csimons

Greetings. I have recently purchased my first road bike and have gotten my first flat. I'm about to place an order for some extra tubes and had a few questions I thought the kind folks here might answer.

(1) My bike tires say '700x23c', but the Vittoria tubes I'm looking at have two sizes that seem to match: 700x23c,42mm and 700x23c,51mm. Is this last unit the valve length? If so, does it really matter?

(2) I purchased a bicycle pump at Walmart that had a gauge with a reading range at around 150 psi, and so I thought that would be adequate. When I tried to pump up my tubes and pushed the handle down at around 100 psi, one side of the handle just snapped off. Any recommendations for a good, durable road bike pump?

(3) I'm looking to buy tubes in the $6-7 range, as this is the range where I am seeing tubes with frequent 5-star ratings (looking at JensonUSA). Given that I am new to biking and don't care a great deal about slight weight differences, is there any reason I should look to purchase more expensive tubes?

(4) Any recurring positive/negative experiences with Maxxis or Vittoria tubes?

Thanks for any assistance. I appreciate your time and input.


Christopher L. Simons

C-R700

I think your over thinking tubes too much. I just walk into my LBS tell them I need 2-3 tubes and I am out. I don't see the need to buy high quality tubes, I seldom use more than 2 a year.

pretzelface

It's the valve length. The longer stem is useful for deep-section rims. You said it's your first road bike; the wheels that come on most entry-level road bikes don't have particularly deep rims. The 42 mm stems will be fine. The 51 mm stems won't hurt anything, but they might look weird, and they'll be slightly more fragile.

Top-name pumps such as Silca and Lezyne are fantastic, but expensive. Anything sold at a reputable bike shop will be fine. I have this one: https://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/...=9306&eid=5134. It works fine.

For normal butyl rubber tubes, the difference between brands is less than the difference between manufacturing runs. Unless you have a burning need for ultra-light tubes, require a removable valve core to add sealant (or fill them up with water), or want to jump on the latex tube bandwagon, just buy whatever's cheapest.

longbeachgary

Yeah, don't over think it. Tubes that fit 700x23 will say something along the lines of 700x20 - 700x25. Buy a couple now but when they go on sale buy a ton. Last time they were half price I bought a dozen.
(valve length only matters if they're too short although I like to have the shortest ones that will fit because I think they look better.
Also, it's best not to buy bike stuff from Walnart - go to a shop.

joe_5700

I have had excellent luck with a Schwinn floor pump that I got from a local K-Mart. It has worked perfectly for 3+ years and when it fails, I will do the right thing and get my next one at my LBS.

milkbaby

For a floor pump, I have two, but the 2nd one I got is my fave, a Lezyne Classic Floor Drive:
https://www.lezyne.com/products/floor...r-drive-2.html

Their new Lezyne Steel Floor Drive has the reversible screw on chuck head and is $10 cheaper:
https://www.lezyne.com/products/floor...r-drive-2.html

The reversible screw on chuck head is awesome. The other pump I had got the chuck seal tore up quickly by presta valve stems for some reason. It was always tough to get a good seal, no such problems with the Lezyne. I liked it so much I got one of their mini pumps for road use.