I bought a pair of Schwalbe Little Big Bens on eBay. Seller advertised them as never ridden; seller is a bike shop -- probably take-offs from a new bike, right? I got them in the mail, in a large square box, probably a 16 or 18" cube. They turned these wire bead tires in on each other and got them into this box. Same concept as those wire frame windshield shades I guess, where you fold it in on itself and it doesn't actually fold or bend the bead. The description appears solid -- the tires appear to be brand new.

One tire is perfect. The other tire does not mount completely straight, and this is on two different wheels. The witness line down at the bead shows it to be seated very uniformly around the rim. But the tire itself seems to have a very slight "kick" to one side in it when spun. You can feel it when riding if you're feeling for it. I'm very certain that it's not a safety problem, as the beads are seated. But it does bother me.

Because it has the same kick to it on two different wheels, I'm thinking it's the tire itself.

I'm tempted to take it to my LBS to see if they can get it any better, but I'm pretty sure it's a bad tire. I've had it on and off the wheel a few times, and I've rotated it 180 degrees and that had no effect. The same spot on the tire has that very slight side kick regardless of wheel or how it's clocked to the rim.

I've never had a bad tire, but I'm sure it happens. Is it worth having my LBS try to get a better mount? If they can't get it right, I guess they could order a new tire. I doubt I'd get any consideration from Schwalbe on this one because I didn't buy it new. Unfortunately, my "deal" at $40 shipped for the pair will get watered down with another one at full price, but I guess that's the price paid (literally) for trying to save money, right?

Saving money does occasionally cost you!!!

If you can confidently say the tires are seated correctly, AND you can actually feel the "kick", I personally would not take it out on a serious bike ride. I purchased a pair of very cheap tires, had problems with them for a week, they looked properly seated, but to me they wobbled and my wheels are relatively true. Had a blow out on one (but that was my fault), so I change one tube and decided to re-mount both tires.

Well, long story short, I tried a different "technique" and to my surprise, they mounted beautifully, seated as they should and the wobble disappeared!!! But I did buy these from a reputable place and could have returned the tires but now I'm very pleased with them.

How much kick, exactly?

I have some very sad news for you: all tires have some misalignment, runout, lack of concentricity. The question is how much is too much.

This seems to me fairly straightforward. You have clearly described the problem, and it occurs on two different wheels. so one tire seems to be defective. As it was sold to you by a retail dealer that business should be willing to give you a refund on the tire. If necessary you can send them a video of the problem, but any decent business should not balk at doing so.

I would note that if one must compact a standard tire it should always be folded in 3 loops, not two, to avoid distorting the bead.

What's this different "technique" you used? Maybe I'm doing it all wrong.

Not a professional level video, but it shows the slight hitch in the tire as it spins.

As I move my phone to the side of the tire so that you can see that the rim is pretty straight, you can see the reflective strip on the tire jump around some. I should note that this reflective strip is not a good bead witness line -- it was not applied very uniformly in my opinion. There is a much fainter witness line below the bead that is visible in person that would be hard to pick up on camera.

Having suffered similar myself... not much of a contribution but ISTR reading a similar thread on these forums. The solution, which did not work for me, was to fit the tyre with soapy water applied to the bead and then over-inflate the tyre. Let it stand then deflate and re-inflate to the desired pressure. My wobble was much greater than yours and the rogue tyre, 20/1.75, had 'gash', not sure if that is the right term, rubber on it which I had to trim off. That did improve things but it still did not wish to play fair. These were cheap tyres.

1. I've never had a perfect tire in my life. There is always a little wobble or hop.
2. Yours is not little. That's jumbo, and I'd need to replace that. (send it back)

Hand made sew ups are pretty well made, and roll round as the rim they're glued on ..

Mass produced, by the millions tires, as said above, cannot all be perfect..

With a video you should not have to send it back, unless the seller wants to pay shipping.

If the tire was seated properly and the tire wobbles it's probably the tire. I've had that happen a handful of times over the years. I took those tires back and asked for a different one BEFORE I rode on them. As long as it has no wear, they should agree to take it back. If not, put it on the rear so you don't have to look at it.

Realize though that no tire is perfect but the degree of wobble is not much of a problem while running the tire as long as it isn't severe. Like you though, I wobble in my tire drives me nuts.

fwiw: I've read that larger volume tires tend to have more wobble even when mounted properly. I notice this with my 45mm Riddlers, but not with my 45mm Proteks

I've never had a tire this hard to mount. I've used a lot of no-name tires, a number of name brand tires, and none have done this. So I don't really know what "bad" is. I appreciate your opinion that it's not acceptable. I have reached out to the seller and I'll let you know what they decide to do.

I've had one out of two Schwalbe Supeme in 20"x 1.6" with a totally objectionable hop. One out of four 700c x 35 mm Supremes had a tolerable hop that was noticeable in smooth roads. Seems to be an issue where casing overlaps. They are good tires but the standard for trueness is not any where as good as Panaracers that cost half as much.

Same here. I said this in the SSFG forum before. I must have great dumb luck. No matter what tire I have mounted on a variety of rims, I inflate them and just before max pressure, or at max, or a tiny bit beyond, they just seat themselves, uniformly all the way around. No hassles. No manual manipulation, no talcum powder, no soapy water required. I feel a tinge of guilt sometimes when I read posts where folks are describing some of the difficulties they have encountered.

Just wanted to report that the seller refunded me the price of one of the tires I bought. Stand-up seller! Stage21cycling on eBay. I'd do business with them again.

cool

I took it out for a ride tonight. I rode about 5 miles on a variety of surfaces. On a smooth road, I can feel the rhythmic wobble that will vary with speed. It is only slight, but it's there. On rougher textures, other bumps and such overshadow the wobble. If I look down at it, though, it's still wobbling!

I'll look to replace the rear one soon, and will be hopeful that the replacement mounts straighter (Conti Speed Rides mounted straight on this same wheel, so I know the rim is good).

if you think there is any chance that tire might blow out... mount it on the REAR wheel... it's not fun when a front tire blows... nope, not one bit.

probably just a funky lay-up from the factory... seen many.