LHT in Madison

I prefer presta but when I built up a touring bike a few months ago with 26 inch wheels I wanted to avoid getting stranded in schrader land so I drilled the rims to fit schrader and I installed the Wheels Mfg adapters in the rims before I put on rim tape. Thus, if I run out of presta tubes in schrader land, I can peel off a bit of rim tape and pull out the adapters. Since I am using rims for 26X2.0 tires, the rims are quite wide and I was not concerned about weakening the rim by drilling it.

vik 

I ride 95% presta valves and have not had any problems at home or on tour. You can always carry a $0.50 adapter if you are worried about getting air at a gas station....I can't recall the last time I did that so I don't bother.

GetUpnGo

Thanks, all. I've decided I should give these rims a chance before making any change.

staehpj1

Probably a good choice. You can always change your mind later. As was said, anywhere you can but a tube you can probably buy or borrow a reamer.

BTW, I don't get the talk about tearing Presta stems off or breaking them. I've never done that once even and I have been using them for about 30 years on almost all of my bikes. Just use reasonable care not to yank on them sideways with the pump when pumping them up.

imi

^ this

I have an extra ring on my valves. One that screws down to the rim (as per normal), and the other which I screw to about half way up the valve when pumping. This keeps the pump at the right height and avoids it slipping and bending the valve (hope this makes sense)...

However I recently bought a Topeak Road Morph pump (thanks guys - all the recommendations on BF are costing me a lot of money which is gentler on the valves thanks to the tube and locking system...