Many Happy Returns

This year the Carlisle Tire and Wheel Company will reach the ripe old age of 90, but the company is showing itself to be remarkably sprightly for a nonagenarian. Founded in September 1917 in the small town of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the Carlisle Tire and Rubber Company, as it was then known, began life in an age when most people’s idea of an all-terrain vehicle was a donkey or a mule, and the tractors that were beginning to make their presence felt in the countryside ran on wide metal tyres. The idea of the quad bikes and ATVs, so much a part of the modern company’s product portfolio, still lay 50 years in the future.

The first products produced by the fledgling company were inner tubes, and before long the company had 30 employees producing car tyre inner tubes. Following tough times during the Great Depression and rubber shortages during and immediately after the Second World War, the company was re-formed as the Carlisle Corporation. The following year Carlisle produced their first tyres, initially specialising upon the bicycle market. In 1960 Carlisle produced its first industrial tyre, and eight years later the company entered the motorcycle tyre and tube market.

Around this time – in 1967 – Honda’s US operations asked the parent company’s R&D department if it would consider developing a product they could sell during the winter months when motorcycle sales slumped. The result was the US90, a three-wheeler with wide, chunky tyres. Introduced in 1970, this vehicle, later known as the ATC90, is widely recognised as the product that opened new doors for both outdoor work and recreation, and spawned a whole new tyre market segment.

These fast and fun off road vehicles created a lucrative new market for Carlisle, and over the years ATV and quad bike tyres have become increasingly important products, with sales talking off. In order to maintain sufficient production capacity for both ATV tyres and other products, Carlisle has acquired a number of other operations in the US and abroad. In 1993 Carlisle purchased a small wheelbarrow tyre factory north of Hong Kong, a plant that has developed into an integral part of the Carlisle organisation. In 2000 the company’s product range was furthered through the acquisition of a specialty tyre plant in the state of Tennessee, and in February of this year the company finalised its purchase of China’s Meiyan Tire, further strengthening its position as a producer of specialty tyres.

In this, the company’s anniversary year, Carlisle Tire and Wheel are releasing a number of additions to its ATV tyre range. The AT489 range is being expanded with the inclusion of 25, 26 and 27-inch offerings, all 6 ply radial carcass tyres with a .75-inch tread depth. And Carlisle add that if .75-inch isn’t enough tread depth customers should get ready for the new Mud Wolf, a range of tyres Carlisle claim are ‘as tenacious as the canines they are named after.’ With an open tread pattern designed to be self-cleaning, the Mud Wolf have a tread depth of more than one inch. Combined with a 6-ply radial carcass construction, the Mud Wolf should have what it takes to make light of rough going terrain.

Sales of ATVs appear to be healthy and growing despite some industry statistics that point to a dip in official US ATV sales figures – the Motorcycle Industry Council recorded 2005 ATV sales at 780,433 units, down from 812,970 units the year before. However these figures do not include low cost Asian imports, a market said to be growing by double digits. Furthermore, in other international markets continued ATV market growth of about 12 per cent is also being enjoyed. These figures are no doubt very welcome news for Carlisle Tire and Wheel, and leave the company in good shape as it starts counting down the years to its centenary.