The Michelin brothers: the flat bicycle tyre that started Michelin

In 1889, two brothers take over a small rubber factory in Clermont-Ferrand, in the middle of France. Édouard Michelin runs the factory. His older brother, André, is an engineer in Paris.

The story goes that one day a cyclist comes to the factory with a flat tyre. In those days, a bicycle tyre is glued to its wheel. To fix a hole, you must pull the whole tyre off.

The brothers help him, and it takes hours. The glue must also dry. Édouard thinks: a rider cannot do this alone, by the side of a road. What if a tyre could come off the wheel and go back on, with no glue?

In 1891, Michelin makes it: a removable tyre. A rider can take it off, fix the hole and put it back alone, by the side of the road.

That same year, a racer, Charles Terront, rides the long race from Paris to Brest and back on Michelin tyres. He gets flat tyres on the way, and he still wins.

The brothers know one thing very well. Every kilometre takes a little rubber off a tyre. One day it is worn out, and the rider buys a new one. So the further people ride, the more tyres Michelin sells. New tyres bought to replace worn ones are called the replacement market.

Then come cars. In 1895, the brothers race a car on air-filled tyres, the first car ever to do it. It does not win, but the brothers see where the future is: cars, on Michelin tyres.

But in 1900, France has only a few thousand cars. Roads are bad, signs are few, and most drivers stay close to home. When cars stay at home, their tyres do not wear out. And the brothers have a factory full of tyres.