How Terry’s Cycle came to be.
Terry or TC as he is also kn got his start in the bicycle world in 1971 when he went to work for his father in-law at Western Auto. Remember them? This where he learn the in and outs of bicycles. Working on 2 speed kick back hubs and three speed Strumey-Archer hubs where he is still the master today. Terry was around for the 10 speed bike boom and the BMX craze and even the introduction of the mountain bike in the mid eighties. Terry was instrumental in getting the Ithaca Jailhouse Trail project started, helping with the Heartland Trail and on the board to help make downtown Alma more bicycle friendly.
Terry’s Cycle open in 1989 when Terry’s father in-law retired and closed the Western Auto. Seeing that here was a need for quality bicycle sales and service business in downtown Alma he opened in November of 89. Original location was on Superior Street that was a 1200 square foot retail area. After bursting at the seams at the old location we moved to our current store front of 5000 square feet.
Napper worked at a couple of USA Cycling junior camps as a mechanic. Then in late 1997 he left Terry’s for once in lifetime opportunity to work for a professional cycling team. That team was Volvo/Cannondale Mountain Bike Racing Team. We he worked as a team mechanic for three season then the last two seasons as the Head Mechanic. During his tenure he worked with professional cyclist the earn National Titles, World Cup Titles, World Champions and even an Olympian that earn a Bronze in the Sidney Summers Games in 2000. Also the Volvo/Cannondale was the number one team in the world for mountain bike racing in 1999, 2001, and 2002.
In 2005 Napper came back to Terry’s Cycle as a co-owner. Just recently he finished a frame building class and started to make bicycle frames.
