Having just noticed my by bike has a puncture thought id order myself some new tubes. The type currently on the bike are Presta, which i think are a pain in the back side to inflate, if you don’t open the valve correctly. So i’ll be ordering Schrader. What are your thoughts.

Shrader valves are for tractors, Presta valves are for bicycles.

+1

It makes bugger all difference.

May be Presta for hi pressure race bike tyres.

Your rims may only fit presta tubes.

Schrader are for mtbs, presta are for racers

but woods are for winners

Presta on the road bike Schrader on the MTB even if it means drilling the rims to fit.

As 6th poster I feel obliged to promote tubeless, may as well change your rims to 29″ ones while your at it*

(*i have neither presta for me but only due to not wanting to drill out my rims or it would be schrader having now had 6 tubes fail at the valve)

Schrader. Presta are shite but the only ones you can use with tubeless & have no working advantage over Schrader.

which i think are a pain in the back side to inflate, if you don’t open the valve correctly.

Don’t buy cheap tubes.

lindsay73 – Member
which i think are a pain in the back side to inflate, if you don’t open the valve correctly.

Open the valve correctly.

Open the valve correctly.
Or buy Schrader then you don’t need to fanny around with valves.

EGF +1 – I hate presta valves – they are nothing but a massive faff and seem to enjoy deflating themselves half way through trying to pump them up. Then they snap.

I hate presta valves – they are nothing but a massive faff and seem to enjoy deflating themselves half way through trying to pump them up. Then they snap.

What are you doing to the poor things? Now I know why they put them on kids’ bikes. 😆

I too ruin Presta valves. Mostly with a hand pump.

Schrader are just solid.

Yup – they’re fine with track pumps but horrid with mini-pumps…

For years (about 12) I’ve had no problem with presta valves then in last year I’ve had 6 just loose pressure over about a week /10 days after inflating and need topping up, all new tubes, specialised and continental ones, not overly cheap, and on different bikes so not a hidden thorn or something. I’ve checked for punctures, leak is always at the valve did I get bad batches?
Or could something else affect things my pump maybe (Topeak Joe Blow track pump) it’s confused me so much I’m now re-patching old tubes (and still having similar issues) as I don’t want to drill out my Stans tubes (tubeless is next option but been there briefly before)

English Dunlop safety valve

Bloody Jonny Foreigners! You can keep you Shnader/pesto valves on the continent and in the Americas where they belong!

Presta for high pressure (everyone knows this)

Apart from your air shock, at 200psi….

iain1775 – check for sharp burrs around the valve hole on your rim maybe? My mate had this problem and we found the hole was drilled very rudimentarily and had sharp edges, causing multiple flats. Filed it down with a rat-tail file and all was well again.

EDIT; just read your post properly and seems unlikely…

Puncture was due to a thorn. Schwalbe tubes which came fitted with bike. The problems i have been experiencing and yes its easy to say open valve correctly, i have had it fully open to partially open and each time my track pump struggles to inflate the damn thing. Checked my rims and unfortunately they are to suit Presta only. Only other option would be to drill them out like mentioned earlier or tubless.

Presta on the road bike Schrader on the MTB even if it means drilling the rims to fit.

Presta on all bikes (if you have road bikes which only take Presta), even if you have to use rim adapters. Why on earth would you choose to have 2 different valve types, so have to make sure you’re taking the right pump (or have to faff around changing the head when you need to use the pump)? Am just about to change my unis (which all seem to come with Schrader) over to Presta.

Why on earth would you choose to have 2 different valve types, so have to make sure you’re taking the right pump

Quite agree, drill the rims and stick with schraeder. That said, I haven’t bought a pump in the last ten years which won’t do both with a tiny amount of effort.

presta isa besta

I managed to unscrew the end off a presta valve a while back, and lose it. That wasn’t ideal really.

Schrader rims can take either size, so Schrader clearly better there. Schrader is compatible with every car pump in the world, so also better there. What is Presta better at?

What is Presta better at?

looking svelte.. therefore making my bike faaaaast

Quite agree, drill the rims and stick with schraeder.

Er, did you read the bit where I mentioned road bikes (replying to somebody who clearly has both)?

Schrader rims can take either size, so Schrader clearly better there. Schrader is compatible with every car pump in the world, so also better there.

Presta tubes will fit in any rim, so Presta clearly better there! Why on earth would I want to use a car pump on my bike tyres (though if you’re bothered, an adapter is available)?

Though given the comments of most of the Schrader fans on here, clearly the answer is Schrader for the mechanically incompetent.

If your rims are not drilled for Schrader then you will be waiting a while for that emergency tube loan when you have none.

Schrader is best, as posted above they hold 200+psi in a shock fine and don’t snap off or bend.

Why on earth would I want to use a car pump on my bike tyres (though if you’re bothered, an adapter is available)?

I sometimes do when I’m being lazy have a nice digital inflator I use at races. Also most pumps do proper valves anyway not just those poncy prestas.

I’m still to see a good technical reason for using presta

schraeder every time

presta have no discernable benefit over schraeder but ate a bot more fiddly and fragile

Schrader. Presta are shite but the only ones you can use with tubeless & have no working advantage over Schrader.

you can use Schrader valve tubeless. Just get ones with a lockring and thread all the way down. You can then undo the valve core when adding sealant with a normal valve core tool and not need to buy expensive removable core prestas.

Presta. Strangely I find them easier to use as my mini pumps don’t seems to grab the fatter kind of valves.

you can use Schrader valve tubeless

only on rims that are wide enough in the ‘hollow’ bit, for example you cant get a schrader valve into a Mavic 819.

but woods are for winners

and give you a chance to use the little rubber tube in the Tip Top puncture kits!