Can a valve be too long?
 

I'm not sure, but I think my bike takes tubes with 40mm valves.

When I got. It, the store had no such tubes so just to not be left stranded in the middle of a cycle I got tubes with 60mm valves.

Aside from. Looking a bit silly, is there any real reason to go get tubes with a 40mm valve?

Too long is better than too short.

Functionally, valves can be too short. But I’m truly struggling to see how they could be too long. Perhaps on a disc wheel?
Aestethically, they CAN be too long.
In any group ride of more than 3 people, at least one will be thinking about criticizing you for your lack of dedication to the sport.

Thanks all.
Not worried about the aesthetics, more concerned thwt I hadn't considered some functional reason that would make tubes with too long valves for my wheels to be problematic.

I've got 60mm Presta, on a 26in '90s MTB that I have. They certainly look long, and they probably are too long for practicality, but I don't think they look too bad. Next tubes, I'll likely go with the 40mm variants, though for me 60mm's fine if the 40's are out.

I buy whichever is cheaper that day. If people are checking out the length of your valve stems, at least try to get them to buy you a drink.

I've been on more than one ride where someone flatted and had a spare tube with a too short valve. I don't know how this could happen but it does.:foo: Carry the long valve as your spare and someday you may save the day for the clueless.

Oh,, yeah. I'm indifferent between 40 and 60, but anything less than 40 is a total pita on the side of the road.

I'm biased toward short valve stems because long ones look (IMO) super dorky on my vintage bikes. It's becoming very hard to find short stem tubes these days, and I understand it: Why wouldn't a shop just stock the long ones for a universal fit. Functionally, there is no difference plus no one will notice when you're moving. I'll rebel when it gets to the point of the valve stem rubbing on my hub.

They can be too long. At some point it gets more difficult to thread your pump chuck onto and especially off of a too long valve.

Yes they can be too long. Most of us are not threading on a pump hose. We push on a pump head. Longer stems have leverage. I’ve not personally snapped off a valve stem but have seen it happen. When using a pump with no hose, pump head rigidly connected to pump body it can be quite clumsy with a longer valve.

A few better quality rims are balanced. The weight of the rim joint is balanced against the weight of the valve. With variable weight and length valves this nice touch becomes impossible.

Those 20mm difference won't cause this unless the wheels aren't aligned with parallel spokes at the valve.

I'm guilty of this. I replaced a rim with something close, not exact. Didn't get any new spokes. Once built, the spokes were a touch too long. So I quickly turned it into a twisted spoke build without taking it all apart and trying to figure out how it all lines up. This wheel has a pretty tight valve clearance and has a twist just above the valve.

On 700c, still no big deal but if this were a bmx wheel or something, I might need a crack pipe to inflate it.

Yes. The longer valves will add extra weight and wind resistance while spinning. They'll slow you down.

I would think with an unnecessarily longer stem there's a higher risk of damaging it...

What about throwing off the wheels balance?

Clamp any bike into a work stand and watch where the front valve stem comes to rest. In most cases it's at the top. Adding a little additional weight at the valve stem actually helps wheel balance.

Pinned joint rims will have the added weight of the seam bridging pins..


now that you can write and post here you can find a couple innertubes with the proper stem length

Schwinn ( then Pacific cycles Brand) had an anomaly of aerodynamic looking rims needing long Schrader stems...
long Presta stems are more common, my Local usually has 700c PV tubes in a variety of lengths.. in normal times ..








...;)

It's what happens when you're cheap and disorganized: cheap enough to stock up on the cheap tubes, because they'll work fine for the cheap bikes, but disorganized enough to end up with the wrong bike/tube combo. You can be cheap or disorganized, but not both.

This happened on a November commute several hours after sunset. The CO2 came through; no way was I getting a pump on that one!


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e7244c3f0c.jpg

I've snapped the valve stem of a long-stemmed tube with a frame pump. Granted, it was a box-section rim, and I was using an HpX-4, so that's probably the worst case for excessive leverage, but I have done it.

Ass long as you're a bit gentle with it, you should be fine.

--Shannon