Motorcycle tires have come a

long way since the days of this

1914 Harley-Davidson now on

display at the Western Reserve

Auto-Aviation Museum in

Cleveland. The new Sports Stud

tire, for off-road competition, is

nearly dwarfed by the vintage

street tire.

tread.

the blue streak, incidentally, was

in the middle of the

Occasionally we receive an in-

teresting paper from one of the

branch industries of the motor-

cyclebusiness. The tire and rub-

ber industry has become in-

creasingly harmonious with

present day motorcycle activity.

The epilogue of the motorcycle

tire's history has been virtually

absent from the general body of

motorcyclists. The past decades

of motorcycle evolution and its

subsidiary, racing, have been in-

strumentalin design and tire de-

velopment. Motorcycle racing

has been the main testing

ground to provide the propellant

that has lead to the design of

modern motorcycle tires. This

article, the history of racing

tires, is a study of past environ-

ment that has lead to the design

of today's modern motorcycle

tire.

American motorcycle racing tires may

have been born back in the World War I

era of the Red Baron, but brother, since

their rebirth, they’ve sure been shooting

down the best that Europe has to offer.

In only 5 V2 short years, Yankee racing

rubber has risen from non-existence to

dominance in the professional series, run

for riches on the paved road courses.

In 1967 and '68. all the winners of

American Motorcycle Association paved

events rode American racing tires. After

50 years of unchallenged European su-

premacy, the U.S. cycle racing tires have

bridged a couple of generation gaps.

The renaissance on this side of the

Atlantic dates back to 1963 when Har-

ley-Davidson. the only American motor-

cycle manufacturer, asked Goodyear to

develop a racing tire — and pronto.

The first competition design came off

the drawing board in December of ’63

Five designs and five years later, the tires

have reached a point where, according to

racing tire designer Vito Caravito, "we’re

past the basic designing stage and down

to the refining stage. Instead of worrying

about seconds on lap times, we’re con-

cerned now with fractions of a second.

"We were under one heck of a lot of

pressure," recalls Caravito, "because we

were the only American company to

challenge the European racing tire

builders."

Goodyear's Racing Division still is the

only organization in the U.S. devoting

effort to the highly specialized subject of

cycle racing rubber.

When Goodyear went racing in 1910,

several major U.S. motorcycle makes

were in competition including Excelsior

(Schwinn), Harley-Davidson and Thor.

Then motorcycling racked up a big

"first." No automobile racing tire — that

is, no special design for racing — had

been produced prior to the 1910 motor-

cycle Blue Streak tire, the grand daddy of

racing tires, introduced by Goodyear.

The special U.S. racing tire was an

instant success, and by 1913 all profes-

sional and amateur world records for

motorcycles had been established by...