Prompted by Jesse's post in the other thread, I also disassembled the wheel and removed the valve. It's a bit different from the other one shown. In this case, there is a brass valve with a nut and washers on the inside. But it also has the pin-hole on the side. The inner part of the valve is covered with a short length of silicon tubing. I can see how this should, in principle, work (forced air expanding the silicon tube).
It's possible to insert a large T-pin about 1/2 inch into the valve, but the inflating needle only goes in about 1/8 inch. The needle sit in the hole very loosely and I would guess that too much air escapes round the needle. When i hold just the brass valve in my hand and pump air into it, I can feel the air coming out of the pin-hole. When I put the silicon tubing over the valve, it's harder to tell if air is coming through.
Nevertheless, no matter what I try I'm not getting any inflation whatsoever on the tire.
Last edited by abufletcher; 02-20-2015 at 07:34 PM.