Embarrassing newbie pump question...

Peewiglet said:

Can anyone please help me with this?

I've just bought a foot pump for my bike. In the end of the tube there
are two little holes, and one of them is meant to fit to the valve on
my bike tyre (obviously...) However, the valve on the bike is too fat
to fit into either of the holes. I did ask at the bike shop whether I
would need to take my bike to the garage to pump up the tyres, and the
answer was an emphatic "no". I didn't have my bike with me at the
time, but the vendor didn't say that the answer would depend upon what
sort of tyre valves I had.

Am I doing/missing something stupid/obvious here? I'd prefer not to
have to take my bike to a garage each time I need to pump up the
tyres. I'm doing my first long ride tomorrow with pals (45 miles is a
*long* ride for me) and had wanted to be all ready and prepared, hence
the pump. (Sob...)

Can anyone please advise?

Many thanks for any help.

Best wishes,

I assume from this you have the same type of valve as on your car tyres.
Pumps come in three types. Some have a universal head with one valve
hole in the head, some have a head with dual holes, one for the type of
valve you have and one for another thinner type, and the third you take
the innards out of the head and turn them round to switch from one valve
type to the other. Can you give us a clue with a makers name or
something off the pump? Or post a picture of the head on the web and
post the link here. It helps a lot more if we are not guessing in the dark

--
Tony

"Don't argue the matter, the difficulties will argue for themselves"
-W.S. Churchill

On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 18:21:58 +0100, Tony Raven <[email hidden]>
wrote:

[...]

Quoted message said:

I assume from this you have the same type of valve as on your car tyres.
Pumps come in three types. Some have a universal head with one valve
hole in the head, some have a head with dual holes, one for the type of
valve you have and one for another thinner type, and the third you take
the innards out of the head and turn them round to switch from one valve
type to the other. Can you give us a clue with a makers name or
something off the pump? Or post a picture of the head on the web and
post the link here. It helps a lot more if we are not guessing in the dark

Many thanks, Tony - you've helped me solve the problem! I went
downstairs with my camera to take a piccy and decided to have one last
go at attaching the pump. At that stage I realised that the larger of
the two holes wasn't actually too small to cover the valve, but I'd
failed to push it down onto the valve before. My tyres are now fully
inflated.

Thanks again :-)

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \ pee AT [guessthisbit].co.uk

Following on from Peewiglet's message. . .

Quoted message said:

Can anyone please help me with this?

Good you found out how to use your pump as using a garage supply is
dangerous and should not be done.

Quoted message said:

Am I doing/missing something stupid/obvious here? I'd prefer not to
have to take my bike to a garage each time I need to pump up the
tyres. I'm doing my first long ride tomorrow with pals (45 miles is a
*long* ride for me) and had wanted to be all ready and prepared, hence
the pump. (Sob...)

--
PETER FOX Not the same since the pancake business flopped
[email hidden]
<http://www.eminent.demon.co.uk> - Lots for cyclists

Why is a garage supply dangerous for pumping bikes ?
Not to say it isn't, but I can't see why this might be so.

Hywel

On Sun, 12 Jun 2005 10:54:02 +0100, hyweldavies <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Why is a garage supply dangerous for pumping bikes ?
Not to say it isn't, but I can't see why this might be so.

A little too easy to overdo it?

--
jc

hyweldavies said:

Why is a garage supply dangerous for pumping bikes ?
Not to say it isn't, but I can't see why this might be so.

Hywel

Bike inner tubes require high pressure at relatively low volumes whilst
car tyres require a relatively high volume, so garage pumps are
"designed" to give a relatively high flow rate, it is very easy to put
to much air in very quickly and actually "blow up" the innertube/tyre.

--
yours S

Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione

Peter Fox said:

Following on from Peewiglet's message. . .

Quoted message said:

Can anyone please help me with this?

Good you found out how to use your pump as using a garage supply is
dangerous and should not be done.

A lesson I learned when I was about 12.

It didn't half make a bang.

And the garage man was really rather cross.

Ahem.

"Bob"
--

Email address is spam trapped.
To reply directly remove the beverage.

Call me Bob said:

On Sun, 12 Jun 2005 09:37:47 +0100, Peter Fox

Quoted message said:

Good you found out how to use your pump as using a garage supply is
dangerous and should not be done.

A lesson I learned when I was about 12.

It didn't half make a bang.

And the garage man was really rather cross.

I used them when I was 12 years old as well. Fortunately, I thought to
just put one quick squirt in at a time and check how hard the tyre got.
Last time I tried, though, I couldn't get any decent pressure at all. The
machines are weedier (or better regulated?) nowadays, and they charge 20p.
Still, it's worth carrying a Presta to Schrader adapter (with o-ring) for
emergencies when your hand pump is forgotten/lost/broken.

~PB

"Peter Fox" <[email hidden]> wrote
in message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Following on from Peewiglet's message. . .

Quoted message said:

Can anyone please help me with this?

Good you found out how to use your pump as using a garage supply is
dangerous and should not be done.

As I found out once, long ago. I put a little blip of air in each
tyre, and they were hard, instantly. I got a few yards up the street
and there was a huge BANG. I cursed, got off my bike, and started
wheeling it home. Whereupon there was another BANG.

This was in Washington DC, and my first encounter with Schraeder
valves, the car type. Such things were unknown in England back then.
I could have been shot by the police for making bangs like that.

There are good bike pumps and bad ones, and the difference between
them is tremendous. The old fashioned kind, with a little rubber
hose to connect pump to bike is useless, USELESS.

Jeremy Parker