Presta valves - Whats the point!

[Tarka]

I repaired a puncture for someone down the road who was having problems. They tried their best, but thinking that it would be possible to change the tube without removing the wheel was always going to fail.

Anyway, it didn't take long to put a patch on the leak and get it back together except neither of us had a pump or adaptor to fit the Presta valve. Why can't all tubes just use Schrader valves like cars and mountain bikes have as a standard. One of us has now got to travel to Halfords which is the only shop that sells bike bits for miles and queue up doing the anti-social distancing thing.

There used to be a really good independant cycle shop nearby but because most people wanted to save a quid, they started to go to Halfrauds when it opened instead. Independant cycle shop now out of business.

 

[flecc]

I repaired a puncture for someone down the road who was having problems. They tried their best, but thinking that it would be possible to change the tube without removing the wheel was always going to fail.

Anyway, it didn't take long to put a patch on the leak and get it back together except neither of us had a pump or adaptor to fit the Presta valve. Why can't all tubes just use Schrader valves like cars and mountain bikes have as a standard. One of us has now got to travel to Halfords which is the only shop that sells bike bits for miles and queue up doing the anti-social distancing thing.

There used to be a really good independant cycle shop nearby but because most people wanted to save a quid, they started to go to Halfrauds when it opened instead. Independant cycle shop now out of business.

I agree with you and would like all valves to be Schrader.

However, Presta valves were created for the skinny wheeled road bikes that the sport riders use since the large Schrader valve hole weakens those very narrow rims.

And history comes into it too since there's the also the Woods/Dunlop valve. That was an original type of simple cycle valve that used a piece of rubber sleeving around an insert with a small hole, the flexing rubber sleeve allowing air to pass in when pumping. Some have been made more sophisticated now with a tiny ball valve in place of the rubber sleeve. Woods/Dunlop are a favoured valve type on Continental Europe and in many parts of the third world.

So as ever there's no standardisation, just like video recorders with VHS, Betamax and V2000 or the different TV standards of PAL etc. It's what we humans do, make life difficult for ourselves. Here's the three bike valves:

 

[Benjahmin]

There are two bikes in our house. Amongst them are two schraders, one presta and one woods.
Fortunatly my Lidl track pump fits 'em all. I do expect the presta skinny top to break of some time though.

 

[Peddlin' Pedro]

I've had a few schrader valves fail while the tube was still good. With a decent presta tube you can replace the valve-core in seconds. Presta are also good for adding sealant to a tubeless setup without having to break the bead, as you can pull the core and inject directly into the valve-stem.

 

[flecc]

I've had a few schrader valves fail while the tube was still good.

You should have replaced the valve cores, not scrapped the tubes

That's why Schrader are superior, the valve core is always easily replaced, or removed to insert sealant, but only some Presta valves have removable cores.
.

 

[Peddlin' Pedro]

Was a long time ago but fairly certain they were too far gone to remove, which to be fair can also happen with presta but I've never bought presta tubes with non-removable cores. Other advantages with presta are that they'll hold higher pressures and getting the right valve length for your rims is generally easier too, especially with deep-section carbon jobs.