clg

Can I use a presta tube with a schrader drilled rim?

HillRider

There are ways. Bike Tools Etc. sells these adapters that fit into the Schrader hole and reduce it to presta size:

https://www.biketoolsetc.com/index.cg...tem_id=WB-PSS1

There are also rubber grommets that do the same job. Check with your LBS.

clg

Thanks, I'll do that.

clg

This may be a stupid question but what are the consequences of using the presta valve tube with out reducing the hole size? Can I ride for a day or so till I get an adapter?

HillRider

The presta stem can wiggle around in the larger hole and the edges of the hole will press against some unsupported rubber. It's likely to lead to tube failure at the valve base.

goatalope

I've used presta tubes on schrader rims without a problem, but, yeah, I guess it could wiggle around and cause a problem. You could probably just poke the presta value through some tape and be fine.

defjack

I run a presta tube on a schrader with no adapter on the front wheel.No problems in 2 years. Jack

theextremist04

If you get new tubes it should come with a little nut and a threaded stem. If you get it fairly tight it should keep the stem from moving and flatting from that.

brucewiley

If I read you correctly that's a big negative. Tightening that nut on the stem can pull the stem into the hole and out of the tube. I have a set of open pros that have a slightly larger inner hole than the outer (for presta) and used to keep getting flats with the stems breaking off the tube until I realized it was that dang nut that I kept tightening down that was causing it. Nuts go in the trash when I put on a new tube now.

Sheldon said that threaded stems are there only to pull stems out of the tube and to ruin pump heads.

Captain Slow

Take the rim and a Presta tube to a hardware store. Test fit rubber grommets until you find one that's snug in the rim hole and still allows the valve through. Buy a handfull of'em for a buck. They'll work just fine, probably outlast the tubes.

Sorry - used to know precisely what size (1/4" ?) but memory isn't what I think it used to be...

Al Criner

I just replaced a tube where the Presta valve stem pulled out of a Shrader-drilled rim. I bit the bullet and bought adapters now. You may get away with it on the front, but I expect the rear will fail eventually. My rear tube lasted a year of occasional riding.

cbchess

wrap the stem in duck tape for a day until you get the adaptor

clg

Thanks for your suggestion and those of everyone else. I decided rather then ride and ruin a good tube to just put the patched one back in till I got a grommet to fix it with.

theextremist04

I dunno, I've gotten it to work that way.

cyccommute 

If you use 2 nuts, one under the rim and one on top, you can avoid the issue of pulling the stem too far out and of having the stem wiggle around in the hole. The lower nut will keep the rubber surrounding the stem from coming in contact with the rim. Good rim tape, i.e. Velox, will help too.

HillRider

Sure as hell, as soon as you tell someone something is a bad idea, someone else reports no problems and they've done it that way for years.

Another way to protect the valve base is to cut a nickel-size disk out of an old tube, punch a hole in the center and thread it over the presta stem. It acts as a reinforcement for the valve base.

wrk101

Loose screws web site has the rubber grommets for 60 cents each.

operator

And if you go to all this trouble, you might as well have just spent the $1 on the brass adapter. Seriously. Waste. Of. Time.

jackcoke

duct tape

cyccommute 

"All this trouble"? It's two stem nuts which anybody that has more than one tube around has spares. And you should use a good rim tape regardless of what kind of valve you use.

Biketoolsetc has the grommets but, at $2.80 a pair, $7 shipping and a week of shipping time, they are seriously more expensive than a couple of stem nuts.