Tire is bumpy
 

I've just bought a brand new set of Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires, and I just can't get the tire to even out. At some point the tire goes in, creating an annual drop if I spin the whel, the rest of the tire is fine. Before installing I left the wheels at the local bike shop for truing. They did a good job and the rim no longer wobbles from side to side, or vertically (if you take the tape off).

I've tried massaging them SO much around the spot and everywhere on the wheel. My thumbs have actually been burning for two days and the outer layer of my skin is almost gone. I've tried spraying soapy water on to the beads and inside of rim. Nothing seems to do the job.

I've always had this problem on my bike. Used two other sets of tires before this and they were also always bumpy, allthough that could have been due to the wheel needing truing.

Any clue what to do?

I would lube the beads with talc or soapy water, make sure the tube isn't pinched, then inflate carefully to max pressure printed on the tire to get the beads to seat. If that doesn't work, something is definitely wrong.

Lubing the beads didn't help either. As far as I can see from the outside, the tube is not pinched. I can't reach anywhere near max pressure with my pump. The max is 115 psi. I can push hard to abouut 60 psi and the tire is rock hard. Another attempt at pushing and the air pressure inside the pump is keeping my entire body off the ground.

The weird part is that i've always had this problem, but I finally want to resolve it since I bought this bike, but the wheels are straight. Could it be the tape?

What rim size and what tire width? This sounds like a problem I had with my Speed Pro TT when I first got it. The previous owner had mounted 2" Big Apples that barely fit the inside the brakes. I initially thought the wheels were out of true until I swapped the stock tires back on and realized how narrow the rims were. The BA's were just way too wide for the narrow rims.

Innder rim width = 13mm. Outer rim width = 19mm. Tire width = 25mm. Also a new tube.

Therein lies your problem. You will need a pump that goes to 100 psi or so to seat the bead. 60 probably isn't high enough to ride for a 25mm tire unless you're really lightweight, like 110 lbs or less.

Where is the dip relative to the valve stem?

It's weird that 60 psi isn't enough. Like the tyre is rock hard and going outside feels like im riding on a wheel entirely made out of wood. But I guess it might be the pump as I've had this pump ever since I bought the bike.

The dip is at 7-9 if the valve is 12.

Try rotating the tire on the rim? Also you need more pressure to get them to seat properly. I use Schwalbe tires and they can be a ***** to get mounted, but once you get them mounted they are great tires.

Aaron :)

I think you're right. Schwalbe lists those tires at 70-115psi. I used to have a cheap RavX pump that had trouble going past 65 and wouldn't go past about 80. Bought a decent pump and now with some effort I can do the tires on my motorcycle.

I had a Bontrager LT3 700 X 38 tire do that same thing on my Trek DS8.4. I kept waiting for the tire to even out, but it never did. I had a little over a thousand miles on it when I took the bike to the Trek store. The tech spent about two minutes fiddling with the wheel and said I will give you a new tire.

I was running the correct tire pressure though. Just because the tire has a good brand name on it does not mean it was made perfect. The new tire sure rides smoother. :D

This just happened to me also. I took the 32mm tires off my wife's Specialized Vita and installed Continental Ultra Sport 28 mm tires and I got lumps on both the front and the rear.
What I did was pump the tire up to 60 lbs and then rolled the tire on the garage floor pressing down on the tire and rim with my weight a few revolutions and checked for the lump which was still there.
Pumped the tire up to 90 lbs and rolled it the same way and then heard a snap sound which must have been the bead seating because I checked the tire right after that sound and the tire was nice and true.
This worked for both the front and rear tires.

Mark

Inflating the tire with the wheel sideways can help.

Water is acceptable (because it is temporary) but I don't advise putting any kind of permanent lube onto a bicycle tire's beads since they depend partly on friction to stay on the rim. The beads are not nearly strong enough to safely hold on without it.

This part sounds odd. It shouldn't be difficult for an adult of typical physical condition to pump a bicycle tire up to 60 PSI with any bicycle pump.
?
If the pump has a gauge built-in, how high does it go? If the pump is for car tires then it is a larger-volume per stroke but may only be meant for ~50 PSI since car tires are only around 30....

Well it's a regular floor pump and the gauge goes up to 160psi, but I can only pump it up to 60. Anyways, I've bought a new more expensive 140psi pump with good review. It should arrive any time and i'll update once i get it.

air pressure shouldnt make the difference, its friction thats the problem, friction between the tube and the tire, can rub the tube in some chalk

for me, deflate, roll it 10meters and inflate works, sometimes after 3 tries, but never failed me

Not sure if it's been discussed but have you taken a look at the size of rim tape/strip you're using? I had the same problem. I tried everything mentioned above and still had issues. Finally, I switched to a narrower rim tape and the problem was solved. The thick rim tapes were interfering with tires fully beading along the rim.

The pump arrived, pumps perfectly to high pressures. But this didn't solve the problem, allthough it helped a bit. I tried rolling it and inflating, this didn't help either. I bought new set of rim tape with the pump. It's still 16mm but it's much thinner than my last tapes, still this hasen't solved the problem either.