Vredestein fortezza tricomp - Lets have a close look

Tired about hearing all about how amazing Italian stuff is? How Veloflex makes its tires by hand in ITALY! Italy Schmitaly... how about the Netherlands? Now we're talking. The Netherlands is an incredible place for cycling. Beautiful countryside, rolling hills, fresh tulips, romantic canals, giant windmills, yes siree, the Netherlands is where it's at. And speaking of the Netherlands, you know what else is there? The company that makes the highest PSI clinchers in the world! It's a company called Vredestein.

Vredestein is like the Michelin tires of the Netherlands. They don't just make bicycle tires, they make car tires, van tires, tires for tractors and a whole host of agricultural and industrial applications. Of all these tires, the ones they make for cycling enthusiasts are made by hand in a small, but significant facility in Enschede.

There is no doubt that Vredestein makes a quality tire. They've been actively producing rubber goods as far back as 1908. But they didn't begin really making notable strides in the market until 1946. It was shortly after the Second World War when this Dutch company was approached by an American company called BF Goodrich. Perhaps you've heard of them? BF Goodrich proposed a joint Dutch-American venture to Vredestein hoping to build more industry in this worn down section of the world.
With Goodrich by their side, the Vredestein brand became very popular in the states, but seemed to have issues with sales in European countries. Turns out roads in Europe are different enough than roads in the United States that Vredestein had to go back to the drawing board to keep their tires from slipping and sliding all over the European roads. Again, there is success in the Vredestein arena but sadly, not for long.

In the early 1970's the economic recession and the oil crisis hit the company hard. Add that with BF Goodrich deciding to withdraw from Europe altogether and as you can imagine how tough times got for the Vredestein team.
Fortunately in 1977, the Dutch government stepped up to take a 51% stake in the company. They knew how much this tire company meant to the local Dutch economy and it wouldn't behoove them to let it die off.

By the 90's Vredestein was thriving and built themselves up enough to buy out the Dutch government, taking over the state's shares with a self initiated investment group called VICO which stands for the Vredestein Investment Consortium. They switched up their markets and decided to focus on the smaller, more established groups of Vredestein fans. Including us cyclists.
Life was good again for Vredestein, but not for long. In 2005, Amtel, a Russian tire company acquired Vredestein and merged the companies for a while. But a few years later, Amtel-Vredestein went bankrupt in April of 2009.

But it's hard to keep a company like Vredestein down. The following month (May 2009), Vredestein was acquired by an Indian manufacturing company called Apollo Tires, Ltd. This brings us to today where Vredestein still makes some of the smoothest and most durable bicycling tires in the world. In the states, they are quite popular in comparison to traditional brands like Continental and Michelin. For example the Fortezza TriComp has surpassed the PSI of standard clinchers putting them above the charts when it comes to air pressure and smoother ride. Heck, the Fortezza can run at a PSI that can only be compared with a tubular. That's darned impressive.