Cambrian Tyres

As you all know, Cambrian Tyres is based in Mid Wales, in Aberystwyth, right smack-bang in the middle of the principality and situated right on the coast. Five minutes gentle stroll from the offices and we can be sat enjoying a Mr Whippy on the sea front looking at all the students enjoying themselves on the beach. Sometimes they later wash up on Borth beach, but that only tends to be after a good storm.

There is a certain diversity to the riders at CT so I will go through them one by one. Starting at the top.

The boss

He has a huge office, it’s full of football things and has really deep carpet.

He has a selection of bikes but mostly he rides either his KTM 990 Adventure or his Ducati Multistrada and he rides in to work on a daily basis. His background is in enduro riding and when he gets on topic there is no shutting him up. And his passion for football is quite staggering. He has a collection of bobble hats that is second to none.

Mathew Leeman… Sales Manager.

His biking history goes back so far that some of his bikes wheels were hewn from the very rock itself. He currently rides a Triumph Tiger and owns a very nice and clean GPZ1100 twin shock (I personally think it would look better matt black and with less seat, but there is no accounting for taste). And like the Chumbawumba song… He gets knocked down, but he gets up again!

Owen Phillips… (No idea what his title is as he does so many things during the day, but to us he’s just Bob)

After a rather major bike accident where he practically folded a car in half, Owen has doggedly stuck to riding and currently owns and rides a very nice Thundercat. But because of the accident he is now looking to trade it in for something more suitable as he does find it uncomfortable to ride for prolonged periods.

Paul Rose… Purchase Manager

Paul is another of the CT riders with a biking history that goes back further than he probably would care to mention but his first was an FS1E! I can remember desperately trying to keep up with him and Dave on a ride out. Dave was on his Harley and Paul was on an old GT 550 and I really could not keep up with them. They both seem to lose all common sense when riding. Anyway, Paul now rides a Transalp and has an XT 250 in bits in the garage as a project bike.

Dave… Head of Conti Technical

Dave cut his biking teeth on Honda CJ 250 T and then after numerous bikes and various run-ins with the law he’s ended up with a Harley that is very heavily modified and a Honda XR 400 for when he likes to terrorise the local wildlife up in the mountains. Having worked on and around bikes pretty much all of his working life, Dave is a sure bet if you’re stuck for any technical info on a Bike. Also a sure bet for chat about coffee, VW Caddy’s, fishing, cats, his dogs, anybody else’s dogs, music….

Jen… Bikers Club Liaison Officer type person

Jen joined the CT fold after years down in the badlands of south Wales, and it shows. There is a wild streak to Jen and it’s helped by the aggressive style of her new bike, her beloved 796 Hypermotard. Jen has had an impressive list of bikes over the years including a Bandit 1200 and a 900 Hornet. Jen has red bits in her hair. It looks kinda cool.

Rhodz… Head of Collections (And not debt collections, he’s not an enforcer)

Rhodz, Rhodz, Rhodz… Not a lot you can say about Rhodz without feeling the need to have a wash afterwards. Not saying he’s dirty, not at all, but… Nope, not going to say anymore, I will leave it up to your imagination.

He currently rides a GSX750W but learned on the fields at home on an old Vespa which he is regretting selling. His next bike will be another Vespa. He’s the CT token Scooter Boy.

Bryn Phillips… Head of being the re-new boy

When I asked Bryn for a brief potted history of his bikes I got a list as long as your arm. And to list them all would take to long, so I will give you a brief run down:-

Norman/James 200 Scrambler

Honda PC50

Honda ST70

Triumph T110

Yamaha RD250C

Yamaha RD400C

Yamaha XS650

Honda CX500

Honda CB750KZ

Yamaha RD350LC

Suzuki GSX750EX

Yamaha TY175

Kawasaki GPZ600

Honda XBR500

Harley 883 Sportster

Honda Africa Twin

Suzuki Goose 350

KTM Duke 620

Honda Africa Twin (again)

KTM Duke II 640

Honda CB1100 X-11

KTM950SM

Suzuki GSX-R1000K9

Triumph Tiger 1050

(The Boss wants to know how many of these were sold on without crash damage?)

He says there are gaps in his memory (also had a number of crashes so we will let him off) so there are quite a few missing off the list. He’s a walking encyclopaedia of fitment information.

Keith… Head of credit cards

Used to ride, now doesn’t apart from the odd track day and as a pillion on the back of Paul’s Taxi-Transalp. And if you had seen him, you would understand why. He’s ever so slightly bonkers and has really shaky hands.

Me, Richard… Head of writing stuff and marketing

I like to think of myself as the cultured one here, and by that I don’t mean cultured like a yoghurt. I tend to buck the Cambrian tend by preferring to read of an evening and things like that (ooo get me!). Anyway, my first bike was a brand spanking new Fazer 600, I had that for a while then had a Suzuki Freewind which unfortunately, I had to use mostly on motorway commutes and it was a donkey. Then had a break from bikes but went back and got a Bandit 1200, then a BMW Funduro and I am now on a Yamaha XT660 Z Tenere and I have an old MT 500 Armstrong in a shed waiting for me to re-wire it. I like singles.

Toni… New deputy head of Purchasing.

Now, not many of our customers will have spoken to Toni as she works in the back ground doing technical stuff and other jobs that are sometimes beyond our meagre IT skills. She actually has a degree too! Bit scary that. Toni does not however ride and we are trying ever so desperately to educate her in the ways of the bike. She has been on the back of one though (With Paul on a ride out) so that sort of counts. She’s from South Wales and speaks funny… Flu is pronounced Flehoooooo. (It’s really hard to do South Walian phonetically!). She now assists Paul in the purchasing department of CT Towers and is getting to know the manufacturers and their lovely little idiosyncrasies that we all know and love so well.

Supported by a willing and able team in the admin office and a worthy bunch of fellows down in the warehouses Cambrian Tyres is the quiet giant of the motorcycle tyre world. As you can see it’s staffed by bikers and run with bikers in mind. We talk to bikers on a daily basis and because of that, we know what makes them tick. It’s usually daft humour mixed with a modicum of bad language from time to time, but it’s how we roll here too.

I will try to keep you up to speed with the goings on here at CT towers, some of them may be factual some of them may be entirely made up for your dubious pleasure…. Enjoy.