Team853

Like the title says, what's the difference and advantage of each type of valve and are rims specific to each type?

Dannihilator

No real difference despite the fact that there are more moving parts on a presta. No real advantages either, prest users will say otherwise though.

catatonic

Schraeders have a removable core, so if your vavle is broken, you don
t have to replace the entire tube. Schraeder is also the standard for cars, and is the most common valve type worldwide...you can even find bike tubes in small towns in the middle of nowhere.

Presta, ont he other hand, was specifically designed for bikes. It's narrower, which allows it to fit on thinner rims than a schraeder vavle. The downside is you have to screw that nut down after inflation, and you either have to carry a presta pump, or get a schraeder adaptor.

I have bikes with both. I see no real advantage outside of allowing you to use thinner rims. The bike I have presta on has disc brake rims, which have an extremely thin profile.

Team853

OK, then on to my second question: One of my bikes (the hardtail I ride for serious XC) has a schraeder valve on the front and a presta on the rear. I obviously can't fit a schraeder into the back (the hole for the stem is too small) but could I make a presta work on the front in a pinch (no pun intended)? I'm not talking about riding permanently on a presta in the front, but could I use one to limp me home if I got a flat? It's a pain having to carry spare tubes of both types just in case.

Raiyn

You can go to your LBS or a hardware store and get a rubber grommet that will fill the gap created by using a presta valve in a schraeder hole.

Portis

Here is a disadvantage of Presta. I was at my Bro in Law's last weekend. He lives in a small town, 70 miles from his LBS. He just got his bike home from LBS where it was "serviced." New presta tubes were put in.

He has a $2,000 Specialized bike that he never rides but he got it serviced because i was coming to ride so he offered to ride with me. Well, guess what, the rear tube was flat a few hours after returning from the LBS.

So, now how do we air it up? Simple answer..........We can't. He thinks he had a special "attachment" at one time but can't find it. So here we sit with a flat tire. I offer to give him one of my Shrader tubes if he wants to drill out the hole. So he did and i put my shrader tube in it. If we hadn't drilled the rim out he wouldn't have gotten to ride.

He also would have had to make a 150 mile round trip to get what he needed to air it up or he would have had to wait and order it online. So i would say that one major negative to the Presta is that some day somewhere you will likely end up with no means to air up your tire. There is always an air chuck outfitted to blow up a schrader tube close by.

Team853

Really? That's cool. I'll have to check into that. Thanks!

Raiyn

$2000 and he didn't buy a pump? https://www.coloradocyclist.com/commo...355&TextMode=0

Trek Rider

Maybe I'm missing something here but if he flats on the road, what's he going to do? Walk?

Team853

I bought a Schraeder-adapter, so getting air into presta tubes isn't a problem for me.

Portis

I said he never rides it. He probably has 30 miles on it. It was laying out in a shed with flat tires gathering cob webs. I'm sure he bought a pump but he couldn't find it.

Again, the point here is that the fitting for the presta is not as universal so you are "more likely" to end up in a situation like i mentioned. The poster asked for disadvantages. The fact that the presta fitting is not found on nearly every air compressor and bike pump in the U.S. like a shchrader is, constitutes a disadvantage for me.

It makes you more likely to find yourself in a situation where you can't get air into your tube. That doesn't mean it will happen it just means more likely. If you always have a working presta pump with you then you are fine but we all know that things can get misplaced etc.

Raiyn

So you're somehow turning your brother-in-law's lack of riding and forgetfulness into a disadvantage for those who do ride and can keep track of their equipment. OK gotcha I understand now.

a2psyklnut

If your rims are drilled for presta, you could always drill them out to fit schraeder.

Most bike shops will have the rubber grommets so prestas will fit schraeder drilled rims.

I don't really have a preference. The nice thing about presta is they never clog. This is a non-issue if you keep a cap on the schraeder though.

L8R

Portis

I don't think forgetfullness is limited to my brother in law, but being an MD I am sure he forgets his share of things. I too forget things sometimes. Last weekend i left my duffel bag with all of my bike gear on the garage floor,while packing the car for a trip, so i was forced to ride without any of it.

It doesn't take a lot of imagination to think of a way you could end up without a frame pump but i'll break it down for ya.

1. It could quit working.

2. Someone could steal it off your bike and you not notice it.

3. You could lay it down while working on your bike etc. and forget to re-attach it. Then you could end up hauling your bike a hundred miles into the woods only to notice you have a flat and you forgot it. Then you pull into the only business in town which is a gas station...........guess what kind of chuck they have on their compressor?

Again, this is only for the forgetfull people.

Raiyn

If that's the case I would hope that he would have a better memory or be better organized! What did I do with that clamp? Yikes!
Most people that use prestas and ride for long distances have one of these on one of their valves or at least in their seat pack.

You offer a bunch of scenarios but with a little pre-planning or common sense they can all be easily overcome. You're making this out to be a much bigger deal than it really is.

Portis

There is an idea, maybe my Brother in Law could start surgically implanting those in people and then your odds of finding a source for airing a presta tube would start to rival that of a schrader. Raiyn, seriously I don't care, I am just having fun with you.

I think the poster and other readers should be able to draw his/her own conclusions and decide based on that.

Raiyn

I realize that no harm no foul

nj03gti

I know I am a noob here, but one of the first things I did when I bought my GF was but a pack of adapters. If figure that if for some reason my pump doesn't work, I should at least have a secondary means of inflating a tire.

If your brother in law doesn't ride much (which he obviously doesn't), then he would probably never think of things like that. It isn't ignorance as much as it is lack of knowledge about his bike, and what he should keep on hand.

catatonic

I keep my presta adaptors inside a ziplock pack that has my matches and backup headlight, which I keep inside hte zippered pocket of my bag...which I never leave without....plus I need the bag to carry the mammoth of a lock I need to ensure nobody messes with the bike.

FoX Rider

Or you could carry a presta AND shraeder combo pump. Solves that!

Raiyn

Just like that pump I posted.

phidauex

I'm not sure I understand why anyone would want presta unless they had ultra-skinny rims.... Are they better somehow?

The fact that you CAN buy adapters, and that you CAN make sure you have your presta-compatible pump with you at ALL TIMES, doesn't mean that I want to if I don't have to. It just seems like a lot of bull to deal with just to have a valve type you don't even need.

I mean, I could just invent some random valve type and sell special pumps and adapters, but just because you 'could' use it and all the special stuff you had to buy, why would you bother?

Anyway, not saying presta is bad, I just don't understand why its useful, except in ultra-thin rim cases. Should everyone else just stick with schrader? I'm not trying to sound like a dick, I truly am open to more info about valves, its not something I've spent a lot of time considering, and I'm always looking for more info!

peace,
sam

iamthetas

I kept my adaptor on my tube so I would not have to remember where I put it. you can't get cool valve caps for presta( you know the dice, bullets,skulls etc.LOL).I have a bout 15 of those darn adaptors somewhere and only know where 2 are.sitting on 2 presta tubes in my shed. I ended up drilling mine out too cuz there are no presta tubes available near me either and I hate patching tires on the trail

seely

Prestas are a lot faster to air down and typically hold air better than a scraeder. And to whoever said about screwing the nut down, you don't have to use the presta valve nut. I never have.

Moose

I like presta valves cuz they make my bike look more expensive.