"The right tire changes everything" is the Michelin tag line today, but the world's largest tire company began as a toy manufacturer in early 1800's France. They produced a new sensation: the rubber ball.
Michelin Tires
In the late 1800's, after spending 3 hours trying to fix an early pneumatic (air filled) bicycle tire, and realizing they could make a huge improvement on the existing product, Michelin started creating bicycle tires. By 1891, they had patented a bicycle tire that didn't need to be glued on, cutting the time to change a flat to just 15 minutes.
Soon, the automobile was taking over transportation, and Michelin was inventing new ideas for automobile tires. Today's modern Radial Tires are an example of their innovation. They also pioneered the use of dual tires on trucks to gain more load capacity, highway signs, and the road atlas.
The Michelin Man
The Michelin Man is one of the most recognized corporate symbols in the world. It came about in 1898 as one of the company founders walked past a stack of tires outside the Michelin booth at a trade fair commented, "Give it arms and legs and it would look like a man." An illustrator came up with the original drawing.
Michelin Tires today
Michelin is everywhere and in every tire category. The space shuttle landed on Michelin tires. Riverside Tire Center doesn't carry tires for the space shuttle, but we do carry Michelin car tires, SUV tires, mini-van tires, light truck tires and medium truck tires, off road tires, sport tires and RV tires.
Click here to visit Michelin Tire Website.
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