Replacing tire valve stems

[twocams]

You know, the little rubber things on the rim to put air in a tire. The guy I have used to change tires for several yrs. now. Said he wont normally change them with new or old tires. I said they are already 6 yrs old. I dont know how much riding Im going to do but it maybe another 3-4 yrs before tires get changed again. Guess I made him mad, I dropped tires& wheels off at noon, I called around 5 pm. ( open till 7 pm). There not done yet, other people in front of you with appointment. Yea right.
Ill call you when done. If you dont want to do it or cant, just tell me. Should I have made an appointment? I didnt for the last 10 tires/5 yrs. Well he just lost some more business.
I have had a couple valve stems that I bent over to see if they were cracked & they just broke off.

[Peter Aawen]

Rubber valve stems should be replaced with every new tire fitted on that rim! Most good tire techs are also trained & expected to replace them whenever they remove a tire from the rim too, even if it's only to repair a puncture or flip the tire's rolling direction on the rim! :lecturef_smilie:

Still, it never hurts to give them a call & arrange a time/appointment, you don't know how busy they are, so it's only a 'helpful to both' courtesy to pre-arrange a time. :thumbup:

[cruisinTX]

twocams, just my opinion here. I think the second your tire guy balked at changing the stems knowing they were old, I would have told him I will find someone else. He's messing with your safety; something that is not his decision to make. Having a stem come apart at hiway speeds not something you want to do on any vehicle. It's not a blow-out but the air escapes very quickly & not a good feeling if you happen to be in heavy traffic at the time. I use an independent local tire shop here and just take them the rims & tires (if they don't carry the brand I want. They have no problem doing as I ask with regards to stems & pressure.

[Ex-Rocket]

Many, many years ago I had a 1994 Honda 750 Magna and I was out riding all by myself and having a good time when all of a sudden my front tire went flat. I was going probably around 50 MPH and it took me all I could do to keep the bike upright. I was barely outside of a small town in Arkansas called Wynne. I was only maybe 1/4 mile out so I pushed my bike back to where a pay phone was, you younger folks wouldn't know about them and it was before cell phones were popular. Luckily the pay phone had a phone directory in it. Did I tell you also that is was a Sunday. Of course about everybody I called were closed but I finally reached someone that would make a service call. While waiting for the service truck to arrive I inspected my tire but couldn't find a nail or anything in the tire. Then I glanced down and saw that my valve stem was rotten and had broken into. Well about an hour and $60.00 dollars later I was back riding. Theory of this story is to always change your valve stems when mounting a new tire. Valve stem are cheap versus a service call on a Sunday.

[Gwolf]

I had a rubber valve stem break off when I hit the speed bumps coming to a stop sign. It didn't start leaking. It broke off and let all the air out fast.

[twocams]

Thing is he has changed lots of tires for me. Never a problem, he just changes the tires & I get on with my life. I should have known when his web site says 11AM-7PM. And one of his bike mechanics said he usually dont open the shop till 12 PM. Then he (the owner) comes in with flip flops/shorts. Hes the owner/boss so I do care. He has about 10 bikes in his shop some just put together/some being repaired. He has had my tires/rims for 26 hrs now. One more hr. & Ill just pick them up done or not. Im getting to old to play these stupid kid game.

[Piratezz]

Service, and Customercare, seems to be a nasty word nowadays.....
I really do not understand, why people/vendors, who make a living, providing a service like tires or whatever, makes life so hard on themselves, a smile and some understanding towards the "paying"customer, doesn't cost a cent.
Makes the vendors life easier, customer happier.. in my book a win/win

[twocams]

Picked up my tires yesterday. He was talking shop to some people, so I just went over to the tire machine. Picked up my new tires putum in the truck. He came out of the shop with my unchanged wheels. Said, I cant change those tires with my motorcycle tire machine? Those are car rims. OK, why didnt you tell me that yesterday "you pin head".

[RayBJ]

Pure BS! I have changed all 3 of my RT tires on a Marc Parnes MOTORCYCLE tire machine with 0 issues. In fact, the 'car' tires & rims were easier to mount than my Triumph Trophy rear that took 2 of us to get over the rim.

[pidjones]

There are tire stems that the GoldWingers run called "Patch boy" stems - all metal except a gasket. Come in a variety of sizes and angles - even a "T" that allows TPMS on one leg while add/check on the other (two valves in it). I will probably mount one of them come tire change time.