What are the differences between these?

Is one better for high pressure tires like on road bikes?

Shrader is used for car tires, no?

Schrader is the same as for cars.

Presta is used for skinny, high pressure tires because its a smaller diameter so you don't have to drill a big hole in the rim, and because its easier to pump to high pressure since it lacks a spring-valve.

It doesn't matter which you use. Try and use the same valves for all your bikes and tubes. I personally use presta for no particular reason.

I prefer presta because they are easier to fill with a hand pump (no spring fighting back), and because I can quickly and easily remove all air from them. With and adapter, you can use a normal car pump to fill them if you need, so that isn't necessarily a problem, either. Overall, they are simpler, and seem to be lower maintenance.

Shrader versus Presta: Cycling Religious War #23

Presta rules
Shrader sucks

I prefer PRESTA, less chance of valve leaks as it is closed by screw action

presta rocks!

Presta for the above-mentioned ease of filling with a hand pump.

You also get more street cred as a 'serious' cyclist.

Yep, I've been a Presta convert ever since I've got them with my LHT.

Don't care. For an amusing reason...um... presta looks less garish.

I believe I have seen Presta on some higher levels of some Mountain bikes before. Personally I think Presta is easier,


If you ever need to uses a Strader pump they have theses things, I keep on with all my bikes and in my back pack just in case. You can pick them up at any bike shop.

Do if your afraid of Presta witch I was kind of at first, all you need is an adapter, I now have even seen plastic adapters come with cheap pumps before.

Yep, I carry such an adapter in my wallet, and one in the saddlebag of the bike. 1E each or so.

There's a 3rd kind of valve. Schrader is usually seen (over here, Netherlands) only on mountain bikes, Presta only on racing bikes. I estimate 90+% of bikes here come with this valve (Woods valve, aka. Dutch valve):



Picture taken from Sheldon Brown's site: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_u-v.html

Here's more discussion about the various valve types: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/presta-schrader.html

Re: adapters

I just store mine screwed onto the valve stems, one on each wheel. They only cost a buck.

It just seems like the easiest place to keep them -- i.e. where they'll be used. I have a feeling someone here will tell me why that's a bad idea, though.

i prefer presta because of the nut that locks the valve down so it doesn't go into the wheel when you put the pump on.

Generally I try to buy Presta tubes, mostly on account of my rims are drilled for them

For me schrader has been less hassle to use.

If you unscrew the core and/or remove the spring the tube is just as easy to deflate.
Valve leaks are rare, even if the spring is removed, and a good gasketed valve cap will stop them.
I like that the delicate parts are recessed out of the way.
No adapter needed.

For many years I had only one bike remaining with presta, the one with the narrowest rims, but I finally decided to convert it so I am now 100% schrader.

Before and after:

If you're commuting you want a schrader valve or an adapter on a presta. That way you can inflate at a petrol station if necessary.

Vandals and thieves tend to be attracted by presta as the bike is generally more valuable.

Get good quality Shraeder tubes (like Schwalbe and Michelin) and they too are fully threaded and have lock nuts which is really nice.

Exactly! If you are a forgetful person like me, and you don't have your pump or your CO2s with you, a schrader valve and a conveniently-located gas station will improve your life.

I find that a good long walk often improves memory

Presta also is less vulnerable to valve stem cuts from the rim. Since they connect at the tube rather then have a sleeve of rubber running all the way to the top of the valve, the motion caused by using a hand pump (sawing the wheel back and forth) doesn't cut the stem and ruin the tube.

For a similar reason, using them on low pressure mountain bike tires makes sense too. At low pressures the tire can creep around the wheel dragging the valve stem up against the rim. A schrader can be cut and be ruined while a presta won't. A metal stemmed scrader doesn't have this problem but those are pretty rare.

Also, a presta doesn't have a core that can come loose on you and leak. Don't know how common that is but it's happened to me and you can't tighten them with your fingers.

The extra weight throws the whole balance of the wheel off.

Nobody here has mentioned this but I thought there was a problem with putting a presta tube in a rim made for schrader valves. The bigger hole in the rim can cause problems? Isn't there some type of adapter you need?

One thing I've noticed is that the presta valves seem to have a slower leak rate (the overall pressure decay between rides) than schrader. Although I don't have really hard data to support this.