Hello,
My new Shimano wheels have a different profile than my old steel Bianchi rims. I changed a tube this morning, and the stem is like two inches long. I have a case of new tubes with regular (short) length stems.
When I put one of the older tubes in the new wheel, the stem only sticks out about half an inch. I can screw on the collar a few turns. Is this safe, can I use my old tubes with the new wheels? Any issues with slippage or reliability?
mark
As long as you can get it pumped up, you’re fine. As long as the collar screws on just enough to snug it down a little, you’re good to go.
Ashburn,
As far as I know, the collar screw is not necessary. This might give you an additional 1/8 inch of valve stem to grip with your pump head.
Also, rather than throwing out all your short valve stem tubes and rushing out to buy long valve stem tubes. you could buy a couple of valve stem extenders to lengthen the valve stem length on the short valve stem tubes. You then would have “universal” tubes. Bail out a friend with a flat without having to give them a $6 tube. Long valve stem tubes cost about double what short valve stem tubes cost.