Originally Posted by
Steely Dan
why do they even bother to make those removable core presta valves? what's the advantage? it seems to me that all they accomplish is having another potential point of failure in the valve stem. i have bought some tubes with removable core valves by accident, but I now make sure to only buy the good old fashioned tried-and-true prestas with the non-removable valve cores.
I always thought the ones with the removable cores were the old fashioned ones.
I've bent the threaded part of the valve plunger above the tiny nut before. I was able to straighten it out enough so that it would still open, but just barely. There's always a chance that one could get gummed up and not seal correctly. Maybe this was a bigger problem a few decades ago. My older brother rode everywhere back in the 70's. His old Peugeot sported "sew-ups" or tubulars which are kind of pain to put on your bike. He used to keep extra valve cores around because the last thing he wanted to do was replace a tube if he didn't need to.
My favorite presta-valve core story was from a couple of winters ago during a snow storm. I was at an intersection waiting for a light that typically takes forever. I thought I'd get better handling in the snow by dumping a few PSI from my front tire. I had to remove the valve cap first and I was surprised at how hard it was to turn. Figuring it was frozen I kept at it. Finally it came off, and along with it was a big whooshing sound. The valve cap had froze on and I had unscrewed the whole core.
Doh !