Colby Valves - I'm a big fan

[CharlieS]

I did a search and saw a couple of
mentions, but wanted to post another message saying how useful these things are.

The Colby valves are brass and rubber valve stems that are installed from the outside.

Just this weekend I was on a trail and heard a telltalle sound of air rapidly escaping my driver rear tire. I called ahead and let the group know I needed to check it out, then hopped out and quickly saw that my valve stem had broken and I was losing all the air in the tire.

In a few minutes I had removed the remains of the old valve stem, inserted a new Colby valve, and within 15 minutes had aired up and was back in the saddle.

This little gizmo quickly got us back on trail. The alternative would have been ugly, swapping in my spare on a steep rocky downhill ("red" rated trail).

I highly recommend carrying a couple in your trail spares or glovebox.

 

[DivByZero]

These are on my "to buy" list. Any thoughts on the "emergency" vs "permanent" ones you show there? I notice you went for the permanent version for your trail fix.

 

[CharlieS]

The emergency ones don't require any tools, so they are easy. Probably better for quick tool free repairs.

I usually have a 13mm ratcheting spanner wrench in the tool kit so I tossed on a permanent one. Also, I run the permanent ones on all of the wheels, so throwing a permanent one in saved me a step.

Side note that this is actually a case where I think the permanent Colby valve worked less well than a plain rubber one. The brass broke off instead of bending like a traditional rubber valve stem would have. I don't think I would have needed a trail repair if I was running normal rubber valve stems.

 

[Marco Lau]

been using those for years now. Eventually all the rubber valve stems were bad from wheeling and i ended up replacing all 5. Ask me how i know and when you are in the middle of nowhere, its painful. I always keep a pack in my rig as spare.

 

[mudgudgeon]

I have a set in my centre console.

Have never broken a valve wheeling, but have been with others who have.