Presta valve cores

Last night a flat (in the dark, in the rain, of course) became much more of a hassle than it should have been because the Presta valve core on my replacement tube kept coming unscrewed along with the pump (Lezyne Pressure Drive) when I tried to remove the latter. This happened, without exaggeration, at least a dozen times (and of course each time I had to start pumping from nothing again).

I was finally able to get it to hold air and made it home, but I would really like for this not to happen again. Are there some tubes that are better than others? (I see some mentions of tubes with replaceable valve cores vs non-replaceable.) Is there some trick to preventing this problem? Should I start carrying pliers (it looks like the valve core has flats on the sides that I think I could have used to really crank it into the valve stem)?

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on May 21, 2014 at 3:34am

Schwalbe makes high quality tubes and there are valve core tools made to insert/remove the valve cores. 

You could add some locktite to that particular valve to prevent the problem from reoccurring.

I use a topeak frame pump, one that doesn't screw onto the valve, but after my pump pulled a non-removable valve core out after a flat, I always spit a bit of saliva into the pump head to help it seal better and to add some lubrication. This seems to help get the pump to fully seat on the valve and i get less air leakage while pumping. 

Permalink Reply by Dave Jacque on May 21, 2014 at 3:41am

If we outlawed those damn fancy French communist valves and used good old 'Murkin Schraders we wouldn't have these problems.

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on May 21, 2014 at 3:45am

If it has a removable valve core (sounds like the case in this situation), there are probably 4.5mm flats cut into the valve core threads. Just get ahold of such a wrench and snug it down a bit. There is an o-ring on the valve core that both creates a seal and serves to reduce the chances of the valve core working lose. There's no need to get all gorilla with it, but a nice little turn with the wrench should prevent this from happening again.

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