Ever tried Woods valves?

[mjr]

One bike came to me with Woods valve tubes in it. Even putting enough air in to get an accurate track pump gauge reading each week is overinflating it!

After a bad puncture, I put a Schrader valve tube in because I had no Woods spare. It goes down slowly just like every other Schrader, so it's not anything magical about the wheel. I'm tempted to switch all my Schrader tubes over to Woods as they expire. Any reason not to, other than not being able to pump up at petrol stations?

 

[Flying Dodo]

If all your schrader inner tubes slowly deflate, then it's more likely to be poor quality tubes rather than the fault of the valve itself. There's no inherent issue with the design of the valve itself. I did recently did some work on a mountain bike which I'd serviced a year ago, and the owner said they hadn't pumped up the tyres since, and they still had about 25 psi in them.

 

[mjr]

Yeah, maybe they'd hold lower pressures OK such as in the MTB, but I'm running 50-65psi on town bikes. Most brands Schraders seem to lose some pressure in a week, with some more than others.

 

[Drago]

Good heavens, the old Dunlop valve. Not seen one in years.

They, Schraeder, handle more than that in some truck tyre applications, nae problem. I much prefer them, don't have a problem with leakage. Or leaky valves either!

 

[Dan B]

Our Christiania has Woods valves, which frankly is a PITA as my otherwise perfectly good track pump won't seal on the valve.

The tyres are fatter and lower pressure than any other bike in the family so I can't really say too much about how well they retain air. It gets pumped up maybe every month or two

 

[raleighnut]

At least you'll be able to use that little rubber tube thingy in the puncture kit if you do.

 

[Flying Dodo]

Yeah, maybe they'd hold lower pressures OK such as in the MTB, but I'm running 50-65psi on town bikes. Most brands Schraders seem to lose some pressure in a week, with some more than others.

It was pumped to 65 psi a year ago, so I was quite amazed it still had so much air in. However, I can't say I've noticed any difference in air holding ability between schrader and presta equipped tubes when using either Specialized or Continental ones which take at least a month to show a noticeable drop. Cheap no-name brands however generally aren't much good though.

 

[mjr]

However, I can't say I've noticed any difference in air holding ability between schrader and presta equipped tubes when using either Specialized or Continental ones which take at least a month to show a noticeable drop. Cheap no-name brands however generally aren't much good though.

It's currently got Continental in it! But I've noticed the same slow deflation with Schwalbe, Vavert, Kenda, Raleigh, Wild Trax and many others. I won't buy Specialized because of Roubaix and body paint women and so on.

 

[snorri]

Woods/schrader adaptors are available for use when inflating from a Schrader air line.