Those stupid things on tubes

littledove44
littledove44 Posts: 871
edited April 2014 in Road general
After weeks of hunting an annoying rattle it turns out to be those stupid things that hold the valve stem. Do they serve any purpose at all apart from holding the stem through the rim before it is inflated?

Now firmly hand tightened.

Comments

  • supermurph09
    supermurph09 Posts: 2,471
    Interested in the replies as my new bike didnt come with any attached and the ones I have won't fit. (Krysium Elite S).
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    Yes - they are there to annoy you, slow you down when changing tubes and to hold the valve in place when the tube is flat.
    The only use I have for the valve caps is to stop the valve from rubbing the tube when it's in the saddle bag ...:)
  • 86inch
    86inch Posts: 161
    Take them off, and chuck them in the bin. Along with the dustcap.
  • macleod113
    macleod113 Posts: 560
    get rid of them. they server no purpose as far as i can see unless your valve hole in the rim is a lot wider than the valve stem?
    Cube Cross 2016
    Willier GTR 2014
  • monkimark
    monkimark Posts: 1,926
    Reading the title, I expected the answer to be London commuters.
  • arran77
    arran77 Posts: 9,260
    Don't see that they serve any purpose at all, I don't have them on one of my bikes. All they do is rattle and add weight :wink:
    "Arran, you are like the Tony Benn of smut. You have never diluted your depravity and always stand by your beliefs. You have my respect sir and your wife my pity" :lol:

    seanoconn
  • Initialised
    Initialised Posts: 3,047
    I've taken to installing them inside the wheel to prevent my pump ripping off the valve. The best one's for this are those designed to allow a Presta tube in a Schrader hole.
    I used to just ride my bike to work but now I find myself going out looking for bigger and bigger hills.
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    I have a pump with a hose - it doesn't stress the valve when I'm pumping ...
  • arran77
    arran77 Posts: 9,260
    monkimark wrote:
    Reading the title, I expected the answer to be London commuters.

    They're the daft ones who ride bikes in London :wink:
    "Arran, you are like the Tony Benn of smut. You have never diluted your depravity and always stand by your beliefs. You have my respect sir and your wife my pity" :lol:

    seanoconn
  • me-109
    me-109 Posts: 1,915
    monkimark wrote:
    Reading the title, I expected the answer to be London commuters.
    Bah! Beat me to it!
  • veronese68
    veronese68 Posts: 27,804
    arran77 wrote:
    monkimark wrote:
    Reading the title, I expected the answer to be London commuters.

    They're the daft ones who ride bikes in London :wink:
    You're not allowed to ride your bike on the tube you ninny. :P
  • arran77
    arran77 Posts: 9,260
    Veronese68 wrote:
    arran77 wrote:
    monkimark wrote:
    Reading the title, I expected the answer to be London commuters.

    They're the daft ones who ride bikes in London :wink:
    You're not allowed to ride your bike on the tube you ninny. :P

    :lol:

    Some of the tube journeys I used to make when I worked up in town were so crowded that you had a job to get on if you had even a bag with you.

    The first contracts manager that I worked for used to say that traveling on the tube was the best sex he ever had :lol:
    "Arran, you are like the Tony Benn of smut. You have never diluted your depravity and always stand by your beliefs. You have my respect sir and your wife my pity" :lol:

    seanoconn
  • navrig2
    navrig2 Posts: 1,851
    They are useful if you have a short valve and a deep rim. They stop the valve disappearing into the wheel when trying to inflate the tube.

    Other than that - bin.
  • adr82
    adr82 Posts: 4,002
    Slowbike wrote:
    I have a pump with a hose - it doesn't stress the valve when I'm pumping ...
    Is this one of the ones that screws on to the pump? They can be really annoying too. I refuse to use them after a horrible time I had one day when unscrewing the pump head also kept unscrewing the inner part of the valve and all the air I had painstakingly pumped in came rushing out again. Not fun. Even less fun when it happened 3 times in a row on a freezing day in the rain with my fingers getting increasingly numb. If you know of a portable pump that has the clip on/off attachment + a hose please do tell!
  • Jon_1976
    Jon_1976 Posts: 690
    The only time they are useful (for me) is when I'm inflating a new tube as my track pump valve head is a bit awkward (crap design IMO). The tube valve bolt makes it a tad easier, after they get taken off.
  • Wirral_paul
    Wirral_paul Posts: 2,476
    Veronese68 wrote:
    arran77 wrote:
    monkimark wrote:
    Reading the title, I expected the answer to be London commuters.

    They're the daft ones who ride bikes in London :wink:
    You're not allowed to ride your bike on the tube you ninny. :P

    You arent allowed to ride through red lights either............... but since when has that stopped the average London Communter?? :wink::wink: