Is there any reason to use a valve extender with 60mm deep wheels? Should I just go ahead and buy tubes with a sufficiently long valve?
I feel valve extenders just prove to be more pain than anything. Just go with the long stems.
Can you get latex tubes with a long enough stem? Last I looked I couldn’t get longer than 50mm with latex.
Valve extenders mean you can borrow a tube on a group ride. You can also unscrew the extender for races to reduce drag (just put it in your flat kit).
Also,as mentioned, latex tubes for racing.
I ride 52mm Mavic Cosmics and use latex with long stems, not sure if I can remember the length. I think I originally bought 80mm valve tubes (which might have been butyl) but found them too long when used with my rear disc cover, so presumably I’m using the 60mm tubes which I guess must be a little bit longer than that as I seem to have around 15mm to play with which is plenty for my pump and CO2 adaptor to latch onto. For info, you can get the Michelin latex tubes in 60mm from Wiggle UK, hope it is ok to post this link (I’ll delete it if somebody asks me to)…
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/michelin-air-comp-latex-road-inner-tube/
Do those 60mm stems work well with the Mavics?
I’ve used 80mm stems before with butyl tubes and was looking to use latex tubes for next year and was thinking I’d have to use extenders. If there’s enough room for the pump on the stem then these would be much easier.
If memory serves we’ve got a similar setup with the Cosmics and a Raltech cover so it would be great if it did.
Yeah I recall now pointing the Raltech chap at your order for my cosmics so same setup. I am definitely using Latex and am pretty sure they are Michelin, because they are green I think, but not 100% on the length, I’d be loath to tell you these were 60mm only to find that they were 80mm, but looking around now online 60mm seems to be the longest. Will check it out tonight and let you know. Whatever I have there is plenty of valve to grip and I can get my Joe Blow onto it through the hole in the cover, also no probs using my CO2 inflator (Genuine Innovations Microflate Nano).
Will post back.
Nice one. Much appreciated
I use Michelin butyl tubes with 60 mm valves on my Cosmic Carbone (52 mm rim) wheels with no problem. They cost a little more than tubes with shorter valves, but it saves having to deal with valve extenders.
You can buy tubes with 80 mm valves and I think you’d need to do this for 60 mm rims. But those tubes seem to be quite a bit more expensive.
Wheels: ENVE 8.9 clinchers
My latex tubes have valve extenders (the long ENVE ones, forgot length)
I have a bunch of 80mm tubes that I used with my 6.7’s so I have a number of 30-50mm extenders that I swap as I need to tubes.
I will start replacing with 50-60mm tubes with 50mm extenders once I run out of 80mm tubes to have less of the extender sticking out.
Out Xmas day on my roadie which has enve 50mm wheels and enve valve extenders I got a rear flat. In the process of switching over the extender it busted right at the lower threads. The metal appears to have been fatigued. It was a long walk till I got picked up by a buddy.
Heyup Julian.
Not the best pics, but these are my cosmics and rear with cover. Fairly sure from the pic with the tape measure these must be the 60mm inner tubes, you can see it is that length to well up on the brake track; definitely not 80mm. And they are certainly Michelin latex. Not too much valve hanging out to annoy the aerocists, but enough to get a pump head onto and my CO2 adaptor goes on no probs. In fact from the pic with the cover you can see if they were any longer you might struggle to get the pump head over it, this is just right on my setup.
Hope this helps. Saw on your blog you are hitting Outlaw this year, I raced it 2013 and had a blast although it was severely hot. You will love it, it is a very fast course if conditions play ball.
Cheers,
Rich.
Valve extenders are a pain in the butt - I use long valve tubes. Just easier to deal with.
I picked up a valve extender for my spare tube that I will carry for my race wheels (these are 54mm profiled). The only reason I didn’t just get a longer valve tube is that I already have 4 spare brand new tubes and it was cheaper to get the extender than buy a new tube. When I run out of those tubes is when I’ll buy some longer tubes unless I can find another smoking package deal on tires/tubes combos (which kind of limit your valve length choices) but if you have no spares/extras to begin with just get ones long enough for your wheelset.
I use valve extenders on my 80mm deep carbon rims. The first extenders I bought were just that, screw-on tubes, and I realised that if I had a slow puncture and wanted to replace the tube I’d have to stick something like a spoke down the extension tube to fully deflate the tube. I also wouldn’t be able to tighten the valve - some tubes leak a bit from the valve if you don’t tighten it.
I then bought extenders which gripped the knurled part of the valve which protrudes (I’m sure it has a name, bit I don’t know it!) so you can both tighten the valve and fully deflate it from the extender.
What is a PITA is when you manage to drop an extension into the cavity of your deep section rim. That is fun to extract 
Cheers, Rich
Thanks Rich - really appreciated. I want to use latex tubes but really don’t want the faff of extenders if possible. I’ll give the 60mm stems a go.
I’m looking forward to the Outlaw - it was my first ever triathlon in 2010 and it will be good to go back although the course has changed a bit. I’m in for IM Mallorca as well in September so the Outlaw should be a good ‘warm-up’! Is that your name on the start list too?