Originally Posted by Doug Fattic

A bicycle with a 24" front wheel and a 27" back wheel was a solution Bill Boston (a frame builder in New Jersey) came up with in the 1970's to solve the problem of toe overlap on smaller women's frames. Georgina Terry a small woman framebuilder herself took it up volume wise with a marketing man and a few extra Serotta frame builders to market a "women's bicycle" on a grander scale. This 2 wheel size bicycle became her brand's marketing image. Eventually her company got into saddles and women's clothing and the bicycles were made in Asia. The reason a 24" front wheel size was chosen was because they were somewhat common in children sized bicycles. Later on 650C wheels began to be imported into the US and 2 of those on one bicycle made a lot more sense and looked better than 2 different sizes.

Other brands in the 80's copied this design if they wanted to have a women's bike line. Racers that turn by leaning don't think toe overlap is a problem but someone making a slow turn by turning their handlebars will likely end up on the ground if their feet hit the front wheel. Two wheel sizes is a good but ugly solution and requires carrying 2 spares. Bill Boston and Georgina Terry were not idiot framebuilders and both realized that avoiding toe overlap by designing a small frame with a steep seat angle and shallow head handle neither fit most small women's bicycle position well nor handle particularly well either. Georgina (who was about 5'1" and had polio as a kid) specialized in fitting smaller women and designed her frames around that position. When she started their weren't MTB (559) or 650C (571) wheels as possible solutions to the too big 700C front wheels.