Singapore Expats

We brought 2 bikes with us from Germany, a couple of months ago. Last week, we had problems with both. One is punctured and the other I could not pump in air anymore. We took it to the nearest bike repair shop. The guy said that the punctured bike is 28" and he has no tube for that. The other bike has a "different" valve and he can't pump in air either

What to do?

Try a different bike shop!

Where do you live? If it's on the east try Joo Chiat Rd. There are quite a few bike shops down there. Old family businesses - they've been there years - reasonable prices and good reputations.

Buy the inner tubes and a pair of tyre levers from Amazon/Ebay or wherever.


p.s. I was doing these kind of repairs seemingly every other week as a pre-teen... it isn't hard! Even easier these days, just look on Youtube for 'changing bicycle inner tube'.... I'm sure step by step instructions are there.

I've only ever seen two types of tire valves, the schraeder and the presta:



You most likely have the presta, as the schraeder is the very common one found and cars and most bikes.

You can buy an adapter to use a schraeder pump with a presta valve at most high end bike shops for $1-2. Rodalink (multiple locations) definitely has them.
http://sg.rodalink.com/outlet-location/

If this is a mountain bike, you probably mean 29", not 28". That's a less common (but still common) wheel size, Rodalink will also be able to help you. (If you're talking road bike, I imagine you'd have used metric)

Germany has another kind of valve (I don't know the proper name for it) and pumps are not interchangeable (although most pumps for Presta also fit the German kind, though not the other way round).
It's best to get an adapter from your kind of valve to Schrader, which is the most common type worldwide. Those adapters are very difficult to find, but worth the effort - I keep mine like a treasure!

Hmm, apparently a "Dunlop" valve. Never heard of it before, interesting!



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunlop_valve

Wiki says the presta adapter should work. Good luck!

Yes, that's the one.
As far as I know, it exists only in Germany (and only on certain kinds of bicycles there). Probably a historic relict, but as Germans are very conservative it won't disappear soon I'm afraid.

Peter Chew at Cycle Corner might be able to help you out:

http://www.togoparts.com/bikeshops/shop ... hp?sid=132

beppi wrote:but as Germans are very conservative

That's rather contradicted by the number of gay encounter clubs on seemingly every high street.

I reckon the Germans are like the Japanese, conservative and as a result they have a really truly pervey aspect to them too.