The Schrader valve could become a standard again thanks to new wheel measurements

Traditional fat valves could make a comeback as the most common on bikes after years of being relegated to mid and low range models in favor of the more durable presta or thin valves, traditional in road cycling and which, little by little, have been spreading to other disciplines.

New life for wide valves

As children, many of you probably went to the gas station to inflate your bike tires. It was quick to use those bikes with the same type of valve as cars, trucks, and motorcycles, known as fat valves, although their correct name is Schrader valve, named after its inventor, the American, in fact, it is also known as the American valve, August Schrader, who patented this design in 1893.

However, in road bikes, where very narrow rims have traditionally been used, these valves were excessively bulky, so the thin valve, Presta valve or French valve as it is often known, was imposed in this modality. A type of valve that, little by little, has been spreading, especially in high ranges, to other cycling modalities.

The main reason for using Presta valves on rims was to make a smaller diameter hole in the rims and thus compromise the resistance of the rim as little as possible, especially, as we said before, in high ranges with lighter and more delicate material. In addition, these valves, with a metal body compared to the rubber body of the fat valves, made them more resistant to cuts with the valve hole that occurred when the inner tube moved inside the rim.

But now, the situation has changed and the Schrader valve seems to be showing itself as an interesting option for bikes again. Among the reasons that have made the return of the fat valve possible, we must mention the increase in rim width in all disciplines, including road, which avoids the problems of drilling properly in the small space left by the old rims.

Also now, lower pressures are used, another reason to use presta valves that with their narrow body made it possible to reach the enormous pressures that were used in road bikes.

The normalization of tubeless is also another of the main reasons to use Scharader valve. The problem with the Presta valve with this system is that while it allows high pressures, it does not allow a large flow of air, precisely because it is a thin valve. However, the fat valve, as its name suggests, has a larger diameter that allows more volume of air to pass. This is especially useful when seating tubeless tires easily. In fact, with Presta valve it is often necessary to remove the core and resort to a compressor to get the tubeless tire to anchor in its housing.

With Schrader valves this is much easier as more air enters at once, obviously, we must have a pump capable of providing that extra amount of air. In addition, due to their configuration with a small spring that keeps the core closed, Schrader valves are better able to maintain air with the low pressures used with tubeless tires, unlike presta valves that depend on us not forgetting to close the screw that keeps the valve closed. Who hasn't had the experience of inflating to just 2 bar their tires and losing air when removing the pump until we closed the valve?

Finally, we must not forget the convenience of being able to inflate at any gas station without needing to carry the Presta to Schrader adapter. A resource that surely more than one has used to leave their tires at the right pressure after suffering a puncture halfway through the route. Time will tell if they finally become established in other disciplines beyond mountain biking.