Bad valve on tube?

[jessmarimba]

I have wasted nearly 45 minutes trying to put air in a new tube I just put on my Fargo. I got the first 5 or so pumps in just fine (before I re-seated the tire). Now nothing will go in. My floor pump just builds up air in the tube and it doesn't go into the tire. My hand pump will pump air that goes somewhere (the air isn't building up IN the pump) and the tire appears to move a little with each stroke...but it isn't inflating. Now, this isn't a brand-new tube, but it was on my Niner for about a week before I had the shop take the tubes out and switch that bike back to tubeless. It pumped up fine before. And the floor pump will pump air just fine into the other tire on the Fargo.

I really, really do not want to have to take the tire off and put yet another tube in, but is the valve on this tube bad? And how on earth did it just spontaneously go bad, if that's the case?

[jessmarimba]

I finally gave up. Took the tire off, put a new tube on. Was struggling with getting the tire reseated again. Broke the tire lever, which apparently ripped a hole in the second tube...it will inflate a little, but I can hear air rushing right back out again.

I quit. Today is apparently not a good day for a ride. Plus I'm out of spare tubes. I think I'll buy slime tubes this time, so I don't have to deal with this again.

[Bike Writer]

Frustrating to say the least! What is a slime tube?

[laura*]

What is a slime tube?

Slime is a strange greenish goop that is meant to be injected into a tube (via the valve stem). If the tube gets a puncture, the goop is supposed to seal the hole. It is also possible to buy Slime branded tubes that come prefilled with the goop.

It is not clear how well it works.

On the negative side, it often creates a huge mess. Also, slime filled tubes generally cannot be patched - the slime keeps oozing out preventing a patch from sticking.

[Bike Writer]

Thanks, sounds like the jury is still out on that one. It also sounds kinda messy.

[OakLeaf]

The first thing I thought when you posted was that your pump head gasket is worn. I've never had a valve stick closed - any time I've had a valve core go bad, the tube won't hold air, not the other way around.

When you said the pump inflates your other tubes fine, I hesitated for a bit until I realized that one of the first things that happens when a gasket starts to go, is that it bends the top of the valve core by moving around on the stem during attachment and inflation. Once the top of the valve core is bent, it's extra hard to get the pump head aligned properly so that the valve will accept air.

How old is your pump head gasket? It's hard to compare ... but riding and pumping probably an average of three days a week for six or seven months out of the year, I got about four years out of my last one. Say 600 inflations or so. They're cheap anyway, half as much as a new tube costs and it will definitely save a lot of aggravation. I hadn't tracked my usage before, but I think I'm going to put my pump head gaskets on a regular replacement schedule.

[jessmarimba]

The pump itself is three years old, and of that three years, I wasn't riding probably 1.5 of them. I'm thinking that the first tube was likely damaged when the shop took it off the niner, probably not expecting I'd try to use it again.

Going with slime tubes because it's much cheaper than converting this bike to tubeless. Both times it's flatted before this debacle were due to thorns stuck in the tire which is precisely what the slime should be able to prevent. Though if it was a lighter bike it wouldn't be worth the added weight.

[Sky King]

Slime tubes are extremely popular in our area, especially in the fall as we have major goat head problems. Yes, they can be messy but in theory, they make on the fly flats easy as you remove the thorn, spin the tire and reinflate.

I have been riding the Grand Bois Hetre's on my touring/adventure bike and ended up putting a Mr tuffy type liner in after two back to back flats and haven't had a flat since.