Valve ripping off inner tube
 

I thought I was putting in the size inner tube my bike required. I did put in the same size it came with as a used bike. But the first time I took these new inner tubes for a spin I rode one mile and was almost back home when the valve area ripped from the edge of the tube. It appears the tire slipped back so far that the force of the valve cap holding on to the rim and pulling against the inner tube just ripped it apart. Does this mean the inner tube was too big in diameter for the tire?

The same thing happened to the inner tube it came with btw, but I had just thought it was an old weak tube and did not realize that slippage was the cause. "Bike Tips For Dummies" welcome. :D

I'm not sure if you got the tube size right or not (check the package and see if it matches the range of your tire size...), but it sounds like you spun the tire around the rim.

Remove your tires and clean the beads of your tires and the flange on your rims (where your tires seat up inside the rims). My favorite cleaner for this is rubbing alcohol; it degreases well evaporates quickly, and is not a harsh petrochemical.

Clean your braking surface while you're at it!

The above steps should reduce the tendency of your tire to spin on the rim (under hard braking, the rim stops, but the tire keeps travelling with the road.)

You should also powder the tube with tire talc (or baby powder, make sure that it's 100% talc). Try to keep it off of the areas that you just cleaned!

With the talc, if the tire does spin, it's less likely that it will drag (and tear) the tube with it...

Thanks, Yes it did happen with breaking or just after. I have cleaned this bike top to bottom including the braking area of the rims but not inside where the inner tube goes, so will get to that immediately.

The powder thing works great. I ripped a couple off while doing off road descents. Not fun having a front tire blow out at 40mph in the dirt. :eek:

After I used powder, I have not had any more problems.

Also, make sure you are not using a presta tube with a schrader rim.

Thanks. How do I tell if it is presta or shraeder since I got the bike used and was just replacing it with what was on it?

Been too wet and cold to take itout again to see if the cleaning has fixed the problem

Schraeder valves are like what is on a car tire. Presta is the skinny "Euro" style valve stem.

A presta stem would wiggle around a lot in a scrhraeder valve sized hole...

Hope it works out for you!

Very curious problem you have there, Mr. TexCycler.

Usually, the tube slips in the tire when the tire is ridden while under-inflated. Make sure that your tire is inflated properly at all times.

By the way, a Schraeder valve is similar to the valve on an automobile tire. It can be inflated with the type of valve zirk used to inflate automobile tires. A Presta valve is thinner than a Schraeder valve and uses a different type of air valve zirk.