Original tubes - air won't deflate, Schrader valve.
 

Working on an early 70's Nishiki Competition the tires are mostly inflated but need to be changed. Trying to deflate but when I press down on the valve no air comes out. Tires are original so thinking tubes may be as well, or at least very old. Is there an easy way to do this without ripping through and popping it?

Could you use vise grips to wrestle the valve stem to the side just enough to fit a sewing needle or something similarly sharp into the hole?

Drip a wee bit of WD40 into the valve stem. That might loosen things up. And/or add a bit more pressure. That might also be worth trying.

There is a tool, to take the valve assembly out of the stem, pretty simple, might set you back a buck or two. Also great for removing the air from an offending vehicles tires, without damaging them. If they really teed you off, just take the valve with you. I never bike without one.
Tim


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Update: I’m not sure if it’s age or how these were stored or what but I think the tubes actually hardened a little giving the impression that they were inflated. The tires drying up didn’t help the effect. I was able to fit a removal tool on there with some effort and the tires completely fell apart as I removed them. I’ve never seen so much debris from this and the smell was awful.


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You can also buy a silver metal Schrader valve cap that will allow you to remove the valve from a Schrader tube. I get mine from the automotive section.

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Cheers

I've got a question while I'm here. These say "27 x 1 1/8 to fit 27 x 1 1/...' assuming it said 1/4 or 1/8 rims but it is too faded. The wheels are 27 x 1 1/4. The catalog says it came with both 27x1 1/4 rims and tires, so perhaps these aren't original? But the tires do say Nishiki Compe on the sides.

Anyways, I'm going with Pasela Panaracers but am now unsure what size to get as they seem to run wider than most. There are small fenders on this bicycle although I don't think either size it would be an issue there, but I guess I'd like the tire to fill the fender up as much as possible.

Anyways, quick thoughts on what may be most appropriate?

Buy 1 1/4" wide tires.
Paselas would probably be good, Michelin makes some too if you are cheap. Dynamic is the model.
You are going to need rim strips
There are grommets that allow you to migrate to presta valves.
The spokes, or lack of the spokes filling the nipples are of concern, that appears to be the front wheel...
Really wide range of take up of the spokes into the nipples.
While you have the tire off, a good time to true or have the wheel trued.
Check the spoke tension too... unless a spoke or two got replaced with a too short one... the spokes when of the correct length fill the nipple at least to the bottom of the slot
Otherwise the weak brass nipple is doing all the work

Uhmmm.... the sidewalls on those look quite dry rotted.... I'd just get new tires instead of try salvaging those....
That's how the sidewalls on a pair of Turbo VS tires I had that I tried to ride a few years ago. The latex on the sidewalls turned into dust and fell off the tires while I was riding them and the front tire blew off the rim shortly after I parked it in my garage after the short ride.

Yeah, time for:
cloth rim strips
new tubes and a new spare
new tires (the Paselas mentioned have a good reputation).

Oh absolutely. I never intended on riding them, was more so curious as to why I couldn’t get the air to deflate when pressing in on the valve and despite them being unusable would have rather not cut through them. And if I knew I wasn’t going to use them before beginning to strip them off I was even more certain as they began to fall apart during removal haha.

A bit of arithmetic will tell you about widths - 1" ~ 25c, 1 1/8 ~ 28c and 1 1/4 ~ 32c. I have Paselas on 5 bikes and am well pleased. I have 27 x 1 1/4 on "the mule", 87 Voyageur, as that rough rider may have to handle anything from smooth macadam to 2a modified. I have 27x1 1/8 on two others and really like those. My preferred size. On my bikes they really do measure out to 28 mm wide. Roll well, turn easily and provide a comfortable ride.

I may be a grouchy old fart though, so "comfortable" is in the seat of the rider, don-cha-no.

27" is just your wheel size also known as a 630iso, don't confuse it with 27.5 which is the same as 650b, from there 7/8-1 3/8 will fit, 1 1/4 will be a nice comfortable tire. Its hard for me to tell from your pic but it looks like your rim lacks a bead seat or lip that the tire can catch on, if you have any kind of modern bike you can see what this is, if the rim lacks it don't inflate over 65-70psi; some modern carbon rims are ditching this lip but are constructed to much higher standards to make sure the tire stays on and the tubeless tires that go on them are built to a higher standard. This won't be true of the rim nor of the tires that fit it. The tire remains can also be sharp, make sure you clean the rim well or anything left behind can cut your tube, acetone will help.

As long as you don't have more then 1-2 threads exposed you're fine, the spokes don't need to make it all the way through and the nipple is more then strong enough to hold up.

This is a single wall rim with exposed nipples, don't do cloth rim strips, they won't properly stay if you have any form of struggle getting the tire on. Vinyl strips would be fine though I've not found them in this size. Rubber will be perfectly fine for this wheel, tire pressure isn't trying to push through a valve hole, instead the strip is just padding against the nipples.

I disagree about the spoke comment. Might get away with it on a front wheel. Not on a bike I would use. On a rear wheel with the higher tension on the drive side? Definitely not. Very surprised that as this looks like it could be a factory wheel that the spokes are the length shown.

I've seen all manner of egregious "factory" or OEM wheels on production bikes, probably contracted out but with literally all manner of faulty lacing and spoke-length issues.

That said, brass spoke nipples can take a lot of abuse even when the spoke does not reach through the head of the spoke nipple.

I had a spoke nipple fail on a 1979-built 27" wheel recently, but it was like the first time ever in all of my riding years. Usually it is a spoke that fails, not a brass nipple!

Getting used bike's wheels up to snuff for serious riding eats up a good portion of the refurbishing time spent in most cases. That's ok since I maintain a stock of 27" wheels at hand that are already serviced and ready to go, set up for all common freewheel widths and dropout spacings.

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