Bicycle Mechanics - Spontaneous Presta valve failure?

So I'm sitting in my office minding my own business when out of nowhere I hear that distinctive sound we all love to hate - Ppssssssss. What the hey? In the spare office/store room across the hall, my bike has suddenly had a flat! When I tried to pump up the tube to see where the problem was I couldn't even get it to pump because the VALVE wouldn't hold air. Apparently the valve just failed. I guess the little gasket/seal blew out or something. Anyone had anything like this happen?
Regards,
Raymond

Originally posted by RainmanP
... I couldn't even get it to pump because the VALVE wouldn't hold air. Apparently the valve just failed. I guess the little gasket/seal blew out or something.

I have occasionally encountered a leaking presta or schraeder valve core, but the problem is usually apparent as soon as I remove the pump head. I don't ever recall having one suddenly blow out like that, which could be a bit scary on a front tyre during a fast descent! Your diagnosis is probably correct. Is the storeroom particularly warm? What [cold] tyre pressure do you generally run? (I am really fishing here, as the rim or the tyre casing or bead should fail long before the valve core does.)

I had a Presta valve fail, but I put it down to a build up of slime on the valve.

Richard

Any OZONE alerts in New Orleans recently?...

No unusual conditions, normal room temperature, etc. I'm not losing any sleep over it. I was just wondering if this is a common phenomenum.
Raymond

just whanted to coment on presta valves being useless. i will gladdly respond to any questions on the matter.
every advantage ive heard is false.
dont even start with they are sexy.
if you have aero rims dont even bother me.
shrader is better.

hey huffy, shove it.....just because your bike....probably a crappy huffy didnt come with presta tubes dosent mean you have to diss them.....you probably havent even use them before!!:mad: Presta are easier to pump with a hand pump because there is no spring, they are lighter, and the hole in the rim dosent have to be cut as big if using a presta valve. SO SHUDDAP

hey klein guy.
i have used the french valve, and hope it disapears like other french folies of the past.
are you not strong enough to push air past a spring?
air out a pump is regulated by inside diameter and length of stroke. per stoke air volume is the same regardless of valve. as for size of hole, the 32/36 upper holes of dubble walled rims are close in size. i have seen very few failures at valve holes. lots more on the other side (seam).
as for weight american valves probably weigh less than french with the adaptor screwed on it as i usualy see them.
i know you have bent presta tips
broken them off
and even called them a dirty word at least once.
if i can get at least one person to drill there rim out to schrader my day is complete.
ill shove a huffy in to youre bike and see who gets the least damage, dad.

i have never broken the cap to a presta valve, and i have never cussed at one.......so go sit in the corner.

Over the years, I have had a lot of bikes, some with presta valves and some with schrader valves. I have never had a problem with a presta valve, not even in the cheapest tube. Schrader vaves, on the other hand, always spray air back when being disconnetcted, lowering the pressure held within, and always seem to leak air past the seals.
You used to be able to find tubes with replaceable presta cores (and, if anybody can tell me where I can still find them, please let me know!), but presta tubes today seem to be of the "throw 'em away" variety.
Well, I'm sure somebody who rides a huffy can't see the value in a valve that doesn't leak-after all, they do cost $1 more than a schrader valve, and you have to actually pump them up yourself (not good for the fat-@$$ who relies on the local Exxon station to provide him with free compressed air).

to klein, baddger,and d*alex.
i know you guys have issuses.
but making fun of my first bike is low.
many people around the world would love to own a huffy.
most that do ride them and love cycling, maybe they wish for a more expensive bike, but never do reasonable people wish for french valves. i own many bikes now but not a huffy but if it wasnt for that bike i probably would be a fat @ss filling up my s.u.v. at exxon. to visit in-mates in upstate new york. hand pump that skinny snobs.

Originally posted by huffy4130
i will gladdly respond to any questions on the matter.
...presta valves being useless.
If so, why do you think so many use them?

every advantage ive heard is false.
Which advantages are those?

dont even start with they are sexy.
Do you believe people think of valves as "sexy"?

if you have aero rims dont even bother me.
Do they? I mean, bother you? And why?

shrader is better.
In what ways?

