When it comes to motorcycle tires, some of us base our decisions on more than just the kind of tread or estimated mileage. We might prefer tires made in this country or that one or a company based in one location over another. There are dozens of other reasons why we choose the tires we put on our bikes as well.
To provide a little information on some of the top motorcycle tire manufacturers, it’s helpful to look into how they came to be and how (and where) they do business.
This article ties into a recent piece discussing the cost of tires.
Bridgestone is a Japanese company and one of the most well-known motorcycle tire manufacturers, enjoying OEM placement on a majority of bikes from the Big 4 (Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha). Founded in Japan in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi, whose last name translates to “stone bridge.” In 2025, Bridgestone had revenues of about $29.67 billion, making it the world’s second largest tire manufacturer by revenue. Bridgestone has owned the American company Firestone Tire & Rubber since 1988.
Since opening its first non-Japan factory in Singapore in 1965, the company has gone on to establish over 150 factories in more than 20 countries. Bridgestone manufactures motorcycle tires in Japan, specifically in Nasushiobara. The company recently invested $10.6 million into its Nasushiobara, Japan, increasing production of premium tires to 90,000 tires a month. It also manufactures motorcycle tires in Thailand, Indonesia and India. Most tires purchased in the U.S. come from Thailand or Indonesia.
Their primary line of tires is the “BATTLAX” series, covering every kind of riding from racing to heavy cruisers, adventure bikes and scooters. For more information, visit bridgestone.com/products/motorcycle_tires/.
Continental is a German company. Founded in 1871, the company started making bicycle tires in 1872 and pioneered tires with grooved tread in 1904 and the use of synthetic rubber in 1910. Across all its divisions, Continental had $22.7 billion in revenue in 2025. The company appears to have undergone a significant change in 2025 by spinning off its automotive parts and technology division into a new company called Aumovio, but details are a little sketchy this close to the deal. They appear poised to sell off the rest of their non-tire divisions, starting with ContiTech, which focuses on industrial rubber and plastics. Clearly the company is undertaking a major transition, the repercussions of which we may not know or understand for some time yet.
Continental has 19 manufacturing plants in 16 countries. The vast majority of their motorcycle tires are made in Thailand, with some additional production in Germany. The company’s main tire lines share similar names, Conti [Something]Attack. This line includes everything from street legal racing tires to tires for adventure bikes. Their TKC line is well known for heavier off-road use on ADV bikes.
Michelin is the world’s largest tire manufacturer by revenue and the last of the three major independent companies—or companies that are their own conglomeration, rather than being owned by another large company—rounding out the top tier of motorcycle tire manufacturers. Two brothers—Edouard and Andre Michelin—started the company in 1889 by turning a failing farm equipment company into a bicycle tire manufacturer. If you’re into trivia, Michelin claims to have invented the run-flat tire in 1934 and the radial tire in 1946; they certainly made the tires fitted on the now-retired NASA space shuttles. Michelin had $30.52 billion in revenue in 2025.
Primarily known for car tires—the company owns Uniroyal and BFGoodrich, among other brands—Michelin has been making motorcycle tires since 1897. In the modern age, most Michelin motorcycle tires imported into the USA are made in Thailand. Their factory in Spain is a major production hub for the rest of the world, and their facility in France is dedicated to research, design and the manufacture of high-performance and specialty lines of motorcycle tires. They also have a factory in India, but the vast majority of the tires made there are used there, where small-displacement bikes rule the market.
Michelin makes a big deal about the quality of tires coming from Spain and Thailand, their primary manufacturing locations. The company tightly controls materials and construction methods as a way to ensure quality across all the tires they sell. Unlike Bridgestone and Continental, Michelin doesn’t have one common naming scheme they use. Their tires have various names, like Road, Power, City Grip, Scorcher, Commander and Anakee. The Road and Anakee tires seem to be the most popular with BMW riders.
The histories of Pirelli and Metzeler become intertwined in 1986, when the Italian company bought the German one. Pirelli, founded in Milan in 1872, was for a long time associated with car and motorcycle racing and built their reputation in that arena, where it remains strong in modern times. Metzeler, founded in Munich in 1863, quickly focused on motorcycle tires and is one of the few major manufacturers on this list without a car tire division. Where Pirelli focused on racing, Metzeler focused on touring, striving to build tires that lasted a long time and performed well even in poor conditions.
