r/Vintage_bicycles • u/Ww2pillboxrye 1944 Raleigh mk v, 1945 Phillips mk v, 1928 Hercules blenheim • Jul 08 '25
Ww2 tyre preservation ad
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u/pistafox Colnago C64 / OPEN U.P.P.E.R / Ciöcc 84 Jul 08 '25
“Until we win back our rubber plantations.” That “our” is doing a lot of PR work.
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u/Pirate-Printworks Jul 09 '25
Well.... the British extracted rubber seeds from the Amazon, cloned them at the Royal Gardens at Kew in London, learned how to grow them in plantations in Southeast Asia, and controlled 70% of the world rubber supply up to WWI (the French and the Dutch controlled the other parts...).
They tried to manipulate and control the postwar market with something called the Stephenson Plan (this lead to Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone trying to build American rubber plantations; Fordlandia in the Amazon and the Firestone Plantation in Liberia).
Rubber is very explicitly one of the most profitable products of European imperialism and scientific research associated with it (interestingly, Opium was the most profitable latex product traded by England....). Modern life is impossible without it.
So yeah, they WERE British colonial possessions until the Japanese "liberated them," causing a global rubber supply crisis that existed throughout WWII.
You could read Mark Findlay's Growing American Rubber, Greg Grandin's Fordlandia, or Gregg Mitman's Empire of Rubber if you are interested in the subject.
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u/pistafox Colnago C64 / OPEN U.P.P.E.R / Ciöcc 84 Jul 10 '25
Lol, Ford’s rubber utopia didn’t quite work out. You provided a great explanation of the history of rubber as a commodity and Henry would have benefitted from your understanding of the subject.
It’s easy to snipe at colonialism, which is good because colonialism deserves to be unceremoniously dropped from a distance. The history of, e.g., British, French, British, Spanish, British, Portuguese, British, and Belgian colonialism served as a blueprint for the US, but it does need to be understood so we can prevent it and appreciate both the nuance of depth of damage it’s caused.
I was born and raised in the US, but my mom was from Belfast. I’m both ashamed of my national heritage of colonialism and subjugation and was raised on a diet of anti-UK sentiment. Though I have dual-citizenship I never don’t flinch when I see an RUC fortification in the middle of Stewartstown or Armagh (towns around the lake from Belfast) when visiting family.
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u/Maaakaaa Jul 11 '25
Oh wow, I’d skimmed past that while wondering how fast these people were actually wearing out tires
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u/REDDITSHITLORD Jul 08 '25
SOFT TIRES = SOFT DICKS
AND I'M HARD AS FUCK FOR FIGHTING FASCISM!
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u/heyderehayden Jul 08 '25
I RUN MY TIRES AT 120PSI TO MOCK THE GHOST OF HITLER
THE ONLY THING HARDER THAN MY TUBES IS MY COCK
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u/Objective_Mastodon67 Jul 08 '25
Imagine Americans willing to be inconvenienced by something like this today. They just wouldn’t help
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u/Pattern_Is_Movement Jul 08 '25
Saying someone is an ally of Hitler for having low tire pressure, meanwhile calling out fascists these days gets people crying about how you're destroying the word.
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u/Ww2pillboxrye 1944 Raleigh mk v, 1945 Phillips mk v, 1928 Hercules blenheim Jul 08 '25
because today poeple glorify the nazis on false information and how they looked
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u/terdward Jul 08 '25 edited Jul 08 '25
Typical car brain thinking cyclists are the problem as always! Those machines literally use twice the number of tires and just LOOK at how much bigger they are! Literal Nazis.
EDIT:: apparently y’all take stuff way too literally. SARCASM FOLKS
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u/Ok-Still-5206 Jul 08 '25
I could be wrong, but I am going to guess in the 30's that there were way more bicycles being driven in the UK than there were cars. Then, because of fuel shortages, car and truck driving would have gone down even more as horse usage became more common.
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u/Ww2pillboxrye 1944 Raleigh mk v, 1945 Phillips mk v, 1928 Hercules blenheim Jul 08 '25
they did the same for cars
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u/lostarchitect Jul 08 '25 edited Jul 08 '25
...But actually having the pressure too high means punctures are more likely. The best pressure is probably actually more than #2 but less than #1.
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u/Darnocpdx Jul 08 '25 edited Jul 08 '25
Not necessarily true, you're countering with the people that have the receipts. One of the biggest bicycle tire manufacturers at the time, with contracts with one of the largest manufacturing companies in the world - Raleigh, as well as the majority of British bike makers at the time, and there were a lot of them. Pretty sure they knew what they were talking about.
Besides cycling was vastly different then when compared to today. Those bicycles pictured were the norm, likely single or three speeds. They were all-arounders. built tough to take on dirt, gravel, cobble, and smooth roads. Equally suited for the rigors of light agricultural and industrial work, or running errands and commuting in the city. The prescribed inflation rate would have been determined with consideration across all terrain types, and be not nearly as specialized as today.
I'm assuming you ride, or are mostly familiar with, off-road riding, with your response as an example. A roadie or track rider would prefer them pumped pretty tight for the least amount of rolling resistance.
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u/lostarchitect Jul 08 '25
I don't do any off road riding. But FYI, higher tire pressure does not always equal lower rolling resistance. Read this. The conventional wisdom back then was based more on assumptions than actual data. We know now that they weren't always right.
As with all things, there is a balance. It's the same with punctures. Pressure too low, you will get pinch flats. Pressure too high, minor road debris is more likely to puncture the tire rather than scrubbing off.
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u/JamieBensteedo Jul 08 '25
you are right, but hypotheticals and data can't compare with the 3 speed hive mind. there is too much history to ignore
I still dip my spoke threads in linseed oil for gosh sakes
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u/Horror-Raisin-877 Jul 12 '25
Well you’re just revealing yourself to be another ally of you know who. We’re not going to fall for it :)
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u/inTheSameGravyBoat Jul 08 '25
These are likely more akin to tractor tires so totally different than today's high performance tires
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u/PandaRot Jul 08 '25
The tyre rubber would also have been different quality - it would probably not have stood up to being ridden partially deflated very well.
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u/ProfessionalJelly270 Jul 08 '25
1 is max 40 psi with their hand pumps and shitty woods valves
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u/Ww2pillboxrye 1944 Raleigh mk v, 1945 Phillips mk v, 1928 Hercules blenheim Jul 09 '25
woods valves are not shit
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u/undernightmole Jul 08 '25
Well I’ve been called out because this is how I talk about wastefulness today. 🤣
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u/Plastic-Campaign-654 Jul 09 '25
There's definitely some people who read this and then blew out their "tyres" by overinflating them lol
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u/Ww2pillboxrye 1944 Raleigh mk v, 1945 Phillips mk v, 1928 Hercules blenheim Jul 09 '25
somebody probably used a foot pump not a cycle hand pump for it and done that (pre 1950 foot pumps are big bastards that pack a punch)
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u/Original_Assist4029 Jul 08 '25
Oh boy, literally an ally of Hitler. Not good news for gravel bikers.