Muc-Off says that its Presta Tubeless Valve Kit is a premium solution and at over £20 a pack it's not wrong, but it certainly has all the options covered to make sure these provide the perfect seal with your wheels. The anodised machined finish is absolutely spot on, too, for that added bit of colour coordinated bling.
- Pros: Impressive range of colours, excellent quality
- Cons: Pricier than most if you aren't interested in the bling
Most tubeless wheels already come supplied with their own valves, or you can add them as an extra when you order them and they'll set you back anything between a fiver and a tenner, so why upgrade to a pack costing £22.50? Well, first of all they look and feel bloody brilliant.
Both the stem and the valve caps are machined from 6061 series aluminium before being anodised in a range of eight colours: black, blue, gold, green, orange, pink, purple and red. They are available in two lengths as well, 44mm and 60mm.
In the pack you get two valves, an extra valve cap that is machined to be used as a valve core removal tool, and a range of adaptors to suit the various rim bed shapes. Each valve also has a machined locking nut with rubber o-ring to get the perfect seal.
Fitting is simple, as you'd expect.
Depending on whether your rim bed is square or round you select one of the adaptors to fit at the top of the stem so that when you tighten the valve to the rim by spinning the lockring and o-ring, everything fits together to seal any gaps around the valve hole.
It works a treat. None of the various wheels I tried them on saw any issues with leakage at all.
As you can see from the top of the stem that sits inside the wheel there is a 4mm hex key socket and 11mm spanner flats on the lockring. Muc-Off recommends that these are only used for removing a stubborn valve rather than fitting it.
With the valve in place you can then remove the valve core and whack your jollop in, job done.
As I say, the valves worked a treat for me with no sealing issues but then again I've used plenty of other cheaper ones that I've had no issues with either.
Would I buy them? Yes, because if you are into colour coding your bike then these look awesome and are worth the extra few quid over the likes of the other aluminium jobs on the market. For me, anyway.
You are looking at around £15 to £18 for the others I found online, so the Muc-Offs don't look to be hugely expensive in comparison; you could spend more on some Silca versions at £26.
Verdict
Pricier than most but do an excellent job and look the business
If you're thinking of buying this product using a cashback deal why not use the road.cc Top Cashback page and get some top cashback while helping to support your favourite independent cycling website
road.cc test report
Make and model: Muc-Off Tubeless Presta Valves
Size tested: 60mm
Tell us what the product is for and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?
Muc-Off says, "Sick of finding your tyre flat every time you go to ride? We know how annoying it is to have a leaky tubeless valve that just doesn't seal, so we've worked on a premium solution. Check out our tubeless tyre valves available in 8 colours and 2 sizes."
They really are premium but they justify it by working so well.
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
6061 Aluminum machined stem
6061 Aluminum machined cap
4mm machined Allen Key slot for easy installation / removal
Includes Valve Core Removal Tool (intergrated into spare alloy cap)
Assortment of 8 eye popping colours
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
Kept everything sealed perfectly.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
Top notch quality.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
Some will find the price extravagant.
How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?
They are a little pricier than most but the build quality makes up for it.
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes
Would you consider buying the product? Yes
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes
Use this box to explain your overall score
Do the job they are designed to do brilliantly and it's nice to see some valves available in longer lengths than the standard 40mm.
About the tester
Age: 40
I usually ride: This month's test bike My best bike is: B'Twin Ultra CF draped in the latest bling test components
I've been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: Every day I would class myself as: Expert
I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, commuting, club rides, sportives, fixed/singlespeed
Stu knocked out his first road.cc review back in 2009 and since then he's chucked the best part of seventy test bikes around the West Country, a couple of them quite literally! With three alloy and two steel bikes in his fleet he's definitely a metal man (that'll be the engineering background) but is slowly warming to that modern carbon fibre stuff along with fat tyres & disc brakes.
It's not all nostalgia though, after spending the last few years in product design Stu keeps banging on about how 3D printing is going to be the next big thing and he's a sucker for a beautiful paint job too.
4 comments
They look nice and the colour options are a bonus!
If anyone wants to consider an alternative then how about these from a British company set up by an ex pro rider:-
https://peatys.co.uk/tubeless-valves/
I’ve been using Milkit valves, Stans Race Sealant, and Schwalbe Pro Ones for about 2 years and 15000miles now - never had a puncture at all, don’t even carry a repair kit now, just a phone :-).
Don’t have to deflate and de-rim to check/change sealant, rarely have to top up pressure between sealant checks. And the ride feel is excellent too, its changed my life on the bike enormously, I no longer worry about punctures.
So, nice as these look, nothing would take me back to having to deflate a tyre to check/change the sealant (which I do every couple of months).
Totally agree about MilkIt valves, they are great. These muc-off ones seem pointless and dead on arrival. They offer zero benefits, just a lot of money. Buy MilkIt ones instead, they come in 3 lengths and have a major technology advantage and cost less...
This looks like a good design. I'm not sure the hex head design is necessary though. It makes the base very thick.
The standard design tubeless valve has a conical bit of rubber that is bonded to the aluminum stem. If you tighten the lockring a lot, the rubber can crack or shear off.
The Orange Seal tubeless valve and this Muc Off one have an aluminum lip at the base which is a good design improvement. It keeps the rubber under compression loads only.
The Silca ones don't have an aluminum lip, so are subject to failure.