When were presta tubes invented? When were they first widely used on bikes and why? Were they originally for racing applications only?

Who can learn me some presta knowledge?

EDIT: I guess i should have named this thead "Presta Valves" instead of tubes. Can someone fix that?

My earliest recollection of them was the late 60,s !

There's this thing they call 'The Google' that can answer most questions fairly simply.

https://tinyurl.com/d2t2et

See my sig, soon.

I didn't find a date from page 1 results

https://tinyurl.com/lsjpc9

what fun is google when we can have such great conversations about this stuff right here?

+5. Yeah, buddy.

Done

Hee-hee! That's neato the way you did that with google.

I think they were used because they were smaller than schrader valves, and thus lighter. also, the little bead that screws down to prevent the pin from being pushed accidentally was a pretty useful step forward.

well, I tried your new search, and still no date. I did find a US patent date of an earlier French design, but that's as close as I got.

Okay, I remember Presta valves from the early 1950s. The common bicycle tire valve then was the Woods (Dunlop) valve, but Presta valves were found on lightweight bikes using High Pressure or Tubular tires. Over time, the Schrader (car type) valve replaced the Woods on common bikes, while the Presta remained the standard valve on high quality bikes.

I remember the Dunlop valve on some bikes in the 1960s. I liked those.

All the others I recall from my youth were Schrader, which I think are superior to Presta valves. Certainly more durable, and can even be fixed if the valve core goes bad.

I remember having a valve core stem wrench, for removing the cores or tightening them up. Still have it in my toolbox.

Who cares about a valve being fixable? It's just a tube, for pete's sake. Buy a new one. Bikes for kids and utility bikes, and cheap 10 speed bikes had Schraeder valves because none of those had high pressure tires, and a schraeder is easier for the average person to use. It requires no skill at all, and in those days, there were auto service stations with free air pumps on just about every other corner. The ordinary schraeder valve is far from superior for road cyclists who have road tires. In fact, most people would say they are impossible to use in that context. My original road bike, a 1969 or 70 Raleigh 10-speed has Dunlop tires with Schraeder valves, but it was just a cheap bike boom 10-speed (a sportier version of the classic English roadster, basically). It had low pressure road tires. But even back then, anything above cheap 10-speed had presta valves.

In today's context I guess I can understand that, but back in the day, especially on a bike that was ridden well away from town centers I can see plenty of advantages to having a re-buildable valve. Even today on an unsupported tour I'd love to be able to repair a presta in the middle of nowhere if there screw part were to release and shoot of of the valve rendering the tube useless. Sure, I can bring another tube, but if the first one could be repaired, why not?

I'm guessing you don't patch your tubes either eh?

Patch kits sold in Europe still come with a short section of rubber tube; you use that for fixing the Woods/Dunlop valve. It's an easy fix, you don't even have to take the tire off. Replacing a tube, especially if your bike has a full chaincase, would be an incredible hassle in comparison.

Yes, Schrader valves are reliable, but they're heavy valves for heavy bikes. Nowadays you only find them on cheap department store bikes and mountain bikes. Although I do have a Miyata 310 ladies bike with alloy rims and made of butted chrome moly that has Schrader valves. But it does have those awful counterweighted pedals with integral reflectors.

Some presta valves have replaceable cores.....

I never ride without at least one spare tube, and when I get a flat, I bring the flatted one home to patch it. Patching on the road is too problematic to fiddle with, and so I only do it when forced to because I've run out of spare tubes. This isn't too different than what you do if you use tubular tires, so there's nothing unusual with that approach. I don't worry too much about what I would do if I were riding through the deepest jungles of Africa or the steppes of outer Mongolia, since I very much doubt I will ever ride my bike there.

There's nothing wrong with Schraeder valves if you ride on low pressure tires, but even then, once you know how to use it, a presta valve is much better. I only used Schraeders for years until I finally could afford a better bike.

fair enough. I've patched tubes on the road in less than 10 minutes about 1,000 times and so have many people I tour with. I'd also love to ride my bike through Mongolia or Africa though, so I guess we're just coming from different camps.

I still use them. I haven't had a problem yet.

Very nice, dudeona3V! Any other kind of valve would be out of place on a Westwood rim.

THAT would be fun!