Update: I couldn't find valves shorter than the 32mm Q-tubes I'm using and the shortest without removable cores are 40mm Vittorias. So, I'm sticking with the Q-tubes and Zipp extender, replacing the teflon tape every four rides or so as it developes a leak.
I'm not worried about shoving a deflated valve through the rim. It doesn't feel possible inside the 32mm GP4000 for the valve to come out of its hole and they're $150 Chinese rims anyway.
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I'm curious to your statement that the tape requires replacing every 4 weeks. I've had teflon tape on my Zipp extenders for 2 years now. They've not leaked once. Or are you referring to the 5-10psi loss on butyl tubes over a couple days? Latex tubes lose air even faster. That's normal. Air can permeate & escape your tubes & tires. That's physics. Air molecules are smaller than the rubber. They will get through, albeit very slowly.
Either that or you're applying the teflon tape wrong, though I fail to see how. A single layer is all you need.
Either that or you're applying the teflon tape wrong, though I fail to see how. A single layer is all you need.
Ugh. Go back to the beginning of the thread. The valves I'm using have wrench flats on the cores to make them removable. The point of the thread was to find valves without these wrench flats because they create a gap that leaks air unless it's filled up with teflon tape. If I had non-removable cores it wouldn't require as much tape and the tape wouldn't shift and get chewed up when taking the extender on and off. Since 32mm non-removable core valves don't seem to exist I'm using the Q-tubes and rewrapping the teflon tape on them when it starts to leak, which is every four rides or so, not four weeks. You did get the part where before every ride I put the extender on, air up, and remove it, right?
Lelandjt wrote:I'm not worried about shoving a deflated valve through the rim. It doesn't feel possible inside the 32mm GP4000 for the valve to come out of its hole and they're $150 Chinese rims anyway.
It's your money.
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1119458#p1119458
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Final follow up: The Kenda "34mm" Superlight tubes came and despite the description saying they have removable cores, they don't! Also, they're only 28mm so I stumbled upon exactly what I was looking for. The bike is finally DONE with no more tweaking or little hassles to deal with. Size 61cm aero road bike at 14.6lb, on a reasonable budget, and set up exactly how I like.
2old4this wrote:Marin wrote:After that is solved, I would work on somehow getting rid of those nasty-looking wires that stick out of your rim!
Hehe, no, go ahead, this place need more crazyness again!
Now you're gonna tell me you've never tried taking out some of the spokes from your old-school wheels with gazillion spoke counts (coming up with a stable pattern was tough, I'll tell ya.)
I'm riding a 30 spoke rear wheel on my commuter. 2 spokes broke, and I simply didn't replace them... Wheel works fine.
Lelandjt wrote:Ugh. Go back to the beginning of the thread. The valves I'm using have wrench flats on the cores to make them removable. The point of the thread was to find valves without these wrench flats because they create a gap that leaks air unless it's filled up with teflon tape. If I had non-removable cores it wouldn't require as much tape and the tape wouldn't shift and get chewed up when taking the extender on and off. Since 32mm non-removable core valves don't seem to exist I'm using the Q-tubes and rewrapping the teflon tape on them when it starts to leak, which is every four rides or so, not four weeks. You did get the part where before every ride I put the extender on, air up, and remove it, right?
I'm not sure that made much sense but I'm glad you got the problem sorted. Seems like you got some bad valves if the wrench part of the core leaks air.
You can definitely find 32mm non-removable core tubes. But definitely not online. They're way too cheap, you might have better luck in a LBS that serves commuters. My friend had one and I believe he said the tube only cost him $1.