Originally Posted by cyclebycle13

I've been using latex tubes (almost exclusively) since I switched from tubulars to my carbon clinchers (about 3 years). I've found as long as you stay away from the ultralight latex tubes (vredestein makes one), they're plenty durable. I've found them more resistant to blowouts - they often don't go completely flat- if I'm close enough to home I'll just pump it back up once or twice and it gets me there. They're also easy to repair (with standard patches and glue). The only drawback to them not going completely flat is I've had to partially inflate the tube and hold it underwater to find the pinhole (not really a problem). They do tend to lose 10-15 psi overnite, but I haven't had an issue w/ losing too much during the day. I use my commute as a training ride - pump the tires up to 95-100 psi before I leave, get into work around 5:30 am and leave around 3-3:30 PM. Never had an issue w/ air pressure for the ride home, nor on long rides (100-200 mi).

Originally Posted by Sy Reene

How would it unless you've changed it yourself? It's 15 yrs old. By the looks of it, your pump head extends a good 1" down the valve stem. There are many many pump heads that don't go anywhere near this far down a stem.

Here's a photo of my pump head's gasket.. somewhere between 7-8mm total thickness. This is inset approx. 4-5mm in from the very end of the pump head, meaning the end of the gasket is falling at 1.2cm from the end of the valve. At the worst, the most threaded stems I have begin about 1cm below the tip of the stem, meaning that 'maybe' the .7mm gasket is covering 1-2mm of the extra threads, but the bulk of the gasket is going over the stem cap's threads anyway. IOW, the discussion about threaded valves ruining pump heads is doing nothing but spreading FUD.

Originally Posted by KLiNCK