Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
For skinny tires and skinny rims, I think the smaller hole for presta makes sense. But for wider rims for touring, I think the larger hole for Schrader does not really matter much when it comes to structural integrity. My 26 inch wheel touring bikes are drilled for Schrader but I have the little WHeels Mnfg adapter to use presta. The reason I drilled them was because in a lot of rural areas you might only be able to find Schrader for a 26 inch tire.
You're probably right! My wheel builder chose rims and tubes for Presta. I was going to ask for Schrader but decided to look things up, and decided presto was the way to go. The rims are wide to accommodate Big Apple tires (2.15) but have Presta valves. I have not built the wheels yet, but I think I'm going to stick to Presta.