Ok, I've not been involved in the cycling sport for some 20 years (bought an automobile in 1987), so things have "progressed." I don't know if I'm just looking in all the wrong places or if all of today's valve stems are hideously long. The Conti tubes I bought for my clinchers have stems designated 36mm in length. They make the wheels look butt-ugly (the black sidewalls don't help). Then I buy a set of three Servizio Corse sew-ups and they also sport a strangely long valve stem which for some reason is not threaded, thus no nut to secure it in place on the rim. (Dang nice $20.00 tires, though.)

Its probably just me, but I think these long stems look weird on an old bike with non-aero rims. Ok, I'm probably just getting old and cranky, but are short stems available for sew-ups?

Old and cranky John

I thought 36mm was normal.

48mm - now that's just wrong.

The Servizio Corse valve stems aren't too bad, athough I guess they are twice the length of a normal old valve stem, but they look ok on the "old box section" rims. Threaded valves with the little securing nut were one big pointless feature though, once they are on they arent going anywhere.

They make the valve stems longer because of the popularity of aero rims with deep cross sections. I have a set on my MTB that a standard length presta stem doesn't even clear the inside edge of the rim. I have to either run longer valves or valve extenders, which are hard to come by.

Because of wheels like this:

wow that is sexy no matter how long the valve stem is

Hey, I'm "compensating."

I'm thinking I should've invested in tubes with 28mm stems instead of the stock market.