Does anyone else think that presta valves suck? Or is it just me?

my new bike has the presta valves, but has a grommet you can remove to accept the schrader valves. As soon as they blow, I'll replace them I think. I've been told that they are for higher pressures, but are not necessary. Is that true?

MikeG

Either riding or Thinking of Riding... The madness of MTB, I love it!

They don't seem to put presta valves on anything heavy duty, i think that the only advantage is that it is easier to lower you air pressure.?? Anyways, I would replace them w/ schreader(sp) valves asap!

Check out Sheldon Brown's explanation of...

Presta Valves

Schrader Valves

(links above) if anyone is interested

MikeG

Either riding or Thinking of Riding... The madness of MTB, I love it!

well presta is the standard valve through out europe, just just like a standard/metric thing. presta is not made for higher pressure or does it leak more. I have presta on my crossmax xl which they come standard with (sence mavic is a europen company...made in France :'(..) schrader was invended my a guy named schrader. prresta or schrader is just a personal preferance. Over here I see all kinda of DH/FR bikes with presta which of course a europen models.

RIDE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT.

I think you'll find they are a bit lighter and people who are gram weight crazy use them... see them a LOT on high end road bikes.

I do agree they are a pain. I always seem to bend them when trying to do anything. I just get the screw on adaptors. they seem to make it work better and protect them also.

I don't exactly trust Presta valves - they seem flimsy somehow. I am not sure if there is a greater likelihood of them leaking, but seems to me there's a greater likelihood of you not screwing it down properly and a leak happening that way...
But this is coming from the man who only realised there were different types of valve after buying his SECOND bike - ha! (Read about that particular episode here!)

UPDATE: I have had countless Presta valves break on me since I wrote this - the little toggle thingie just snaps off while I am pumping up the tyre. I've pretty much had enough of it. Just a bit nervous about drilling out the hole though...

I have issues with presta too!

I have three bikes and two trikes (a total of 12 wheels) that I ride regularly. Half are presta and the other half shrader. All of the presta equipped tires need pumped up every couple days (some EVERY DAY!) whether I ride them or not. It doesn't matter how tight I make the valves after pumping up or whether or not I put a plastic cap over them. They still leak. Sad part is none of these are cheap tubes.

The bikes with the shrader valves will go 5 to 6 months with no measureable loss of tire pressure. Some of these are cheap tubes and some are not. But NONE of them leak!

I replaced the presta tubes on one of the bikes with shrader tubes the last time I purchased new tires and guess what? NO MORE LEAKS!!! Based on my experience I'll never buy a presta equipped tube again. I just purchased three new tubes with shrader valves and I'm scrapping the presta tubes on the one trike that still has these simply because I'm tired of having to pump up three tires every day before I leave the house! This is the second set of presta tubes on this trike (different brand) and both had the same issue with needing pumped up daily. I thought it was just me or I was doing something wrong but in talking to others I've found out they are having the same problem. Maybe they don't make presta valves as good as they used to as i don't remember having this problem years ago.

Because of the presta valve locking mechanism I always thought it should be less prone to leakage than a shrader valve. Unfortunately my experience with them has not been good. I don't care if the shraders are heavier or not. I'm sick and tired of pumping up presta equipped tubes!!!

I have presta valves, on a mountain bike - they suck - had the bike shop put new tires on her, road the bike 2 times and the tires are both flat. Didn't even touch the valves on either tire ; perhaps they were not screwed down properly - even so not a big fan of them here. I like my tires to remain inflated as long as possible, so I am thinking I will always ask them to not put them on my bikes from now on.

Hate to say it guys but I just got my new custom built 08 Stumpy Pro w/ the roval wheelset and it came w/ presta...... maybe the fact that these are tubeless and this valve is not made to be thrown away w/ the tube it may be of better quality.? I'll let ya know.

Just ride the drop..stop bieng a wussy!

Ok folks little update I heard on the rail not long ago and it seems to be working....?

I guy I bumped into ( well he hit me cause the dumbass I am was pumping my low tire up on the outer edge of a corner, but that's another story)

back to the point after apologizing for my stupidity he told me about using vasoline on the 2 seals on Presta valves. there is a rubber O ring and a vinyl/nylon seal. If you rub a very minor amount of vasoline on these two seals and hand tighten the stem core back in it seals up nicly. Well after over a week I haven't lost any air where it usually needed pumping every other day or so....

2 other tricks... remove core by hand if possible (they damage easy) by just loosing the valve and just keep going after it tops out. 75% of the time it'll come.

also when tightening back up screw down the valve inflater knob, and keep screwing in by hand. don't go so far that it locks and the whole core comes out when trying to loosen the nut. now turn the inflater knob?(guess you call it that) just a few turns out , screw on an old cap(you'll be tossing it after) and tighten till it feels snug or strips out once. throw out old cap and you're set (hopefully)

I'll update in a few weeks, let me know if you try and it works for you.