The tyres i used many years ago were Dunlop TT100's, compared with modern tyres and compounds the TT100's were shite, lots of miles out of them but limited grip, quite hard rubber compound if I recall.
But the TT100s were reckoned to be the best tyre in their day. I forget what I had, but if the TT100s were shite, mine were suicidal
The main stay tyre of yesteryear were the Avon Speed Masters. The Speed Master rear tyre was not a profiled tyre at all, unlike all modern tyres, Its shape was almost square, so instead of rolling around the circumference of the profile as you went into a corner it ran up onto a fairly sharp angle, giving minimum contact with the road and also making it unstable as it tended to either want flop over one way or the other, it teetered on the edge.
I often wondered if that rear tyre was an intentional compromise, because motorcycle and sidecars were very popular years ago and as there was very little lean that tyre could be used back and front on the bike and also on the side car.
The front Avon Speed Master was a more profiled tyre with a almost linear unbroken circular tread pattern that did not do a good job of sweeping water away from its path, and therefore was not good in the wet. (OK in the dry)
Bridgestone when they first started importing into this country actually manufactured and imported motorcycles, before swapping to tyre manufacture, I used to try and get Bridgsetone right back then as they seemed the best option to me. But again compared with modern compounds they were not great.
1st Pic is a Bridgestone GTR 350cc Stroker twin
2nd Pic is a Bridgstone 50cc 2 stroke twin pot racer 14 gears and capable of around 75-80 mph and revved in excess of 18000 revs