]

She developed and patented a design of bike saddle specifically for women in 1991[5] and handlebars with reduced diameter to suit people with smaller hands in 1994.[6] The saddles featured the now-common cut-away centres[7] and Terry now produces ergonomic saddles for both men and women.[8]

References

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  1. ^ Olmsted, Allison. "May Is Bike Month: How About A Brand Just For Women?". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-08-09.
  2. ^ Susi (2012-07-04). "6 Questions for Women's Bicycling Pioneer Georgena Terry". velojoy. Archived from the original on 2012-08-25. Retrieved 2019-08-09.
  3. ^ "When it comes to bikes, Georgena Terry thinks big". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2019-08-09.
  4. ^ Brown, Paul B. (1987-06-01). "Spokeswoman". Inc.com. Retrieved 2019-08-09.
  5. ^ US 5165752, Terry, Georgena, "Bicycle saddle for women", published 1992-11-24 
  6. ^ US 5524506, Terry, Georgena, "Handlebar for a bicycle", published 1996-06-11 
  7. ^ "11 of the best women's saddles — how to choose the right one for you". road.cc. 2019-06-30. Retrieved 2019-08-09.
  8. ^ "The cyclist's tight spot". Los Angeles Times. 2007-04-09. Retrieved 2019-08-09.