Tyres were actually pretty good in the days of Dunlop when they made them from natural rubber and cotton. They were state of the art for the time then they made

Tyres were actually pretty good in the days of Dunlop when they made them from natural rubber and cotton. They were state of the art for the time then they made the strategic decision to get out of cycle tyres and concentrate on other aspects of their business. Modern tyres come in 700c racing bike size with a few specials at 650c, to get something small wheeled is not off the shelf. A normal bike, e.g Tour de France, needs things like grip and puncture resilience rather than just low rolling resistance. This applies to the track too. The actual market for specialist, i.e. tubular, bike tyres is minuscule compared to regular bike tyres, to all intents and purposes it is cottage industry stuff.