spoke cards - not just for show

This morning on my shortish commute i was mashing along and in my head wondering about the point where you wouldn’t bother changing a flat - cause you were close enough to walk the rest of the way - and at that precise moment I got a flat. and it was well inside the zone where you are best doing a road side tube change.

So I got the tube in and had pumped the tyre up. Now my pump is one of those that you screw onto the valve. and so i was unscrewing it off when BANG - the top part of the valve came off (see pic below) and all the air rushed out.

So I screw it back in as tight as I could and screw on the pump as lightly as i could but it all comes unstuck again. After 3 more goes at this I decide to leave the bendy hose bit of the pump on the valve and secure it in place (so that it doesn’t come out into the spokes and catch on the frame or chain) with a couple of spoke cards.

not wanting to push my luck i rode the rest of the way pretty slowly. so! spoke cards are functional too. werd.

this rules.

bush mechanics ftw!

ok thats it, i want some spoke cards!

where can i buy em from?

How many you want?

I got a 10er, 20 or a fitty bag. :wink:

just gotta hear back from a mate coz mite go halfs in an oz

Has that valve got a replaceable core?

by “replaceable core” - do you mean the bit that could be unscrewed?
cause that must be what these tubes have. i’d only ever inflated them with a track pump.
i am not sure how advantageous a replaceable core would be anyway…you know?

Threaded valve stems, like the Vittoria tubes with the silver 42mm threaded valve stem, don’t have a removable valve core. The gold-coloured ones, ie the 51mm Vittoria tubes (as above), have a removable valve core, which is useful for deep rims which need valve extensions. Other than needing a longer valve, I’m not sure why you’d need to replace the valve, they seem pretty bulletproof.

Nice improv BTW! If you need to tighten the valve core back onto your tube, Vittoria do sell valve extensions which come with a small tool to remove the valve core. Most bike shops should have a few of these tools floating around. If not, they should have a Shimano spoke spanner, which happens to be the correct size for tightening valve cores. I’d suggest a really small generic spanner/shifter, but I haven’t had much success with this.

Ive had two 42mm valves break because of hand pump issues.

i have. isn’t perfect, but does the job.

i would also like some spoke cards,where can i get them from

Haha, nice job. MacGyver would be proud.

Just make sure all the cards are is good as the 1st 1…
Ya dont wana get to the bottom of the bag to find, dis-colored or ripped 1’s…

that’s an epic fix ive seen some patch ups in mtb races but damm