Vee Rubber capitalizing with 3 ADV tires

Vee Rubber enters the adventure touring market

After nearly a decade in the United States, Vee Rubber has released three new tires into the adventure touring market, allowing the company to grow in both sales and brand recognition.

“Our business has been good,” said John Leale, Vee Rubber’s vice president of sales and marketing. “Our sales are growing, and some of that contributes to our new involvement with MTA.”

Sales may have been affected by the current election year and other external factors, but Leale said.

While Vee Rubber works with other distributors on a more regional level, the company recently began working with MTA Distributing, its largest distributor to date. “We fit into MTA’s catalog pretty well. … They stepped up and ordered a lot of inventory and stock from us, so that contributed to us having a really good year, and all my other distributors are also doing good,” he added.

Another part of Vee Rubber’s success has been its use of niche markets to support its business. “Sometimes we’re the only tire in our market, or there’s only a few players. That’s been my business plan from the get-go, to find little niche markets where we can really contribute and grow our business,” said Leale.

By choosing to offer tires within the adventure touring market, Vee Rubber is breaking out of its comfort zone from smaller niche markets. With its increase in popularity, the adventure touring market includes a variety of offerings from multiple companies.

“It’s a hurdle for us to educate the consumer and dealer on why it might be better to try Vee Rubber … and letting them know that they can make more money selling Vee Rubber than other brands,” he added. “Everybody has a tire in this segment, so we are out of our element a little bit.”

Vee Rubber has been promoting three tires for adventure touring use: the VRM-193, VRM-163 and VRM-401. Both the VRM-193 and VRM-163 are adventure bike tires, with the VRM-193 holding the top sales spot. The VRM-401, or “V-Grip” adventure tire is a close second, with a self-cleaning design and guaranteed enhanced grip. For adventure riders who chose to longer travel, all three wheels feature high load ratings for additional luggage.

“We did our homework and tried to find a product that has appeal, good wear, weight-carrying capacity, trying to give them a reason why they should buy tires over that of our competitors,” he said.

“It’s a really growing segment in the industry … and it’s a pretty lucrative part of the market.”