WARNING: Never inflate a tire beyond the maximum pressure marked on the tire’s sidewall. Exceeding the recommended maximum pressure may blow the tire off the rim, which could cause damage to the bike and injury to the rider and bystanders.
CAUTION: Pencil type automotive tire gauges can be inaccurate and should not be relied upon for consistent, accurate pressure readings. Instead, use a high quality dial gauge.
WARNING: Patching a tube is an emergency repair. If you do not apply the patch correctly or apply several patches, the tube can fail, resulting in possible tube failure, which could cause you to loose control and fall. Replace a patched tube as soon as possible.
Ask your dealer to recommend the best tire pressure for the kind of riding you will most often do, and have the dealer inflate your tires to that pressure. Then, check inflation as described in Section 1.C so you’ll know how correctly inflated tires should look and feel. Some tires may need to be brought up to pressure every week or two. Some special
2.Tire Valves. There are primarily two kinds of bicycle tube valves: The Schraeder
Valve and the Presta Valve. The bicycle pump you use must have the fitting | fig 23 |
appropriate to the valve stems on your bicycle. |
|
a.The Schraeder valve (fig. 23) is like the valve on a car tire. To inflate a Schraeder valve tube, remove the valve cap and clamp the pump fitting onto the end of the valve stem. To let air out of a Schraeder valve, depress the pin in the end of the valve stem with the end of a key or other appropriate object.
b.The Presta valve (fig. 24) has a narrower diameter and is only found on bicycle tires To inflate a Presta valve tube using a Presta headed bicycle pump remove
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