The origin of the Gangster Whitewall

When Harley Davidson was starting to build up sales momentum in the 1980’s there was also an increased interest in nostalgia.

I was prompted by a friend, who was an Indian collector and enthusiast, to see if Avon would consider building an H speed rated whitewall tire. At the time the only wide whitewall motorcycle tire was made by the Coker Tire Company.  They were marketed toward machines that were mainly for display. Goodyear had long ceased production of their whitewall, which had been a favorite of the Harley crowd.

 I asked the Export manager at Avon if they would build such a tire, and I wanted it based on Avon’s old style Roadrunner Universal. This way only one tire would be needed as it could be used on both front and rear applications.  Every time I asked he would tell me how difficult it was to make as the entire production for whitewalls would have to be done differently.

Normally, in the automotive world, when a whitewall is being built they lay down a strip of white rubber on the sidewall then cover it with a layer of black rubber on top. After the tire is pressed (molded) they buff down through the black to the white layer. The problem with an H speed rated motorcycle tire is the side walls are too short and by the time all the necessary legal information is printed on the side, there is no room for a whitewall to buff down to it. 

As a result the Gangster is made with the whitewall having all the lettering in the white. Therefore the tire goes through the factory after it is built, with the white exposed to all types of contamination and any contaminated tires need to be scrapped, increasing the cost.  It took me 4 YEARS of hounding them to get it built.

When we launched the tire it was an immediate success and we were behind 2-3,000 tires for over two years. All of these tires were to come to the US only. In England they put a set on a bike and went out to take photos and when they rode it back to the factory a guy was following them and would not leave until they sold him the tires off the bike. The crazy thing was we were selling tires back to England and France and they were being sent by air.

One time when I was at Harley’s headquarters in Milwaukee they said to me if Avon ever came up with any unique concept they would consider buying tires from Avon.  Here is where the fool in me comes out. I was at Harley on another issue and pulled a Gangster whitewall section out of my bag to ask them what they thought. There was immediate enthusiasm and then they got very subdued saying they would need to consult the design department. Don’t know what I was thinking because as soon as I was out the door I know they called Dunlop and asked for a wide whitewall. The good news was it took Dunlop two years to get it to market which gave Avon two years with no competition.

What was interesting was the Dunlop was technically illegal. They chose the buff down method and the lettering was too small. When the Department of Transportation was notified their response was: “You are contacting us about a labeling infraction? We do not have the time or resources to enforce this problem, but don’t you do it.”

After about four years into production we got a consumer letter condemning the use of the name ‘Gangster’ saying we were hurting motorcycling’s image. Some how I think they missed the concept that this was a nostalgia thing that had the look of the car tires of the 1920’s when gangsters were in their heyday.

So there you have it.  Max’s tale of how the Avon “Gangster” came into play!  The Avon Gangster tyre is still available.  See www.avonmoto.com for a dealer nearest you!!

Harley's Sport Bike

While working for Avon Tyres, it had put me in contact with some really great people and some interesting situations. Prior to the development of the European Economic Community, the German government had a TUV standard that tires had to pass; today it is the ECE75.  This was because of the high speeds that could be obtained and sustained on the Autobahn. 

In Europe, the motorcycle manufacturers also recommended specific tires for replacement on each model. Therefore, every year the bike and tire manufacturers would get together to test tires. Harley was just starting to sell quite a few more bikes in Europe and at Avon we were having clearance problems with some model tires rubbing on certain model Harleys.

All the tire manufactures made tires in compliance with the ETRTO (European Tire and Rim Technical Organization) which gave the industry some standards for both the tires and the motorcycle manufacturers. However Harley was not going by the rules for the “tire envelope” and parts of the bike were contacting the tires.  Harley had a meeting Milwaukee to discuss this problem. 

So there I was, sitting in this very fancy  meeting room waiting for some of the engineers and the first thing I noticed was that there was a noise coming from the floor above us that sounded like someone was moving boulders around on steel wheeled carts. One of the guys said it was the engine painting department.  He went on to say that the EPA wanted to shut them down but they were “grandfathered in’. I was anticipating someone falling through the ceiling during our upcoming meeting!.

The same guy then says to me, before the meeting started, “What do you ride?”.  I responded “I ride a sportbike’.  At the time I was riding a new Honda CBR600F2 but did not disclose what I owned.  He then responded “Oh, we have a Sportbike!”  

I was familiar with their line of bikes and it was before they owned Buell so I am sitting there running down the list in my mind and not coming up with anything and he adds…..”The Sportster”.           “Oh right” I responded.

One needs sometimes to look back on history because there was a day when the Sportster came out that it was the fastest thing on the street. But times have changed - but the Sportster?  Not too much.

Sportster Then

Sportster Now

Stay tuned for information about "The Britten"!!

And, don't forget, you can know look up your Ventura Motorcycle Dealer on a Map online at www.ventura-mca.com!  Until next time!

Reflections of Harley Davidson during the AMF ownership days. . .

There was a time I worked in a Kawasaki shop that had been purchased by two guys who owned the local Harley-Davidson dealership.  They ended up putting the two dealerships together. The absentee owners put the fellow who had almost bankrupted the HD shop in charge. Yes this was a formula for disaster, and it eventually went under, but it was interesting for a time.

When I first started to work at the shop, I had a good look at the bikes.  My immediate reaction was ‘agricultural’; but Harley has changed a lot since then. Combining the parts departments of the two into the new building was a little eye opening for me. 

First, there really are no obsolete HD parts.  When I started to put overstock parts on an empty shelf in the back, the ‘man in charge’ had a fit. He said it was his shelf and he was going to need it. ‘What for?’ I asked. He said for ‘recall parts’.  He said every year they had a recall and this  was going to be for the replacement parts. That year there were two recalls. One was for the ignition switch on twin tank models – which would burst into flames; and the second was for brake rotors that would break and bind up in the calipers. Scary stuff!

But it was the customers that made it interesting. This was before all the yuppies got into the ownership game, so it was all ‘hard core’ people. Once a couple (in their twenties) came in and he was looking at the bikes and she was looking at the stuff in the glass display case. This attractive young lady had me dragging out all the HD branded stuff. At that time you had to practically give away anything that said Kawasaki on it, so I figured it would not sell either.  I was dead wrong.  I need to mention this was mid-week and they were the only customers in the shop. She calls her boyfriend over and there is a little private conversation and he tells me that if I will give her the HD panties, she will put them on right here in the parts department. Thanks but no thanks. 

Then there was the mid 30’s couple that can in.  He had this big bushy mustache and looked like a linebacker. She was a pretty long haired blonde about half his size.  Her choice of clothing was a T-shirt that said “Professional Mustache Rider”.

It’s good to know that while some things change, some never do.  I’ll let you figure out which is which!