Clik valves! I’ve been using these on my bike for a month, and I like them! The cores are compatible with Presta stems; so you can remove the core from your Presta valve, and put in Clik core. They also sell an adapter that threads onto a Schrader valve.

What are these good for? The stated benefits are:

• Ease of use: press the pump head on, and it clicks into place. With other valves you need to use a lock lever, or thread on the pump head. Not so with Clik. You also don’t have the Presta lock nut loosening step.
• Less damage prone: the pin that extends out of a Presta valve can sometimes get bent. With Clik the pin is mostly recessed, like in a Schrader valve, so it’s less likely to bend.
• More air flow compared to Presta.
• Supposedly Clik valves are less likely to be clogged by tire sealant in a tubeless setup.

For me only the first point matters. I’ve never damaged a Presta pin, and I don’t use tubeless tires. Maybe I can inflate tires a little faster? It’s hard to tell.

For those who do use tubeless tires: I heard a suggestion that Clik valves might make it easier to seat tires compared to Presta due to the increased airflow. But I’ve also heard that what you really want to do is remove the valve core entirely, and use an air compressor. Unfortunately I don’t have personal experience to weigh in here.

But yes, the ease of use is worth it for me! I can click on the pump head and take it off one-handed. I get to skip the step of fiddling with the locking level while air is escaping. I went into this hoping to experience the satisfaction of a minor convenience on approximately a weekly basis, and that’s exactly what I got.

That satisfaction is purchased at a price of about $6 per valve core, or about $3.40 if you buy in packs of 16. I’m hoping the cores will last a long time as I move them from tube to tube. I’ll have to see if that pans out.

You need a special pump adapter

The trade-off is that you’ll want to use a special pump head with Clik valves. The starter kit comes with an adapter that installs in a Schrader pump that does the job.

You can use a Presta pump head with Clik valves, so you aren’t completely out of luck if you’re away from your usual pump. But the Presta pump won’t press the pin to open the valve, so you won’t get an accurate tire pressure reading. And you’re back to fiddling with that locking lever.

Schrader adapter

I didn’t want to deal with taking the Clik adapter on and off the shared family bike pump; so I also got the Schrader adapters for my son’s bike.

It is possible to remove Schrader valve cores. But it seems that instead of making a core that fits in a Schrader stem, Clik opted to make an adapter that sits on top of the existing Schrader core. In practice pumping with this adapter works just like pumping with a Clik core in a Presta stem.

Is it possible that having a pin in the adapter, that presses on the pin in the Schrader valve core has some fragility that might present in the future? I don’t know! I’ll update this post if I notice a problem.

Installation

The Clik starter kit comes with a tiny wrench with two openings to fit both Presta and Clik valve cores. (That’s in addition to the pump head adapter I already mentioned, and two Clik cores.) It seems that Presta and Clik use different wrench sizes, so if you already have a Presta core wrench it might not fit the Clik cores.

Installation is easy: deflate the tire, remove one core, put in the other.

The Schrader adapters thread onto the valve, so that’s one step. You don’t need to deflate the tire for these.

Dust caps

Clik cores and Schrader adapters come with black rubber caps that also click on and off. These are nice! I have no complaints.

Just for fun I got some shiny aluminum dust caps that Clik also sells. I got the ones that thread on.

The aluminum caps do not fit on the Schrader adapters. That’s something I wanted to check because I didn’t think it was clear from the product description.

I was persuaded to get the aluminum caps because of the included features: they incorporate a tool to bleed air from the valve (a little fancier than using your finger), and a valve core wrench. The wrench opening seemed to be a little too small to me - I had considerable difficulty getting it onto a Clik valve core. So, kinda disappointing. The caps are shiny, which I don’t mind. But if you just want functional dust caps, I think you’ll be happy with the rubber ones.