[QUOTE=Drew Eckhardt;21079001]
Originally Posted by
terrymorse
That doesn't happen, rubber doesn't fatigue. [/QUOTE}
Rubber fatigues.
Let me rephrase: rubber in a bicycle tube will not fail from fatigue in normal use. It's not stress cycled enough. It is possible, however, that a tube will fail at the valve stem from abrasion by a rim that has too large a hole—or a hole that hasn't been adequately de-burred and chamfered.
Originally Posted by
Drew Eckhardt
Conversely, I've never had a nut get stuck, just come loose and rattle annoyingly until tightened.
A stuck nut can happen when you finger-tighten it down after inflation, possibly in the hope that it won't rattle, then a puncture occurs.
The one positive feature of a valve nut is to keep the valve stem from disappearing into the rim when a pump head is pushed onto it. I've never found this to be a useful feature.