Originally Posted by
Jeff Neese
In keeping with the spirit of this thread, I contend that the "I'm too cool to bother" attitude is just posturing. And valve stems without caps just make a bike look ghetto.
Depends on the bike. Road race bikes without valve caps just look normal since most racers don't fit them - not here anyway. They are considered a bit like dork discs i.e. something you just discard straight away. On a casual cruiser bike they are just a cosmetic choice (at least for presta valves). But I always fit caps on my mountain bike just to keep mud/grit/sand away. I have one with an integrated valve core remover, which can be handy.