I was having the same issue on my trek while using a new tube I purchased at walmart, went on bought a tube from one of the lbs near me and haven't had an issue since. The rubber felt firmer on the lbs tube where the walmart tube felt much softer

I'm not doubting what you felt, but I'm a bit puzzled, if the air pressure is the same how would one butyl tube feel softer over another? I have experienced that sensation going from Butyl to Latex, I have felt a sluggish sensation going from ultralight to heavy Slime filled tubes, maybe that's what you felt? The weight of the cheaper Walmart tube being sluggish? But never what you experienced from butyl to butyl in regards to softness of the ride. If anything I would have thought the thinner tube would be more comfortable due to it's elasticity vs a thicker tube, but again I doubt you could feel anything except the weight. Maybe your the type of person that can feel a pea under your mattress, I don't know.

Maybe someone else can throw some light on this.

Throw away the stem nut, too.
If you use them, you may be overtightening it.

Yeah, there is no need for those. Some people find they can pump the tire up easier with the valve stem locked into position, but I've never found that to be the case.

I was talking about the feel of the tube it self, the ride I couldn't tell the difference

LOL!!! I'm sorry, I thought you were talking about the ride quality!! That's funny!

The feel of the tube shouldn't have anything to do with anything other then their probably using cheaper rubber formulation which probably means it won't last as long...though I'm not sure that's true because I had kids bikes that had the same Walmart tube in their tires for more then 10 years and they didn't fail.

Again maybe someone knows this answer better then I.

Do you own a 74 Dodge? If so what model? or does that mean dodging traffic since 74? Or something else completely different?

I now have some presta tubes and the rubber rim grommets and I guess I am an idiot, because I can't seem to get them installed correctly.

Is my schematic correct? I'm not even sure I'm understanding how to use them right.



I keep reading to install from the inside, which to me makes it sound like they go in close to the spoke side of the rim, but there's no way on these aero rims that that's gonna work right. Plus I don't see the point of putting them on that side, because I don't get how it would prevent the tube/stem from herniating.

I know someone said they go in the tire side... So you don't insert them on the spoke side, right? Flat side of the grommet faces towards the tire side, and slanted side faces towards the spokes?

When I try inserting the rubber grommet on the tire side in 2 different ways, I get problems with each:

1.) If I put the grommet on the presta stem itself, and then try to force everything through the hole, I can't seem to get the grommet to seat correctly through the rim's hole. I push down hard, but I can't seem to push down far enough for it to catch, I guess. Maybe there's still some rim tape in the way of the hole...

2.) If I put the grommet in place on the rim first, and then try to insert the valve stem through it, it gets very tight and then the grommet just gets pushed through the hole entirely. I even tried greasing the inside of the grommet and the valve stem threads (lol). Don't even get me started on how the grommet actually fell inside the rim innards - I had to go crazy trying to shake it around to align it it with the hole so I could fish it out with tweezers.

Lol

eeks, sounds like you're have loads of fun. Mine just pressed in very snugly but no problems like yours. I pressed my in from the spoke side of the rim. Try this, put some liquid soap using a Q-tip on the rim hole and the around the adapter, other wise you can use your fingers instead of a Q Tip but be careful because your fingers will be slippery so you may want to have a paper towel around, then try snapping it into place.

Also you could try heating the adapter up a bit to make it more flexible, but you don't want to melt it, blow a hair dryer over it while holding it the end of a tooth pick then when it's hot to the touch insert it quickly into the rim.

Thanks very much for the advice. I think it's just the aero rims on the bike that threw me. They are very deep and heavily curved, so the rubber grommet doesn't seem to want to sit in there right. Not sure if I'm an idiot or they just aren't compatible.

A quick run to the LBS got me a couple of the metal type of adapters. Put those in from the tire side a la the instructions on the Park Tools tube page [search text for "adapter sleeve"]. Only thing is that, per the instructions from the LBS guy, I set the metal sleeve in the rim hole first and then pushed the valve stem through.

So far I have 85 PSI in there, which is the max the tire can take. Let's see what happens.

I thought you had box style rims typical of 27" wheels. In that case, you may have been right, maybe those grommets just don't work on those type of rims. So you got the metal ones and they work, great. I put my grommets into a box style rim I had on my 85 Schwinn Le Tour Luxe and they work perfectly for that rim style. Heck, I didn't even know they made deeper aero rims for schrader valves...I guess I bit behind of the 27" rim technology!!!

The impression I get is that the deep rims + schrader valves thing is getting more popular with the newer department store bikes which are starting to be sold at the lower-mid level (~$250). The components are decent, creeping up on the lower end of the LBS territory, but I get the impression the manufacturers don't want to stray from Schrader valves, because the less-hardcore buyers find them familiar and convenient. This is exactly the type of bike that I'm having these problems with.

Anyway...

I tried the Presta tube with the metal rim adapter at 85 PSI and it flatted out on me overnight again. It was kinda weird; it was another flat in the belly of the tube, but this time it wasn't near where the valve reinforcement patch was, but about 20 degrees away from it. I'll post a photo when I have time. So just switching to Presta with some valve-tugging didn't seem to do the trick. (I wanted to try the path of least resistance first.) Back to the drawing board with the suggestions earlier in this thread...

Not sure how related this comment is, but here goes.

This is why I appreciate Apple's closed systems. That guarantees everything will work.

With things with as many variables like bikes, these types of things may work sometimes and not other times. 38mm on a 13mm wide rim? Sure it might work. Sure it might now. But Apple streamlines these types of things so that there's no way that one of their products will not work with another.

Back to the regular scheduled [strike]programming[/strike] bickering.

If that hole in the tube is on the belly again then you probably need a new rim strip, and if you have to do that then you probably need to do the other wheel too just to be safe.