Please, do respond gladdly - i.e., no flaming.
I'm actually interested in your views and I have no issues with your bike.

TIA
Eddie

RainmanP, is your presta valve metal? I had a presta vavle go flat suddenly because the rim cut through the rubber.
Schrader valves are junk, period.

What I like best about bicycle innertubes, rims, and pumps is that, in most sizes, one gets a choice of valve compatibility. I have schraeders on my wife's and kids' bikes and prestas on mine and a Nashbar high-pressure floor pump which speaks both German and French fluently. On the road, I can flip the two elements inside the head of my Blackburn or Zefal HPX frame-fit pump as needed to assist any cyclist in distress.

The only grief I have had with prestas was that I occasionally bent the plunger when using the now-defunct Mt. Zefal pump which came with my Schwinn KOM-10. I have not experienced this problem with any other frame-fit, floor, or mini pump.

Alex, I also miss those great screw-on, replaceable, steel presta (or schraeder) valve stems of the 1960s and 1970s.

I have had spontaneous deflation on a few occasions. The most recent must have been within the past week or so. I took a set of wheels off my Basso and switched to some sew-ups. The clinchers were hanging on the wall in my garage. One is low in pressure as you might expect the other completely flat. Every other occurrence has been in my garage as well. Heat related? It, with the exception of yesterday, has been a hot winter.

I'll admit to having bent a presta valve or two and even broke one once. However, the fault has been mine not the design of the valve. I have no problems with prestas.

:beer:

I have only had a few Presta vavle problems., I have bent a few of the valves with my mini pump. I have never had a problem with my floor pump. (Improper pumping technique, im sure.)

When mtn biking, i have had a twig rip the valve apart. Wouldnt have happend with a schrader stem. I also keep a small schrader adaptor in my camelbak for gas-station refills.

For city / commuting and mountain biking use, you may be better off with a schrader setup. For high pressure setups (road cycling), i think presta is the only way.

IMO - Presta is best. No contest.

I've never had a problem with presta.

All my bikes are presta.

My hybrid bike has Schrader and my road/touring bikes have Presta. I prefer to install Presta. The threaded nut stabilizes the valve as you pump it up.
Problems with both are rim eventually rubbing through the valve. Seems have had more problems with Scraeder than with Presta. I get great mileage out of my Prestas.

Rainman,
I think I had something like that happen once, in the last 30 years. I might have had a customer have a problem like that too but I can't remember for sure. I think I just tossed the tube, replaced it and went on. Even th even best systems or products have ocasional lemons. I've had some flats that seemed to be valve related, but proved to be glass fragments that worked their way into the tire over as much time as several days.

Ride Relaxed
Pat

Pat,
Yeah, I just replaced the tube and didn't lose any sleep over it. Just posted about it out of curiosity.
Regards,
Raymond

Pat and Raymond are right, of course, but it was interesting to see so much passion unleashed over valve stems. By the way, many of us remember the 1960s, when every bicycle in the U.S. had either clincher/wired-on tyres with schraeders or tubulars with prestas. In the U.S., presta-valved innertubes were rare until the early 1970s, when the Michelin Elan and subsequent low-profile, high-pressure clinchers arrived and began to take market share away from tubulars. In 1971, the only American cyclists with presta-valved clinchers were those of us who owned two sets of wheels (clinchers and tubulars) and (presta-only) Silca frame pumps.

Presta or Schraeder, if the rim is not covered in the area around the valve or if the valve hole has burrs or sharp edges then you will get flats due to the rim cutting a circle around the base of the valve. Smooth the edges of the valve hole, cover it properly with rim strip or tape and for Presta users, make sure that the hole is not oversized for the valve. Valves themselves fail most often when the core isn't properly tightened--and that is, about 10 to 1, more of a Schraeder than a Presta problem.