02-09-2020, 02:37 PM
Got the fat bike out for my usual morning ride, and found the rear tire was flat. No sign of an object that might have pierced the tire, so I removed the wheel and inner tube and tested it with soapy water. First place I checked was the Presta valve. A small bubble began to grow and I realized what had happened.
Back in December I ordered a new pressure gauge. I chose it because it had a flexible tube, and because the needle would stay in place at the registered pressure until a small button was pressed.
I got it out for the third time and found it automatically zeroed after checking the pressure. I had tried it on a Schrader valve. Let's see if it works properly on a Presta valve! Nope! Same thing. So I screwed the plastic cap back on the valve. I hadn't screwed the little brass thingy home before putting the cap back on, and it leaked all night long.
I would have thought the valve should hold the pressure without screwing the thingy down but obviously not. Schraders don't have such a problem. It makes me wonder why Presta valves were invented when Schraders are perfectly good and have been around for a long time. I heard Prestas are a French valve. Why did we import them, then?
Going off at a tangent, here, cycling forums are great places for novices to learn, but I have learned that not everyone knows what they're talking about. When I first got into them, I looked up to some guys like they were cycling gods. In a conversation about removing unnecessary parts from bikes. one man said he always throws the Presta protective caps away? I didn't like to ask why but figured there has to be a reason. Perhaps the guy was nuts! Saving weight is one thing but removing parts that are so light, and are there for a reason is insane, in my view.
Not to be outdone by that guy, another chipped in with: "The first thing I do when I get a new bike is to remove the pie plate." I thought that perhaps I should remove mine, then, but what if the chain came off the large cog and went into the spokes? Not long after that, mine did come off the large cog! Glad the pie plate was there!
My fat bike was just a couple of months old and I was fifteen miles from home when the chain came off the large cog and jammed around the axle. I had a hard time getting it free because it was pulled tight around the chain ring and I couldn't get it off to give me some slack. I did manage, eventually, to free it and ride home.
At home I found the limit screws were way out, and the chain wouldn't even go onto the smallest cog. The work of a 'professional' bike mechanic, I suppose.
I mentioned the pie plate to some guys and was told they should be removed because they rattle, go brittle, and bits of plastic get into the chain. From my observation, my fat bike pie plate is made of Lexan and in three years hasn't gone brittle and doesn't rattle. One guy told me I don't know what I'm talking about because they always break when a chain comes off the cog. He disagreed that any pie plates are made of Lexan, and said the chain would have broken it. Well, mine didn't break and it's still in good order, no cracks, and it doesn't rattle.
So forums are good places for BS as well as good information. We just have to learn to discern.
Back in December I ordered a new pressure gauge. I chose it because it had a flexible tube, and because the needle would stay in place at the registered pressure until a small button was pressed.
I got it out for the third time and found it automatically zeroed after checking the pressure. I had tried it on a Schrader valve. Let's see if it works properly on a Presta valve! Nope! Same thing. So I screwed the plastic cap back on the valve. I hadn't screwed the little brass thingy home before putting the cap back on, and it leaked all night long.
I would have thought the valve should hold the pressure without screwing the thingy down but obviously not. Schraders don't have such a problem. It makes me wonder why Presta valves were invented when Schraders are perfectly good and have been around for a long time. I heard Prestas are a French valve. Why did we import them, then?
Going off at a tangent, here, cycling forums are great places for novices to learn, but I have learned that not everyone knows what they're talking about. When I first got into them, I looked up to some guys like they were cycling gods. In a conversation about removing unnecessary parts from bikes. one man said he always throws the Presta protective caps away? I didn't like to ask why but figured there has to be a reason. Perhaps the guy was nuts! Saving weight is one thing but removing parts that are so light, and are there for a reason is insane, in my view.
Not to be outdone by that guy, another chipped in with: "The first thing I do when I get a new bike is to remove the pie plate." I thought that perhaps I should remove mine, then, but what if the chain came off the large cog and went into the spokes? Not long after that, mine did come off the large cog! Glad the pie plate was there!
My fat bike was just a couple of months old and I was fifteen miles from home when the chain came off the large cog and jammed around the axle. I had a hard time getting it free because it was pulled tight around the chain ring and I couldn't get it off to give me some slack. I did manage, eventually, to free it and ride home.
At home I found the limit screws were way out, and the chain wouldn't even go onto the smallest cog. The work of a 'professional' bike mechanic, I suppose.
I mentioned the pie plate to some guys and was told they should be removed because they rattle, go brittle, and bits of plastic get into the chain. From my observation, my fat bike pie plate is made of Lexan and in three years hasn't gone brittle and doesn't rattle. One guy told me I don't know what I'm talking about because they always break when a chain comes off the cog. He disagreed that any pie plates are made of Lexan, and said the chain would have broken it. Well, mine didn't break and it's still in good order, no cracks, and it doesn't rattle.
So forums are good places for BS as well as good information. We just have to learn to discern.
If I knew how to ride a bike properly, I'd do it every time.
Just like Danish cyclist Rasmussen who scraped all the stickers from frame to save few grams.
![[-]](https://forums.bikeride.com/images/flatty/collapse.png "[-]")
