While the name " Bridgestone " is consociate withtirestoday , during the sixties , this Nipponese troupe dabbled inmotorcycles , including the rarefied 1967 Bridgestone 350 GTO bike .
Motorcycle Image Gallery
Bridgestone was synonymous with " carrying out " in motorcycle circles – though that really was n’t the party ’s original intention . When Honda lead off savor achiever in the U.S. with 50 - cc water scooter , Bridgestone jumped on the bandwagon with a similar modeling originally sell through Sears and Montgomery Wards stores .
The society then expanded into dead on target motorcycle , the first being a hot 175 - cctwo - stroketwin that could obstruct many 350s . Then Bridgestone come out with a 350 of its own , which could also dust motorcycle twice its size of it .
Introduced in the mid sixties , the 350 GTR used racing - engineering science orbitual disk valves in the crank - case to help get 40horsepowerfrom a mere 21 three-dimensional inch .
That , combined with light weight and a 6 - speedtransmission , allowed the GTR to turn mellow 13 in the quarter - international mile when most British 650 twins were unravel mid XIV .
A " scrambler " version of the GTR followed , bring in its on / off - route condition with little more than a richly - mounted exhaust system pipe – which scarcely a true dirt bike made . And though the new GTO partake in the GTR ’s sexual morality , few were sold , make featured good example here uncommon indeed .
For reasons that have never been explain , Bridgestone suddenly block bike output in the previous 1960s .
Some rumour had it that other Japanese motorcycle manufacturers , which purchase millions of tires from Bridgestone , convinced the company that its keep travail at building contend bikes might menace its much more profitable tire business .
Whatever the reason , Bridgestone extract out of the bike byplay to focus on tires .
Go to the next page for more pictures of the 1967 Bridgestone 350 GTO motorcycle .
For more great motorcycle articles and pictures, check out:
1967 Bridgestone 350 GTO Pictures
Very few 1967 Bridgestone 350 GTOs were sold , and the troupe give up making motorcycles totally in the late sixties .
