Fillmore Valves

Fillmore Valves from Reserve are a new take on the venerable Presta valve.

Why change a design that has been around for over 100 years? Blame tubeless, with it’s need for high air-flow to mount tyres and sealant. The internals of a Presta valve are tight, restricting the amount of air that can pass. Those same narrow internal dimensions are also prone to clogging with sealant. Another problem is that filling your tyre with sealant through the valve means you have to remove the valve. Reserve have designed Fillmore Valves to solve these problems. I’ll be trying them out to see how they work.

Reserve have kept the same outside dimensions, but stripped out the internals. Now, instead of the the little removable Presta core, there’s a single steel pin. This has a ‘poppet’ at the bottom with rubber O-rings and a threaded top. The poppet is pushed against the valve by the tyre’s internal air-pressure, closing it off. This is a clever system requiring no springs to hold it in place, which would take up internal space in the valve.

3x air flow

Reserve say that the Filmore Valves design delivers three times the air-flow of a traditional Presta valve. This should make mounting tubeless tyres a lot easier, as getting a good burst of air is vital when it comes to getting them seated.

The steel pin also looks to be a lot stronger than that of a Presta valve. It’s quite common to see bikes with bent pins, which can prevent you attaching a pump. You can bend them back, however if you go too far they can snap off. Usually you can just insert another, however not all tyres have replaceable valves. These valves can be disassembled using a 10mm spanner and 2.5mm allen key, if you should need to.

Another feature of the valve is the machined aluminium cap. This does much more than just protect the top of the valve. Inside it has a thread that allows it to screw on to the top of the steel pin. With the pin held in place by the tyre’s air pressure, knocking the top of the pin will allow the air to escape. So the cap stops this, screw it all the way down and the pin can’t move. However, unscrew it a little and now you can use it to release some air. The more it’s unscrewed, the more air is released. The only issue with that is that I’m always losing my valve caps!

Micro-adjust air pressure

I’ll see if this is an issue and whether I can use a standard cap as a replacement. Reserve do say that you can ride without a cap but, “for best practice and for the micro-adjust feature, there are no issues with riding the bike with a missing cap. The system is designed to hold tire pressure with or without an air cap.“

Reserve also say the the valves will work with tyre-liners. The poppet will press against the liner allowing air out. Presumably the pressure generated from pumping will be enough to overcome the liner, although will I still be able to pour sealant in? I have been using 76 Projects previously and have seen how removing the Presta internals makes tubeless fitting much easier, so expect these valves to perform as well.

Features

• High Flow: 3X air flow makes seating tires a snap
• No Clog: Eliminates clogging and busts through dry sealant
• Micro-Adjust: Airs down to the perfectly dialed tire pressure
• Direct-Inject: Coreless design for no-fuss injection of sealant
• Lengths:
  • 50mm Fillmore Valve – fits rim depths between 18mm to 28mm
  • 70mm Fillmore Valve – fits rim depths between 30mm to 48mm
  • 90mm Fillmore Valve – fits rim depths between 48mm to 68mm

Head over to Reserve’s website for prices and availability.