Metal valve stems

[TonyS]

On a recent camping ride one of the bikes developed a leak at the base of the valve stem. The irony here is that we had just discussed changing valve stems prior to changing the tire and had decided not to. Have any of you installed metal valve stems on an 1150RT's rims? If so, which brand?

[squints]

I inquired about it at Mortons and the mechanic said he didn't recommend them because they sometimes wouldn't seal against the rims on the 1150rt's. I have never paid attention to the inside of the rim to say for sure so I just took his word for it. Maybe if you change yours you could post a pic.

[TonyS]

Doug took his tire off today to change the valve stem. The problem was not the rubber part against the rim. The brass tube in the valve stem had seperated from the rubber portion.

[kinchy]

Happened to me as well 80 miles from home. The culprit was the valve stem extenders I bought from the dealer. If you have them on I suggest remove ASAP

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Doug took his tire off today to change the valve stem. The problem was not the rubber part against the rim. The brass tube in the valve stem had seperated from the rubber portion.

 

It's surprising to me that these stems tolerate as much abuse as they do, given their internal construction. I sawed one in half this summer for a look inside. Here's what I saw:

 

 

As you can see, there isn't a huge amount of surface bonding the brass to the rubber. And there's no texture, no flared end, it's just smooth brass glued/vulcanized to smooth rubber. It tolerates thousands of miles of cyclic stresses, hard bumps, and repeated crushing loads when you push a tire pressure gauge onto it, and twisting loads when you screw a cap on or off.

 

If you can find a metal stem that fits and seals reliably with the rim, I'd say go for it.