Kirkby Tyres stands out at refreshed LAMMA show

The NEC in Birmingham opened its doors to the well-known LAMMA agricultural equipment exhibition this morning (10 January 2023). Normally queuing round the large exhibition centre’s internal road system is a bit of a bind, but this year it was a harbinger of good news for exhibitors that have, in general, fought for visitor numbers to return to pre-pandemic levels – footfall appears to be very healthy.

The number of directly tyre-related exhibits at the show is somewhere around the half-a-dozen mark, but walk around the show and you quickly see that much of the industry was in attendance on a less formal level, with attendees ranging from those representing some of the biggest tyre manufacturer brands to relative newcomers as well as wholesalers too.

In alphabetical order, key direct tyre-related exhibits include ADR UK Tyremart Ltd, Air Seal Products Ltd, Apollo Tyres Ltd, Acenso Tyres, Brocks Wheel & Tyre, Farmers Tyre Ltd, Kirkby Tyres, Larrington Trailers – which was exhibiting a new tyre inflation system, Nordic Tyres that was showing both Nokian and CEAT branded tyres (and specifically the new Nokian Soil King VF 710/70 R42, which is expected to hit the market in the third quarter of 2023) and OKO Sales Ltd, which was promoting its UK-made tyre sealants.

However, while Apollo Tyres and Nordic Tyres both had substantial-sized stands showing their latest tyres and technology, Liverpool-based wholesaler Kirkby Tyres had the biggest tyre exhibit by some way. As well as its well-known BKT and Alliance products, Kirkby was giving renewed attention to the MRL brand, with a huge wall graphic drawing attention to the brand and a free-set-of-tyres giveaway drawing engagement. All of that was designed to draw attention to the new MRL MVF 600 range, which is MRL’s first ever VF tyre, and specifically the MVF 650/60 R38 on-stand. That tyre hits the market during the first quarter of the year, with Kirkby evidently building up stocks right away.

Kirkby displayed the new VF range alongside the RRT 770 Farm-Maxx 70 range of radial 70 series tractor tyres, the popular FLR 333 X-Power radial flotation application for agricultural trailers, the utilitarian GT 333 Maximus designed for agro-industrial applications and the RRT 650 MEGA SOL for tankers.

Trend towards automated inflation systems

And finally, automated tyre inflation systems were an interesting trend on new vehicles at this year’s show. As well as the new Larrington Trailers tyre inflation system, Tyres & Accessories spotted another example of that kind of technology on the Vredo stand. Here a 36m boom are 22 cubic metre tank, six wheel sileage spreader. Its optional tyre pressure adjustment system (called BDWS) is designed to assist minimal soil compaction by setting upper and lower pressure levels that the driver can switch between at the right moment.

What’s different about this system is that the pressure pipes are external to the wheel and visible to the eye. Vredo’s thinking is that the relative fragility of such an approach is negated by the fact that the boom arms extend further than the pressure system, even when folded in.

As well as the new Larrington Trailers tyre inflation system, Tyres & Accessories spotted another example of that kind of technology on the Vredo stand (Photo: Chris Anthony/Tyre Industry Publications Ltd)