Jerry, you bring up an interesting point. My memory is a bit vague at this point, but I seem to only recall two types of valves used on bicycle tires back in the 1950s in the UK. The Woods valve was used on roadsters and other cheap bikes and the Presta valve was used on lightweights with high pressure tires. I even think that both these valves had a similar diameter thread, smaller than that on Schraeder valves found on car tires. I know the bike I rode had high pressure tires with Presta valves and I don't recall having to look for a frame pump with a special hose (but I could, of course, be mistaken). Recently I was browsing eBay for a Bluemels pump from that era and was surprised that the connecting hoses on what I saw were for Schraeder valves, which now has me confused. Of course, there are Schraeder/Presta adaptors available. I'm anxious to be enlightened on this subject as well.
-- John Betmanis Woodstock, Ontario Canada
Jerome & Elizabeth Moos wrote:
> The 1954 Duravia project made me confront a lot of 50's equipment. The bike has a pump peg on the back of the seattube. The placement is such as to fit an old French alloy pump which used a hose that screwed onto the valve. The shape of the BB shell is such that one end of the pump fits into the opening between the right and left side of the shell.
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> These, pumps, often made of alloy, with a hose valve fitting were common in the 60's and earlier. I used to associate this type of pump with Schraeder valves, and there were British pumps of this type which were probably typically Schraeder, but AFAIK the French never used Schraeder valves in the domsetic market, so I presume the old French pumps of this type usually had a hose with a Presta fitting. Is that correct? Also, in Britain, it is my understanding that tubulars were often from the Continent, and perhaps even British made tubulars, if any, might have been Presta. Would British made pumps then have also been available with Presta fittings?
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> I bought several Lapize alloy pumps new in the 90's when they were still available. These have hoses with Schraeder fittings, but I presume they were made for the US or UK market. Were pump hoses available separately In The Day to allow these pumps to changed from Presta to Schraeder or vice versa? Was the pump body thread that the hose screws into the same on British and on French pumps? One thing I have done with French pumps of this type is fit a Campy "French" pump head. These Campy heads have a male thread rather than the usual female thread and fit the female thread on the old French alloy pumps.
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> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
> Big Spring, Texas, USA