THE TUBULAR IN THE HISTORY 1888 - 1950

 
At the end of  the 18th century  Mr. Dunlop, a Dutch engineer, thought to inflate a tube of solid rubber and used it to cover the rims of the first bicycles.

In the 1888 the tubular was born. From the begin of  professional cycling, in the 20s, until the 60s, the tubular was the only product used for racing. Legendary moments of cycling heroes have made history with spare tubulars on their shoulders. At that time, roads were not paved and it was impossible to cover long distances without punctures; fot that reason, there were always new tubulars available for a change during the race.

 
THE DECLINING YEARS 1960 - 1980

In the 60s, with the advent of industrial tires, the tubular started a declining period. To produce a tubular it is necessary, like now, to perform several manual operations, long and expensive production processes that became impossible to mantain. The tubular, almost only used by professionals, has been gradually discontinued by tire manufacturers, whom were pointed to less prestigious and cheaper articles.

THE TRADING COMPANY "BREWO" - 1990

An historic Italian trading company, Brewo, has been the distributor of this kind of products for years. Max Brauns, founder and owner of Brewo, wanted to keep alive the tradition of handmade production of tubular.

He moved  to Thailand, bought out a firm that was becoming bankrupt, refurbished the machineries, gathered the workers restarting production lines that were about to become history. In 2000 “Challengetech” was born.

THE "CHALLENGE" BRAND - 2003

In 2003 Challengetech created its own brand “Challenge”. Challenge, as the word says, wants to point out how difficult and exciting it is to keep the tradition of high quality products, created with obstinacy, with the steady research of special materials and through handcrafted processes.

Since the 2000s,  Challengetech has being producing tubulars for other brands, thanks to the constant use of these products in the professional cycling

   
THE AGE OF CARBON

 
The success of high profile carbon wheels has strenghtened the market of tubulars tires. From the end of the 90s, the high profile carbon wheel, designed for tubular tires, has become a product with great diffusion. An unexpected rebirth, but to a certain extent. The intrinsic high quality of a tubular compared with an industrial tire has never really been called into question.

Softer, more comfortable and smoother, the tubular allows many hours of race minimizing the stress and reducing the dawn of several complications in the racer body.

TRADITION AND FUTURE

Thanks to carbon wheels, in these years many young racers approach  tubular for the first time and big it is their surprise to state how much more comfortable and efficient the tubular is. A “new” and special product for many people.

For Max Bauns, it is the consciousness to have won his long bet with the history.

 CHALLENGE IN THE WORLD

Challenge Products are available in the most important markets through a network of selected distributors and the company attends all major bike shows worldwide.

On the left you can see a picture of Challenge booth at "Eurobike 2012". Eurobike is the biggest bike show in Europe and takes place in Friedrichshafen, Germany, in the beginning of September.