Schwalbe Tyre Problem

[S.Giles]

Hi,

I have just upgraded the tyres on my six week old Engwe L20 Boost to Schwalbe Super Moto-X's (20''x4'') but have noticed a problem.

When I ride on a smooth road surface I feel a regular 'bump' through the saddle, seemingly emanating from the rear tyre and corresponding with each rotation of the wheel. It is most noticeable at low speeds.

I took the tyre off the wheel, inspected it and carefully re-seated it on the rim, but the problem persists.

Does anyone have any thoughts about this? I have contacted Schwalbe but have not yet received a reply. I re-used the stock inner-tubes when I changed the tyres BTW. There is no damage to the wheel rim, and the wheel spins freely.

Thank you.

Steve

 

[6zfshdb]

Have you checked to see if the tire is balanced? Is the rim bent or out of true?
This can be an issue, especially if you use sealant in your tubes.

Welcome to the forum and please keep us posted on the problem.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Welcome aboard! Interested to hear what your mystery bump turns out to be.

What do you see when you spin the wheel slowly and sight along tangents to the tread and sidewalls? Anything look out of round?

 

[jabberwocky]

It can happen when the bead doesn't fully seat somewhere, so the tire is out of round. It can also happen when theres a failure or defect in the tire casing causing it to bulge at one location. Could also be a hop in the wheel itself (a spot where uneven spoke tension is causing the wheel itself to not be round and bulge out).

Spin the wheel with it off the ground and see if you can spot anything obviously out of round. If there is, you have to play detective and figure out the cause. If the wheel is out of round but the rim looks true, its the tire. Look at the bead (where the tire meets the rim) in that area and see if it looks different; if it does pull the tire completely off and reseat it. If the rim looks good and the tire bead looks good but the tire has an out of round spot, defective tire.

 

[S.Giles]

Thank you for the welcomes and comments.

Spinning the rear tyre doesn't show anything unexpected. The tyres have a white reflective line around the side wall, and this would accentuate any discrepancy.

The bike is almost new, so there is no damage to the rim.

When riding, it feels as if the tyre has a small area where the rubber is thicker, which contacts the road once every revolution and causes a bump, but I'm really just guessing here.

I suppose I could swap the front and rear tyres and see what happens, but I'm not looking forward to having to do that.

Steve

 

[S.Giles]

It can happen when the bead doesn't fully seat somewhere, so the tire is out of round. It can also happen when theres a failure or defect in the tire casing causing it to bulge at one location. Could also be a hop in the wheel itself (a spot where uneven spoke tension is causing the wheel itself to not be round and bulge out).

Spin the wheel with it off the ground and see if you can spot anything obviously out of round. If there is, you have to play detective and figure out the cause. If the wheel is out of round but the rim looks true, its the tire. Look at the bead (where the tire meets the rim) in that area and see if it looks different; if it does pull the tire completely off and reseat it. If the rim looks good and the tire bead looks good but the tire has an out of round spot, defective tire.

I've checked the seating of the beads in the rim, and the wheel is cast aluminium, so doesn't have spokes. There's nothing obviously out of round.

I'm no expert, but it's looking to me like a manufacturing problem.

 

[Base]

Tube between tire and rim? After checking that you could run the lowest permitted pressure in de tube and see what happens. Also check the carcass threading of the tire, if there has been a mis match in that the tire looks ok but it could burst, most visble when you pump the tire to the max pressure permitted. Also spin the wheel and place your hand around the tire (like gripping it) so you could feel any lumps and bumps in the tire.

 

[S.Giles]

Today I noticed that if I raise the rear wheel off the ground and activate walk mode so the wheel spins slowly, the tyre is not consistent all away around its circumference. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a 'bulge', but there's definitely a part of the tyre that is not completely smooth. It's easy to see this when the wheel is revolving, but almost impossible to see when the tyre is static. It looks the same as it feels, if that makes sense.

Spinning the front tyre doesn't show any such thing. Seems I bought a turkey.

I guess I'm just waiting for Schwalbe to get back to me now.

Many thanks for your comments and help.

Steve

 

[S.Giles]

It's actually pretty obvious when the wheel is spun.

 

[S.Giles]

Well I bit the bullet and swapped the tyres round, front for back.

The problem followed the tyre, so definitely a manufacturing problem. It's much more tolerable than when the bumping was coming from the back wheel through the saddle, but the tyres weren't cheap, so I'm hoping Schwalbe at least sort me out with a replacement.

Steve

 

[S.Giles]

I'm still having no luck with this. Schwalbe aren't interested in helping me, their 'associate company' in my area didn't reply to me, and the retailer stopped answering me after two messages.

I can't believe how little integrity these companies have, nor that Schwalbe are quite comfortable to have manufactured a faulty product and aren't even interested to know about it.

I'm getting really fed up with feeling the 'thump thump thump' from the front of the bike, and can't ride the bike without constantly being reminded that I've been screwed over. I'm not even sure it's safe.

