Downes Tyre Service Ltd
Phone: +64 3768 5090
Tyres Brands: GT Radial, Dunlop, Goodyear, Falken, Mickey Thompson, Pirelli.
Address: 241 Main South Road, Paroa, Greymouth, West Coast.
▷ Dunlop Tyres
Dunlop Tyres History
Curiously, the story does not begin on four wheels; not even about two, but about three. In 1888 the founder of Dunlop, John Boyd Dunlop, noticed his young son, who was driving a tricycle with solid rubber tires on the cobblestones. He noted that the boy was not going very fast and that he did not seem very comfortable either. Trying to make his son ride more smoothly and maneuver better, Dunlop took the trike, wrapped the wheels in thin rubber sheets, glued them together, and inflated them with a soccer ball pump. In this way he created the first air damping system in history, and laid the foundation for the first proper tire.
Less than a year later, Dunlop’s invention made its racing debut on two wheels. By making it possible for a little-known racer to easily beat superior opponents in a series of bicycle races, thanks to the advantage that tires gave him, sporting competition immediately became a constitutive feature of Dunlop tradition.
Dunlop then patented the idea and began to refine his invention as a trading company, founding what would soon be known as Dunlop Pneumatic Tire Co. Ltd. In 1890 he opened his first tire factory in Dublin, and three years later the first in continental Europe, in Hanau (Germany). In 1895 Dunlop tires were also sold in France and Canada, and manufactured in Australia and the United States. By 1898 business had outgrown the Dublin base, and production moved to England, first to Coventry and then, in 1902, to a 400-acre site in Birmingham, later to be known as Fort Dunlop. In 1910 Dunlop planted the flag in Malaysia, establishing a 20,235 hectare rubber plantation. In 1913 the first Japanese tire factory opened in Kobe. In twenty years, Dunlop had made the solid tire obsolete and gone from pioneer to first global multinational company. It manufactured all over the world and sold all over the world.
Back to dunlop tyres nz
