This coming October marks 150 years since the founding of Continental, and things have come a long way in that time!
Originally started by nine entrepreneurs investing in a brand new technology, Continental has grown into a highly recognisable global brand with more than 233,000 staff and a presence in 59 countries and major markets.
As the official UK importer of their motorcycle and bicycle tyre range for more than 30 years, we’re proud to have been able to both share in and contribute towards this incredible success story too.
The Continental Caoutchouc & Gutta-Percha Company was founded in Hannover on 8th October 1871, a decade and a half before the production of the first automobile. The main factory based on Vahrenwalder Strasse produced things like rubberised fabrics for raincoats, hot-water bottles, and solid tyres for bicycles and carriages. In 1892 they would become the first company in Germany to produce pneumatic tyres for bicycles.
In 1875 the company adopted the famous horse logo from the City of Hannover coat of arms, and this has been a feature of the brand ever since.
At the start of the 20th century Continenal’s focus started to shift towards the emerging car market and in 1904 the company unveiled the first automobile tyre in history with a patterned tread. In 1908 they also invented the detachable rim for sedans, which made tyre changing quicker and easier.
But it wasn’t all about cars, as shown in 1909 when pioneer aviator Louis Blériot made history with the first flight across the English Channel, using Continental’s Aeroplan material drapes the wings and fuselage of his plane.
Fast forward to the early 1950s and Continental offered the first tyres in Europe specially designed for winter and freezing conditions, with their М+S rating. This mud & snow rating is now a feature of several modern day motorcycle products including the TKC 70, TKC 70 Rocks and TKC 80 Twinduro from their popular adventure range.
Continental have been producing motorcycle tyres for well over 100 years, following soon after the arrival of the Hildebrand & Wolfmüller motorcycle in 1894.
When it comes to motorcycle racing and motorsports in general, the brand have a long and illustrious history and have been involved in a number of firsts, including when Wilhelm Herz broke the 300kph barrier on his NSU Delphin in 1951.
Thanks to a number of strategic acquisitions the brand was a global player by the 1970s in the motorcycle market, and was even the #1 replacement brand in the USA the following decade, selling over 300,000 ContiTwin tyres alone.
In recent times Continental have poured a huge amount of resources into their R&D efforts, resulting in test winning tyres like the ContiRoadAttack 3, ContiTrailAttack 3 and ContiSportAttack 4 among others.
They’ve also developed a more sustainable form of rubber, extracted from Dandelions, and the new Urban Taraxagum is the first bicycle tyre in the world to use it.
The company is now about so much more than tyres, and their technology division is involved in the development of various AI systems for vehicles including motorcycles as they work towards Vision Zero, a world without accidents, fatalities and injuries on our roads.
