Coming up to the centenary of its entrance into motorcycle tyre production, Avon Motorcycle Tyres has reported a “successful year in 2009”, despite the UK suffering at the hands of a world-wide recession. The brand believes the breadth of its motorcycle tyre range, offering both performance and “value for money” oriented ranges, has helped it weather the storm. Speaking of storms, the brand closed the year by releasing a successor to its popular Storm ST family of sports-touring tyres at the International Motorcycle and Scooter show at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre, in November. The new Storm 2 Ultra builds on the performance of the Storm ST and, says Avon, improves upon it in a number of areas. Developed from the award-winning Storm ST tyre, the company says the new Storm 2 Ultra offers more mileage and improved grip in all weathers and road conditions. The company also signalled its intentions for the coming year with the announcement in December that it would Avon Tyres has announced that it will be utilising what it terms “eco-friendly” or “clean oil” in its tyres from 2010. According to the manufacturer, the new tyres will be “eco-friendly with no effect on grip and indeed, in the case of some high-performance range tyres, will actually have increased levels of grip.”