STORY OF BONNIE TU – THE LEGEND WHO FOUNDED LIV CYCLING

pedalandtringtring

2 years ago

‘BONNIE’ is a documentary film about Bonnie Tu who founded the Liv Cycling brand fully dedicated to women. Bonnie Tu is working with Giant group since 1979 and currently the Chairperson of the Giant group. She is called the ‘God Mother of Female Cycling’ and sometimes, jokingly, a ‘Trouble Maker’.

In 2008, Bonnie started Liv Cycling – the world’s first and only comprehensive bike brand dedicated exclusively to women which has changed cycling forever.

Bonnie came to cycling very late in her life – at 57 she took cycling seriously.

A bicycle trip in 2007 with the Giant founder King Liu around the whole of Taiwan gave Bonnie an opportunity to discover the women’s bike world.

She did not have a bike and had to borrow from her company.

The bike she procured was not suitable to her needs and she compromised by wearing a Men’s jersey.

Getting into a cyclist’s shoes for the first time, she noticed a gap in the lack of availability of women specific bikes despite herself being a top executive in a bike company.

Why aren’t there bikes and merchandise designed for women riders?

She felt women around the world would be experiencing the same thing as her, and this problem needs to be addressed.

Bonnie thought, why not start a brand that would serve the women cyclists even though other brands are not doing it.

Bonnie decided to bring a change in the male dominated cycling sport and went on a mission of designing, engineering and creating women specific bikes along with her team.

“A women’s bike is not taking a men’s bike, shrink it and pink it, No! It’s about building a bike based on women’s geometry and designing everything with women in your heart” she says.

“It was a very brave step for Bonnie. It was always going to be less profitable in those early days because of the sheer manufacturing costs of developing those bikes. If you are going to make a carbon bike, you need a completely different mold. Bonnie had to stand up and defend why women deserve different bikes.” – Ian Beasant, Managing Director, Giant Group UK.

Cassandra Chou, Product Manager, Giant Group adds “You need extensive research and evidence to prove that you are correct, to convince those decision makers, who are men.”

Bonnie explains in the film “It was very easy for them to say, ladies you don’t need women’s specific bike, but we still need a bicycle that can fit us better.”

Cassandra further says “Women back then never considered walking into a bike shop, maybe 1 out of 20. And Bonnie wanted us to flip the situation.”

So, the Giant group under the leadership of Bonnie started a bicycle shop exclusively for women to create a welcoming space.

Rest is history as brand Liv went global adding presence in more countries in Europe, Australia, UK, America and rest of the world.

Bonnie intentionally formed an all-women’s team to drive the Liv Cycling project and focused on teaching cycling to new comers, assisting them with selection of right bikes, hosting events and building a community.

Liv ventured into competitive sports cycling and sponsored athletes in the first ever Tour de Femmes in 2022 and Bonnie cheered for the riders from the sidelines. Supporting road racing at the highest level was always a part of Bonnie’s vision for Liv.

“Sponsoring the White Jersey of the Best Young Rider Classification at the inaugural Tour de France Femmes was a perfect fit for Liv.”

“The White Jersey means the future. With the sponsorship of the White Jersey, we are demonstrating our commitment to women’s professional cycling and the future of the sport.”

She also went to France on invitation as a committed participant and at the age of 72, she rode on the actual course of Tour de Femmes in which the athletes were racing.

“When I received the invitation, I was so excited,” said Bonnie. “I decided to hire a coach and set a training plan. I spent months preparing for it, riding the same route virtually.”

Bonnie is a pioneer and she has also created an opportunity for all the women to develop into leaders and decision makers in the bike industry.

In her concluding remarks in the film, Bonnie says – Riding is a joyful experience. It is not important how fast you can go or how good your skills are, it is, can you enjoy the ride?