Continental Inner Tubes

chatlow

Just a quick post.. I've had problems with my rear wheel losing pressure from 110psi down to 70ish within a day or so of standing still. My last two inner tubes have been Continental race and it's happened with both. The second time around the tyre itself was changed as well so can rule that out.

Has anyone else had issues with continentals?

Thanks

sirmol

I can't comment on the Conti's but if you are after a change i've had no issues with specialized inners.

brettjmcc

I have found that you need to make sure the removable valve is screwed in enough, otherwise it will lose pressure. Once that's done, all good

sungod

^^^ this

as shipped the valve cores are not screwed in tight

chatlow

brettjmcc wrote:

I have found that you need to make sure the removable valve is screwed in enough, otherwise it will lose pressure. Once that's done, all good

Bit slow tonight, but erm.. removable valve?

foggymike

Conti valves, and quite a few others, have removable cores. You can unscrew the working bit of the valve (the core) from the tube it sits in. If you look closely you'll see flat edges on the tube that comes out of the rubber inner tube (toward the top) and just above that on the valve itself. When new the cores are often a bit loose which is why your tyres are going down! You need to snug it up a bit to tighten the valve core into the tube it sits in. There are little tools for this you can buy or that come with some wheels, but a pair of pliers will do. Don't overdo it, just tighten it down so it's firmly closed. Job done, 5 seconds.

chatlow

foggymike wrote:

Conti valves, and quite a few others, have removable cores. You can unscrew the working bit of the valve (the core) from the tube it sits in. If you look closely you'll see flat edges on the tube that comes out of the rubber inner tube (toward the top) and just above that on the valve itself. When new the cores are often a bit loose which is why your tyres are going down! You need to snug it up a bit to tighten the valve core into the tube it sits in. There are little tools for this you can buy or that come with some wheels, but a pair of pliers will do. Don't overdo it, just tighten it down so it's firmly closed. Job done, 5 seconds.

thanks a lot for this - will take a look later on. Why on earth would they not be screwed down tight from factory and is there anything on the packaging about this?

foggymike

Nope, nothing on the packaging. I imagine it's so if you want to add an extender for deep sections it's easy to do. It's useful if you have deeper rimmed wheels so the valve is always accessible. They should say to check really though, sometimes they are just finger tight which isn't enough out the box as you've found.

brettjmcc

foggymike wrote:

Nope, nothing on the packaging. I imagine it's so if you want to add an extender for deep sections it's easy to do. It's useful if you have deeper rimmed wheels so the valve is always accessible. They should say to check really though, sometimes they are just finger tight which isn't enough out the box as you've found.

Yep, the conti extenders when mixed with their tubes are pretty good. I used to run the Topeak ones and went through loads not working properly. No issue now for over 2 years with the Conti extenders (other extenders of this type are available)

As for packagin... I normally get them in a bag 10 at a time 8)

meanredspider

Yup - out on a ride a couple of weeks ago - fellow rider had a puncture, screw on pump adaptor and a loose conti valve. 3 attempts later (2 unscrewed valves then a different pump) and we finally got going again. I have no idea why conti can't screw these in properly at the factory. It's not hard to do yourself but I wonder how many of their customers have issues before they discover they need to do it?

Tjgoodhew

meanredspider wrote:

Yup - out on a ride a couple of weeks ago - fellow rider had a puncture, screw on pump adaptor and a loose conti valve. 3 attempts later (2 unscrewed valves then a different pump) and we finally got going again. I have no idea why conti can't screw these in properly at the factory. It's not hard to do yourself but I wonder how many of their customers have issues before they discover they need to do it?

I learnt this lesson last Saturday. Out on a ride and punctured. Swapped tube as i have done plenty of times before. Screwed my Lezyne pump on, pump tyre up unscrew pump and the valve comes out deflating the tyre in seconds. Repeat this about 3 times before losing patience and calling the Mrs. I didnt have anything with me that would tighten enough but once home a few turns with the pliers and the valve is fine.

I agree just screw in from factory. Im sure the majority of people dont need extenders

dee4life2005

I'm sure it's a ploy to get us to part with more money.

I had a front and rear puncture, caused by pinch flats as I was too lazy to check pressure before riding and hit a massive road wide pothole on a decent and couldn't stop in time or bunnyhop it. Two instant punctures. Replaced with conti race tubes. Suffered un-explained deflations over the next few weeks ... and assumed it was a bad batch of tubes ... so after 6 deflations, each of which I replaced the tube thinking it was punctured I then assumed it was the tyres ... so replaced the two Continental GP4000IIs tyres with new ones (the old ones had only about 1500-2000miles on them).

Got new tubes with the new tyres, but the deflations continued. That's when I went looking online.

Discovered about the removable valve cores not being tight enough.

Damn!! I'd just chucked 6 tubes and two nearly new(ish) GP4000s .... and it was just the valve cores. To say I was a little annoyed is an understatement. Once these tyres and tubes wear out I'll be switching to Schwalbe i think.

If they had a small note to say the tubes had removable cores, and that if not using valve extenders then they need to be tightened then that waste of £100 of tubes/tyres could have been avoided.

foggymike

I keep a tufo valve key (just over £1 on wiggle, other similar tools are available elsewhere) in my pocket with my spare tube just in case of issues on the road. I guess you only think to do that after getting caught out though.

It's a good design that means you can have one size of tubes about for different wheel depths but I agree there should really be something on the box.

chatlow

forgot to respond. Yup, you were all correct.. loose valve. Tightened it up fully using pliers and perfect now.

Quite shocked that there's nothing on the packaging advising to do this. I've gone through two conti tubes and ruined one tyre all because the valve was slightly loose

Initialised

I've had a few Conti tubes tear at the valve, put me off them for a while.

brettjmcc

I've had the same (but also on other inner tubes too), but now changed my pump to a Lezyne one and that is better

itboffin

Yep had the same on a cold wet ride, very angry at the time and now no longer use continued inner tubes