From 1986 to 2015, Pirelli remained an Italian company with a well-known German subsidiary, but that changed with a massive buy-in from ChemChina. In 2015, ChemChina—officially known as China National Chemical Corporation and fully controlled by China’s government—paid $7.7 billion for a 54% stake in Pirelli.
That 54% stake isn’t the end of the story, though. A company called Marco Polo Industrial Holdings held about 33% of Pirelli at the time, and ChemChina owned a 65% stake in MPIH. ChemChina’s total holding fell just three percent short of the 90% level, which would have delisted Pirelli from the Italian stock market, forced a buyout of all remaining investors and converted it to a private company. ChemChina’s ownership stake soon passed to SinoChem, another Chinese state-owned corporation, when the two companies merged in 2021 and created the world’s largest chemical manufacturer.
In 2023, the Italian government intervened, putting hard limits on how involved SinoChem could be in day-to-day business operations. By 2025, things settled down enough so that Pirelli could continue expanding its presence in the USA, which has restrictions on domestic operations of Chinese state-owned businesses. Think of Pirelli/Metzeler as Chinese owned but Italian managed, if that makes sense.
Pirelli and Metzeler continue to maintain separate identities, including research and design centers, but share manufacturing facilities. Metzeler’s flagship factory in Germany produces some of their high-performance tires along with a fair amount of Pirelli’s premium offerings. Racing efforts and high-performance/specialty production take place in Italy under the Pirelli banner. High-volume production now takes place in China, with significant additional manufacturing in Brazil and Indonesia.
Pirelli started making tires in China in 2005, with Metzeler following in the 2010s around the time of the ChemChina buy-in. Both companies rely on their Chinese factory for high-volume production of the most popular sizes of the most popular tires. The tires most likely to be made in China are high-volume models with global distribution, such as:
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- Pirelli: Angel GT, Scorpion Trail, Scorpion Rally, and more common sizes of Diablo Rosso
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- Metzeler: Tourance Next, Karoo Street, and more common sizes of Roadtec (especially front tires)
What is interesting is what Pirelli and Metzeler share beyond simply the buildings in which they are built. For example, the Pirelli Angel and Metzeler Roadtec lines are not identical tires, but they are made in the same production facilities, sometimes even on shared production lines. They share similar structure and materials, but one is not a clone of the other. Same for the Pirelli Scorpion Trail and Metzeler Tourance Next lines. The differences tend to lie in the materials used. Pirelli tires favor a triangular shape for quicker turn-in and more aggressive blends, while Metzeler relies on rounder shapes for touring stability and blends tuned to broader temperature and weather performance. They diverge most at the extremes; for example, Metzeler doesn’t have a strong focus on racing tires beyond the RaceTec line and Pirelli doesn’t have heavy touring or dedicated off-road tires.
Pirelli recently landed a lucrative five-year contract to be the sole provider of tires for the MotoGP championship series starting in 2027, taking that privilege away from Michelin, which enjoyed the contract since 2016. This establishes Pirelli as the only tire supplier for all MotoGP world championship classes. Michelin was only interested in supplying the top-tier MotoGP series and Moto-E, the series for electric superbikes, and not the feeder classes (Moto2, Moto3, junior classes). Pirelli also supplies tires to World Superbike, giving them a dominant position atop worldwide motorcycle racing.
Kenda and Maxxis motorcycle tires are sometimes thought to be two brands made by the same company, but it’s not that simple. They are, in fact, separate companies, but both companies are associated with the same person, Luo Jye. He founded Cheng Shin Rubber in Taiwan in 1967, and that company is the ninth largest tire manufacturer in the world. He founded Kenda as a separate company to focus on a wider variety of budget-friendly tires (including ATV and bicycle tires) than Cheng Shin’s Maxxis brand, which was focused more on high performance in the off-road arena. Luo took over Kenda some time after that; Kenda was founded in 1962, but business records from Taiwan in the 1960s are difficult to decipher.
Maxxis off-road tires are made primarily in Thailand, with additional production taking place in Vietnam and China. Taiwan also supports some production, but most efforts there are geared towards design and prototyping.
