Here are some thoughts regarding the Clik valve system conversion to help those thinking of doing this now that the parts are finally available. I jumped in because the head on my favourite pump started playing up so I bought a Clik head rather than replace it.
Benefits:
as claimed, simpler to operate than presta
slightly better air flow
no stem and lock nut to bend or break
Things to consider:
easy to fit into most tubeless valve stems but also easy to apply too much torque and twist the valve stem out of position. I found holding the valve stem with a pair of vice grips worked (not tried this on ally stems)
Also easy to fit to a butyl tube as long as that tube has removable valve core - one of my wife’s bikes had a tube with a non removable core so we had to replace the tube.
A real pain on TPU tubes: it seems the valve core on a TPU tube has (anaerobic?) sealant on the threads. I had one case where the stem cracked as I was inserting the Clik valve, I presume that the old sealant created too much interference.
TPU tubes with Clik valves pre-installed don’t seem to be available yet (if anyone knows a source please speak up).
Wow. Nice timing - I just saw this having seen that our clik valves are due to arrive tomorrow. Simply removing the stubborn fragile presta locknut makes it a win.
I can’t wait until they become more widely available. Cheaper would be good too but not as important as the functional benefits.
There are some Chinese made tpu tubes you can get on amazon that have metal replaceable valve cores and you can put clik valves in them. That’s what I did.
Another tip: consider switching your co2 inflator head to one that allows you screw in a shrader valve, like the SILCA one, and get one of the Clik pump adaptor heads. This way, you also always have an adaptor on your bike you can use to get accurate pressure reading on a friend or bike shops pump when you don’t have your Clik head pump with you.
How good is compatibility with presta pump heads? Generally curious about Clik, but not sure I can face getting adapters for all my pumps (basically have one mini pump per bike, plus track pump at home).
Most TPU tubes with non-metallic valve stems have valve cores that are not meant to be removed. The newest ones from RideNow have metallic valve stems and these have removal valve cores.
I’ve found all of my presta pumps do work with a clik valve. The main issue I’ve found is if I want to convert my pumps to clik, than I can no longer fill up a presta valve. If I don’t convert the pump, than I always have to use an adapter.
It definitely is easiest if you go all in but I have one bike that is still presta and I just pull the adaptor out of the pump head for that. Takes 10 seconds. It will eventually wear out the o ring on the pump head though…
My issue was/is that I have a wolf tooth pump with the clik head, it’s great when I need to use it, but my friend for a flat and I realized that he couldn’t use my pump. I wish they made an adapter so I could use my clik pump on a presta valve.
Then the adapter could be the exception and not the norm
I got some metal stem TPU tubes from Ebay - metal valve stems are worth the cost in added weight and the tubes seem to be a bit thicker too, so less air loss and slightly better puncture protection, I find. Will never go back to plastic stems.
@Lyrebird_Cycles_Mark_Kelly - where did you get your Clik hardware from? I tried finding stuff a little while ago and came up blank. I’m in Australia too, so prefer local seller.
No problem with my Cycplus using the hose and Clik adapter. Reads psi immediately upon click and stopped pumping at specified value. Attached a video if you’d like to see
If buying a Clik pump adapter, I highly recommend either buying the one offered directly through Clik [clikvalve.com] or the one Wolftooth offers (they are identical it seems). The adapter is aluminum and has a shorter body (saddle bag or small wheel considerations) than the ones offered by SKS or Schwalbe, which are plastic. Same 5.0g weight between the two styles.
The aluminum ones do take a slight bit more oomph to clik/unclick though.
I bought 2 pairs of clik valves from Yarra Valley Cycles. They arrived this morning.
I can get the gauge on our Fumpa pump to work by reversing the rubber seal in the fumpa pump head so it’s a schrader pump head and then the Clik adapter can screw into that.
Our long skinny pumps on our road bikes are ok - the presta heads seal fits ok on the clik valve and the resistance is not too bad thanks to the long thin pump design.
My problem now is that Helen has an excellent OneUP EDC pump which can’t be adapted to Schrader. I can only just pump air into the tyre with that pump because it is short and fat. It’s hard work - too hard for using out on a ride when you need it!
I don’t understand why the clik pump adapters don’t come with a presta sized tube on the back instead of the schrader sized tube. I’m tempted to try filing one of our clik adapters down so it will fit in a presta pump head. There’s lots of presta - schrader adapters to make the presta valve bigger but I want the opposite. Hmm sounds like a 3D printing challenge.
Surely these valves were intended to be used by folk like us who want to replace existing presta valves, so most bike pumps I’m aware of are designed to work with presta valves.
It sure looks to me like it would be really easy to have made the adapters with a presta sized body instead of the schrader size they use!?
