mtb_addict

...what is those two white plastic thingy for?...looks like heat shrink tubings...

katsup

They are for dunlop / woods valve.

BikeLite

left over spaghetti?

mtb_addict

ok...i search internet and found the "sphagetti" acts as air seal and one-way valve...clever design...







See (C)...

CrowSeph

I learned something new. thanks

Pop N Wood

I was going to guess lo mein noodles left over from the guy who packed the box.

dabac

They’re simple and robust things.
We used to use longer pieces than that. Eventually the small rubber tubes degrade at the top end and the valve begins to leak. If you used longer pieces, it meant you were always carrying your spare parts. Simply scoot the tube further up, and you were ready to reinflate and ride on.
The only obvious drawback was flow. They took considerable force and time to inflate.
Nowadays there’s an improved version following the same standard, with a ball valve instead:

We used to call those ”lightning valves” BITD when they were new, in a reference to how much faster they were to inflate.

Milton Keynes

Hmm... I've never heard of Dunlop/Woods valves before. You learn something new every day.

I-Like-To-Bike

All of the bikes I bought in Germany 20 years ago were equipped with Dunlop/Woods tubes. None used the little rubber tubing in the val e assembly. All of these tubes were good for maintaining the air pressure for a long time and usually didn't need topping up for a week or so. I keep a small screw on adapter for Schrader air pump chucks in my tool kit (next to the adjustable wrench and have been carrying this kit for over 20 years, just no longer carry or need incandescent bulb spares. Occasionally I change out the glue and patches. Note that the spare tube also has the Dunlop valve.


Added pictures of Dunlop valve on my bike with and without screw on Schrader adapter.

JanMM

Have been aware for a long time that dunlop valves existed but have yet to see one. Rare item in the American heartland. I thought maybe the little rubber bits in patch kits were maybe for spreading out the “glue”.

I-Like-To-Bike

I had some correspondence with Sheldon Brown way back when; he dismissed the existence of such valves in his glossary entry for bike valves back when they were still the standard OEM tube used on bicycles sold in Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, India and who knows where else. He never changed the entry in his glossary but it has been updated presumably by the new website meister to provide more information about this kind of valve. I do not know if some of the bikes, if not most, sold in these countries are still originally equipped with Dunlop valves. Anybody know?

rsbob 

Wiki definition. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunlop_valve

wgscott

The only time I came across them was when I lived in England.

cubewheels

Chinese packer was clumsy with his noodles. I have totally no idea. I lost mine in a jiffy.

subgrade

Up until 90's Dunlop valves were the most common type on bikes here, by far. They have been falling out of favor since then, but are still common on simple city bikes.

Moe Zhoost

Same here. They actually worked well for that purpose.

I-Like-To-Bike

Could you estimate the percentage of bikes that you see being ridden in your city (presumably Riga) are simple city bikes?

I-Like-To-Bike

Thanks, one of the references for that definition, https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_w.html#woods is for the 2010 entry on Sheldon Brown's glossary "Woods valves were formerly popular in the British Isles and Asia", which I wrote to Sheldon about prior to 2002, and thought he might want to update to include much of the rest of Europe.

vane171

I had these on my bike when I was growing up and that bike was and old one, passed down from my father, probably dating back to 1950 or even earlier, in what was then Czechoslovakia. Last year, I posted here on the subject of vulcanization of tubes and was surprised that was used in US too, was postwar thing I think.

subgrade

That would be quite the task, if I'd need to come up with halfway precise numbers I'd guess somewhere around 20%. Currently most of the commuter bikes seem to be old and/or entry level MTBs.

I-Like-To-Bike

Thanks for your observation and estimate.

Harhir

These valves are still very common in Germany today. City and touring bikes still mostly use these type of valves. I grew up with these in Germany. Back in the 70s and 80s every bike had them except road bikes with narrow rims which used Presta valves. When I moved to the US in 2001 I was surprised not to find them at all.

Arthur Peabody

Me three.