The next step is to re-install the stock knobbly tyre on the front wheel and put up with the swarm of bees following me everywhere.

I guess you take your chance with Ebay vendors, but I'm really disappointed with Schwalbe. I'll give Schwalbe tyres a miss from now on.

Steve

 

[jabberwocky]

Have you contacted the ebay seller you purchased the tire from?

 

[S.Giles]

Hi jabberwocky.

Yes, and they replied to my first two messages suggesting I make a video of the problem ''so we can watch it together''. I said ''great, I've made a video already'' and sent them the video I posted above.

They stopped responding after that. I guess the video suggestion was a hurdle they thought I wouldn't bother jumping over.

Just today I have contacted Schwalbe again, politely voicing my disappointment with their attitude to after sales service.

To be honest, I'm at the point of writing off the €60 and moving on.

Steve

 

[jabberwocky]

One thing to keep in mind is that many bike/part companies aren't really setup to deal directly with end users. They have dealer networks that are supposed to handle these sorts of issues, and the company support mainly works with those dealer networks to handle issues. I don't know if the ebay seller you purchased from was a real shop somewhere or a reseller or what, but they really should have been the one handling it.

Sucks, and I certainly wouldn't blame you for not purchasing Schwalbe again. But thats the downside of purchasing from ebay randos vs a local shop or well known online dealer.

 

[stompandgo]

I've been selling on eBay since 1998. They are biased in favor of the buyer. Put your old tire back on, and process a return. If the sale was made with "no returns" stated, then make a guarantee claim with eBay. You will get your money back. If the seller was not an authorized Schwalbe dealer, Schwalbe won't deal with you. Deal with the seller, then eBay. Ebay wants you to work it out with the seller first.

 

[S.Giles]

I understand that they probably have bigger fish to fry, but they really should be interested in following-up quality control issues as they arise. Schwalbe do have a complaint reporting process on their website in fact, and even assigned a claim number to this case, so they seem to be set up to deal with this sort of thing when they feel like it. Instead, they advised me to contact their associate company (Velomania Ltd) in Bulgaria, but Velomania didn't even bother answering my emails.

In contrast, when I had a problem with my Engwe L20 Boost, the company could not have been more helpful. They bent over backwards to help me and even sent me a replacement torque sensor to swap in as an experiment to see if it fixed the problem. No blah blah about wholesalers or dealer networks.

BTW, I got a puncture in the other (ie good) tyre the other day. I must have been a terrible person in a previous life! It did teach me to carry all the tools necessary to take off a wheel, fix a puncture and inflate a tyre. I had a heck of a time getting the bike back the 200m or so to my house with the back tyre deflated.

 

[jabberwocky]

Given the issues you're having, I kinda wonder if you got sold a pair of counterfeit tires.

 

[S.Giles]

I've been selling on eBay since 1998. They are biased in favor of the buyer. Put your old tire back on, and process a return. If the sale was made with "no returns" stated, then make a guarantee claim with eBay. You will get your money back. If the seller was not an authorized Schwalbe dealer, Schwalbe won't deal with you. Deal with the seller, then eBay. Ebay wants you to work it out with the seller first.

I did file a claim with Ebay, but I made a stupid mistake when filling in the form and it was filed as a non-delivery claim. The vendor just responded that the item was in fact delivered, even though they knew full-well what the real issue was, since we had already been corresponding about it and I also had mentioned it in the Ebay claim.

To be honest, I've put hours and hours into this for a €60 value, dealing with four different entities, making a video and swapping the tyres onto different wheels to try and ascertain the problem. The amount of stress and frustration to recover €60 has been disproportionate to say the least.

I think I'm done with it.

Steve

 

[S.Giles]

Given the issues you're having, I kinda wonder if you got sold a pair of counterfeit tires.

The tyres look good, and have the correct tread, reflective line and other markings (see photos above). I never did find whatever caused the puncture, but it must have been big and very sharp because it made a visible (though small) hole in the tyre and inner tube. I could even see that the protective woven layers had been pierced.

I guess some people get all the luck, and in my case that's mainly bad luck! lol

 

[spokewrench]

What I have to say is along the lines of what @Base said.

Your fenders can help define the problem. From the outset, I noticed a lateral wobble of the tread of my front Schwalbe Pickup as I rode, viewing it past the end of the fender. With the bike on the center stand, I found no such runout on the back tire.

For a rough measurement, I held a felt tip marker against the front fender to leave a line along the center of the tread. It was about 3 mm. It surprised me that I didn't feel it when I rode. The beads looked even all the way around, but some e-bike beads can appear to be seated but not be quite right, so I like to inflate to maybe 5 psi and ride a few yards to squish everything into place before inflating fully. I must have skipped this step when I installed that tire. I drew off pressure, rode a few yards, and reinflated. The runout was gone.

If your tread is eccentric, I guess you could detect it by bracing your finger against the edge of the fender and letting it drag the center of the tread.

If the leak wasn't too big, a rechargeable pump could have gotten you home.