I found it! After 45 years! They exist. They're cheap.
Last Post 06/28/2022 11:06 PM by Frederick Jones. 6 Replies.
Author Messages
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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06/28/2022 01:42 AM
The fabled Schrader to Presta adopter aka "damsel in distress" valve that we used to make from shop parts to carry on rides.  Specifically to be able to help out young ladies with flat tires and our presta only pumps.  Knowledge lost from my TBI.

I made a protype of a hardware store grade schrader chuck with lever, presta valve from an old tube and plastic hose between but it was only a prototype.  Took it to Portland's ace shop.  A middle aged mechanic took interest, had several good ideas, suggested Portland's ancient hardware store and Citybikes, my next stop anyway.  At Citybikes, more ideas and a report back that he found one on Amazon under schrader to presta adopter.  Yes, one was there among 2 pages of presta to schrader for $8. 

You know I hate dealing with Amazon and cherish my account free status.  So I kept looking.  First non-Amazon hit was Cantitoe Road, an e-bike dealer.  $9.60.  Nice write-up describing exactly what I want it for.  Sold!  Bought 6.

Question to be determined - how much air do you lose unscrewing the valve?  I'm guessing there is a time window when the adopter has broken the air seal as you start to un-thread but the button on the tube valve is still depressed.  Will I have to invest in a schrader wheel to acquire the skill?    "Hi!  I'm looking for a bike wheel with tire and tube.  Has to be schrader."  Size?  "Doesn't matter."  Type?  "Doesn't matter."

For many years there was a resource I could have tapped into but those adopters were only passing thoughts and I never put the pieces together.  Sheldon Brown.  He knew.  He was close with our shop mechanic.  Stopped by the shop to hang quite often.  Those damsel in distress valves came up in conversation frequently.

If this works, I'll be going to bike shops and showing it off.  Simply a better world where elitist cyclists can carry a tool to help others (and do it with pride).  Yeah, yeah, we all can flip that little gasket around in our pump heads, but small black parts love to run away.  Giving them slopes to roll down and vegetation to hide under (the typical roadside) is tempting fate with a big carrot.
Dale

Posts:1767

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06/28/2022 07:45 AM
https://www.cantitoeroad.com/Schrader-to-Presta-valve-adapters
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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06/28/2022 09:16 AM
Wait. I’ve had these and still have several of these adapters. They date from when I was riding a cheap mountain bike on road as student but even more recently the local bike shop had them sitting on their counter. I’ve hung on to them because we have different bikes with different valve types even though last set of pumps have made them redundant. So you’re telling me I’m sitting on a gold mine and can sell these for top dollar?
Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

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06/28/2022 09:35 AM
So you’re telling me I’m sitting on a gold mine and can sell these for top dollar?


Absolutely not. Don't bank on that for a retirement plan.😜
Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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06/28/2022 09:46 AM
Damn. Thanks for blowing my dream CK. I had to look. I have three.
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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06/28/2022 12:46 PM
So, this is like Ben's 20 year search for no-float clipless cleats. I knew years before the first LOOK that I needed cleats that locked my foot's angle. I"d never heard the term no-float but I started asking at bike shops about clipless pedals that didn't; explaining my knee issues. Time after time I'd hear the lecture of how float was God's gift to knees. Leave the shop. "That was a waste of time." Then one day in the early aughts, a bike shop employee said "there's the black LOOK cleats that lock out float"! Wow! It took 20 years to hear that. Then I started reading how Lance Armstrong wouldn't use Shimano pedals because he insisted on the no-float feature on those black cleats. (And eventually Shimano made a no-float option.)

I've been asking about schrader to presta periodically for a long time. I guess I just don't have the proper search terms. Salesmen lead me to the presta to schrader just like they tell me of the wonders of float. Here I've been hanging out with a forum mate for years and just learned he has three! I've been to his city, long after he acquired his and when smuggling such stuff back to the US would have been a piece of cake. And here I thought that knowledge was lost forever after we lost the guru of odd bike stuff to the other world.
longslowdistance

Posts:2881

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06/28/2022 11:06 PM
I read (reeeed not red) these responses as "it works". Thanks for that, ordered. (presta pumps, but sometimes Schrader valves need a few pump strokes.
Battery powered options are intriguing.


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