The Chinese made ebike I have has a Woods / Dunlop valve which won't let me pump up my tires without an adapter, so today I spent the whole day traveling into the nearest town which has these and back.
I have never pumped up a bike tire and starting with a woods valve and no one to show me how is proving to be a bit more of a problem than I anticipated.
My first problem is the pump I have came with no instructions. I guess they assume nobody is as clueless as I am ...
Below is some information about the type of pump I am using.
Sick Lines » Axiom Enforce Air DLX Gauge
It says it has a reversible valve with a removable alloy cap and the valve can be reversed to work with either Presta or Schrader valves.
I can't figure out what this is or how to make use of this feature or if it would work on a woods valve.
I am also confused by a lever that pulls out near the top of the nozzle of the pump and I'm not sure what that lever does, or at what stage of the pumping procedure the lever should be in close up to the handle and when it should be pulled out.
I brought my tire pump along but it was too far to bring my ebike and I got the guy at the bike shop give me a demonstration of how the pump and adapter works. They didn't have any bikes with a woods valve ( I bought my ebike even further away from where I live ) It seemed the guy had never heard of a woods valve, but he showed how the adapter worked on a bike with presta valves.
Except for the pump being difficult to separate from the adapter when it is still on the valve, it seemed easy enough and the built in pressure gage on my pump showed the pressure when the adapter was used on the bike with Presta valves.
Of course woods dunlop valves are a bit different than a presta valve.
When I got home I tried to figure out how to use this on my woods valve.
There is a nut with no threads on woods valves that I know needs to be screwed tight to keep the air from escaping and instructions I found online for using an adapter on a presta valve say to loosen the nut. If I recall correctly the nut on the Presta valve had threads, so once it was loosened to sit flush with the top of the inner valve the adapter screwed onto the nut.
My first problem. My woods valve nut has no threads.
I made the mistake of entirely removing the nut with allowed a tiny core with a rubber sleeve to be forcibly ejected into the grass along with all the air that was in my tire.
I'm not sure if I found everything that was that got ejected or if I need to keep looking in the grass for a tiny spring.
As this was obviously not the right way to do this, I put the nut back on and after several times of managing to sort of pump up the tire and accidentally letting all the air out again as I struggled to remove the pump from the adapter, and the adapter from the valve, I eventually managed to pump the tire up to be just slightly softer than it was to begin with.
I think my final and most successful attempt involved pumping up the tire with the nut sitting in it's tightened position, but I'm not entirely sure the tire got more inflated and perhaps my success had something to do with how I chanced to use the little lever on the pump on that try.
The pressure gage that showed the correct tire pressure on the bike with the presta valve just went up and down to zero as I pumped on my bike, regardless of the actual amount of air in the tire.
Because I'm in an out of the way rural location and I haven't even figured out how to pump up tires, changing to inner tubes with Schrader valves won't be possible for a while. Meanwhile I'd like to be able to use my bike.
Does anyone know how to use these type of pumps ? What does that lever do and when should I use it? How can I use it to work with a presta valve and would it work with a woods ?
Could someone please tell me if the nut is supposed to be tightened as far as it will go to the base near the tire when I connect the adapter, or is it supposed to be partially loosened leaving just a tiny bit of the inner core which is threaded to attach the adapter to?
And if I managed to pump up the tire to some degree would that mean I found and replaced all the parts that got ejected into the grass?
I have never pumped up a bike tire and starting with a woods valve and no one to show me how is proving to be a bit more of a problem than I anticipated.
My first problem is the pump I have came with no instructions. I guess they assume nobody is as clueless as I am ...
Below is some information about the type of pump I am using.
Sick Lines » Axiom Enforce Air DLX Gauge
It says it has a reversible valve with a removable alloy cap and the valve can be reversed to work with either Presta or Schrader valves.
I can't figure out what this is or how to make use of this feature or if it would work on a woods valve.
I am also confused by a lever that pulls out near the top of the nozzle of the pump and I'm not sure what that lever does, or at what stage of the pumping procedure the lever should be in close up to the handle and when it should be pulled out.
I brought my tire pump along but it was too far to bring my ebike and I got the guy at the bike shop give me a demonstration of how the pump and adapter works. They didn't have any bikes with a woods valve ( I bought my ebike even further away from where I live ) It seemed the guy had never heard of a woods valve, but he showed how the adapter worked on a bike with presta valves.
Except for the pump being difficult to separate from the adapter when it is still on the valve, it seemed easy enough and the built in pressure gage on my pump showed the pressure when the adapter was used on the bike with Presta valves.
Of course woods dunlop valves are a bit different than a presta valve.
When I got home I tried to figure out how to use this on my woods valve.
There is a nut with no threads on woods valves that I know needs to be screwed tight to keep the air from escaping and instructions I found online for using an adapter on a presta valve say to loosen the nut. If I recall correctly the nut on the Presta valve had threads, so once it was loosened to sit flush with the top of the inner valve the adapter screwed onto the nut.
My first problem. My woods valve nut has no threads.
I made the mistake of entirely removing the nut with allowed a tiny core with a rubber sleeve to be forcibly ejected into the grass along with all the air that was in my tire.
I'm not sure if I found everything that was that got ejected or if I need to keep looking in the grass for a tiny spring.
As this was obviously not the right way to do this, I put the nut back on and after several times of managing to sort of pump up the tire and accidentally letting all the air out again as I struggled to remove the pump from the adapter, and the adapter from the valve, I eventually managed to pump the tire up to be just slightly softer than it was to begin with.
I think my final and most successful attempt involved pumping up the tire with the nut sitting in it's tightened position, but I'm not entirely sure the tire got more inflated and perhaps my success had something to do with how I chanced to use the little lever on the pump on that try.
The pressure gage that showed the correct tire pressure on the bike with the presta valve just went up and down to zero as I pumped on my bike, regardless of the actual amount of air in the tire.
Because I'm in an out of the way rural location and I haven't even figured out how to pump up tires, changing to inner tubes with Schrader valves won't be possible for a while. Meanwhile I'd like to be able to use my bike.
Does anyone know how to use these type of pumps ? What does that lever do and when should I use it? How can I use it to work with a presta valve and would it work with a woods ?
Could someone please tell me if the nut is supposed to be tightened as far as it will go to the base near the tire when I connect the adapter, or is it supposed to be partially loosened leaving just a tiny bit of the inner core which is threaded to attach the adapter to?
And if I managed to pump up the tire to some degree would that mean I found and replaced all the parts that got ejected into the grass?