Kenda tires are mostly made in China, where the company’s largest facilities are. Some tires are made in Taiwan as well. Kenda’s most modern factory is in Vietnam, and that facility is becoming increasingly important to the company’s efforts.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries is part a massive international conglomerate headquartered in Japan. Though the Sumitomo Group can trace its origin back to a bookstore opened in the 16th century by Masatomo Sumitomo, a Buddhist monk, the modern tire company originated in 1909. Sumitomo is important to the world of motorcycle tires because they own the two prominent brands started in the UK: Avon and Dunlop.
Sumitomo’s tie-up with Dunlop dates to the company’s founding and started as a significant investment in Dunlop Japan, reportedly as bailout to prevent insolvency after bankruptcy proceedings. John Boyd Dunlop founded his namesake tire company in Dublin, Irelan, in 1888, quickly expanding it into one of the first global tire companies. Sumitomo acquired a controlling interest in the Japanese branch of Dunlop in 1963. In 1985, Sumitomo gained control of Dunlop’s operations everywhere but the USA and Australia, with control of U.S. operations following in 1986.
A joint venture between Sumitomo and Goodyear started in 1997. From that point, Goodyear controlled Dunlop in the USA and Europe; Sumitomo controlled Dunlop in the rest of the world. That partnership ended in 2015, with Goodyear citing “anticompetitive conduct” by Sumitomo. Goodyear still manufactures car/truck/SUV tires under the Dunlop brand, but Sumitomo apparently fully controls motorcycle tire production.
The ownership chain of Avon is a bit murky, so if you think it’s a bit confusing, you’re not wrong! Even I’m not 100% sure of all the facts or the timeline. What I can tell you is that following the end of the Sumitomo/Goodyear joint venture in 2015, Sumitomo regained control of Dunlop motorcycle tire operations globally. Avon has since been integrated into this system, with production shifting from the UK to Sumitomo’s global (Dunlop) manufacturing network.
Avon Tyres is an iconic British brand, starting its life in 1890 as the Avon India Rubber Company Ltd. After starting up bicycle tire production in 1900, the company didn’t take long to transition into motorcycle tire production, starting up production in 1911. Cooper Tires bought Avon in 1997, then sold the company to Goodyear for $2.8 billion in 2021.
Dunlop manufactured motorcycle tires around the world, including in England until 2014 and in the USA until 2024, when facilities in Erdington, Birmingham, and Buffalo, New York, respectively, closed. Dunlop retains some R&D and a major testing facility in the USA. Avon made tires almost exclusively in the UK until 2023, when Sumitomo closed the factory in Melksham and shifted production to Sumitomo and Dunlop facilities worldwide.
Similar to other brands, Sumitomo/Dunlop/Avon have R&D and design facilities in Japan, which is also where the production of certain high-end, flagship and racing tires remains. The vast majority of their motorcycle tires are made in Thailand now, especially for the U.S. market. Tires for small-displacement motorbikes are made in Indonesia, with production for the Americas taking place in Brazil.
In researching this article, I came across numerous statements that Avon production moved to a Dunlop facility in Amiens, France, after the Melksham plant was closed. Dunlop does produce tires in France, but they make tires for cars, trucks and vans there and the facility is owned by Goodyear, not Sumitomo. Production there seems to be a legacy remainder from the days when Sumitomo and Goodyear split Dunlop’s production and sales. Now, however, it seems neither Avon nor Dunlop’s motorcycle tires are manufactured in France.
Dunlop’s focus has shifted to performance, sport and OEM applications, while Avon aims more at the cruiser, touring and classic bike markets.
Shinko started business in Japan in 1946 as a bicycle tire company that also made industrial rubber products. In 1998, the Shinko Group acquired Yokohama’s entire motorcycle tire division—molds, designs, tooling, all of it—and moved everything to South Korea, where it remains today. By taking on proven designs, manufacturing practices and industrial machines as a whole, Shinko was able to hit the ground running with motorcycle tire production. Shinko also has a corporate office in the United States, which handles distribution, marketing and the domestic dealer network.
