I wore long pants and rode up to Performance to get a couple tubes.
I'm not sure how buying tubes can turn out to be so aggravating, but it did.
I locked up Jamis (no bike racks, what's up with that?) and went in.
Stared at the display of tubes, because, you know, I can't see for beans, but mostly all those metric measurements confuse me. The Jamis tire is 700c x 28.
A guy comes over, asks me if I need a tube for the Jamis. I say yes, he says this is what you need. It's 700c x 19-26 (I think). The box indicates it's a LONG Presta stem. I say, I want a SHORT Presta stem, he hands me another box from the same bin that doesn't indicate it's a LONG stem. I said, but my tire is a 28, he says, this will work fine.
Ok, I buy two.
I get home and compare it with the ones one the bike. You know, the LONG ones. The ones that are so hard to get into the hole.
They're the same.
I dig through the trash, I find the SHORT Presta stem tube. It's a Cheng Shin.
It's the one on the left, below. The SHORT one.
Performance doesn't carry Cheng Shin, as far as I know. Apparently they don't have any SHORT Prestas, either. That Cheng Shin was the original front tube, by the way.
So now I'm p.o.ed at Performance for convincing me to buy the wrong thing.
I'm p.o.ed at myself for letting them.
And we won't EVEN go into the Not Returning Things phobia I have.
And we won't EVEN mention the different sizes.
3 comments:
Sorry, I'm an idjit. Why are the LONG ones so hard to get in? Do they hang up in the hole in the rim? I agree they look crappy on non-AERO (or is that oreo) wheels and the extra brass will increase wheel imbalance. You do 1. partially inflate the tube
2. put the tube in the tire
3. put the tire and tube on the rim beginning with putting the valve through the valve hole then working on seating the assembly on the eim working back from both sides?
I don't get it. Why is the valve stem length an issue?
Hey, you're not the idjit, I'M the idjit!
Now that we got THAT settled, don't make me have to post pics of my fat, arthritic fingers trying to push that stem through the hole.
The problem is that the stem is so long, you can't get a straight shot on the hole, you have to angle it in, but it's so long it's HARD. Waaaaah!
You are not the idjit! I'm the one who doesn't understand.
If you insert the valve stem first (before any tire bead seating) there should be minimal resistance for gnarly inflexible fingers to fight. I keep coming back to suspecting the hole for the stem is a wee bit tight but the stem diameter shouldn't differ between long and short stem tubes. I don't get it. Anyway this is just a work around until the bicycle gods see fit to place a properly stocked shop and parts depo somewhere reasonable accessible to you. Long stem tubes; ptui!
By the way. Save the earth! Keep those cans coming.
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