Achtung! Watch out for your valves!

[Dear_Leader]

Some of you "older folks" might recall my post of 2002 detailing how my front tyre valve sheared on leading to a sudden blow out, thankfully when the tyre was being replaced.

 

Well on Sat I had the entire front tyre deflate at over 70mph on the freeway. The valve unit had simply blown out of the rubber stem. I managed to control the bike and pull over (you CANNOT apply any brakes as the linked system would brake the front wheel).

 

$380 for a tow back to town, $15 for a replacement value and $5 for a valium. Replacement trousers? Priceless.

 

Now for the lesson. Go into yout dealer and have the rubber stemmed valves repalced with metal ones that go right through the rim and have nuts holding them on each side of the rim. These are like motocross valves, cost next to nothing, look good in chrome and above all - CANNOT SHEAR OFF OR FALL OUT.

 

A few bucks vs your life!

 

Cheers

Paul in Oz.

[Haynes]

It's those rotten NSW roads.

[KDeline]

Funny, I have close to 300,000 miles on tubeless tires, have never replaced a valve stem, and never had problems. In fact you are the only one I have heard of. I think you have another contributing factor to have two of them go out.

[SkidMark]

I never had problems with mine untill I clothes pinned playing cards to my front forks so that I could have that realy cool motorsound.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Please do run valve stem caps.

I have been over 200 mph once and over 160 many times with standard tubeless valves in my rims and never a problem. We are required to have a metal valve stem cap in place to prevent centrifugal force from opening the Shraeder valves in the stem and letting the air out.

 

I would say that any failure would have to be due to abuse on install or improper install.

[RFW]

The correct German in this instance would be "VORSICHT" not "ACHTUNG". The Sprachpolizei (language police) have spoken!

 

Bob.

[SpaceKing]

Bob, you are priceless. Still riding in the cold Vancouver winter?

(Minor hijack)

beno

[RFW]

Bob, you are priceless. Still riding in the cold Vancouver winter?

(Minor hijack)

beno

Yup! Last week got a bit chilly (-4 or -5 celsius for those not from here), but now it's just rain. Nothing like a good brisk (and maybe wet) ride to get the blood flowing!

 

Bob.