While Shinko hasn’t seemed to put a ton of effort or money into developing new tires in the ensuing decades, what they have done is leverage South Korean manufacturing practices and global supply chains to the point where the company’s products are consistently among the least expensive high-quality tires motorcyclists can purchase. Because of their Japanese origins, many believe Shinko maintains an R&D facility in Japan, but this is incorrect. Shinko Group, which is a Japanese company, manufactures industrial rubber products, not motorcycle tires. All motorcycle tire business is conducted in South Korea.
Perhaps because of their centralized operations, with no significant production outside South Korea, Shinko enjoys a good reputation for consistency across their model lines. Their dual-sport tires are especially popular with hard off-road adventure riders in the USA. Their dual-sport tires don’t appear to have a long life under heavy use, but they provide excellent performance and are easy on the wallet a pair at a time.
Shinko’s tire models don’t sport snappy branding, but rather are cataloged as numbers—009, 999, 705, 805, etc. While their dual-sport/adventure tires are widely available in the USA, their other offerings are largely overlooked by North American riders. Shinko also manufactures tires for heavy cruisers, sport bikes and scooters.
“But Yokohama still makes motorcycle tires,” I hear you cry. Indeed they do, but not directly. Mitas Tires started life in Prague—in the country now known as the Czech Republic—in 193X. They built their reputation on tires for agricultural use, not motorcycles, but started making motorcycle tires in 1947, when they got into racing tire production.
The Trelleborg Group acquired Mitas in 2016 and subsequently spun the tire maker off into its own company or sold it directly to Yokohama in 2022. This is why Yokohama now “makes” motorcycle tires again. It’s important to note that Yokohama, as a corporate entity, no doubt provides strategic oversight and shares technology, but does not appear to be otherwise directly involved in Mitas production, design or engineering. It seems they simply own the company and let it operate independently.
Mitas produces off-road, dual-sport and adventure motorcycle tires in the Czech Republic, and racing, sport, sport-touring, cruiser and classic bike tires in Serbia.
The Bottom Line
That’s it for the major and even minor tire brands you’re likely to see at your nearest motorcycle tire dealer in North America, Europe and Oceania. While there are a number of lesser-known tire manufacturers around the world, they don’t have a significant presence outside Asia—where let’s be honest, the vast majority of motorcycles are made and ridden.
These companies include Inoue Rubber (Japan), Shin Hung (S. Korea), Vee Rubber (Thailand) and several Chinese companies—Innova Rubber/Bengbu, Cheng Shin Rubber and Zhongce Rubber. You can find these tires in the U.S., but they’re not widely available.
What all of this really shows is that the idea of a German, Italian or Japanese tire doesn’t mean what it used to. The companies still largely and sometimes fiercely carry those national identities, but the tires we actually buy are the product of a global system. Design might happen in France or Germany, corporate decisions might be made in Japan or Italy, and ownership might trace back to a Chinese state-owned corporation, but the physical tire is just as likely (or perhaps a little more likely, in some cases) to come from Thailand, Indonesia or China as Germany, France or Italy.
High-volume, globally distributed motorcycle tires—especially in common sizes for adventure bikes, touring machines and everyday street use—are overwhelmingly produced in Asia. Thailand shows up again and again as the primary source for many of the tires sold in North America. China has become increasingly important for large-scale production, especially for brands operating under shared manufacturing systems like Pirelli and Metzeler. Meanwhile, Europe and Japan still play a critical role, but increasingly as centers for research, development and the production of racing, flagship or specialty tires rather than the bulk of what ends up on our bikes.
What I discovered in researching this article is that the lines between brands can be blurry. Companies share factories, platforms and even internal structures while maintaining distinct identities on the surface. A Pirelli and a Metzeler may come off the same production line yet behave differently on the road. Dunlop and Avon now exist within the same corporate ecosystem. Even Shinko’s rise is tied directly to the transfer of an entire product line from another manufacturer. What looks like a crowded marketplace is really a tightly interconnected network of companies, partnerships, legacy agreements and maybe even non-compete clauses.
My takeaway at the end of the day is that where a tire is made still matters, but not in the simple, nationalistic way many of us assume. What matters more now is how that tire was designed, what it was built to do, and how well the company behind the tire controls its process across whatever factories it happens to come from. The modern motorcycle tire isn’t defined by a single country. It’s the result of a global industry that has spent decades optimizing for scale, consistency and performance—wherever in the world that can best be accomplished.
