greenhornbiker said:
Just purchased a cafe road bike via mail orderr and I dont know how to fil the tires with air? Is there a special tire valve I need to fill them, the tires have a skinny spindle wire type of valve on them??
There are two types of valves used on bicycle tires:
Schrader valve - this is the same type of valve that is used on car tires and of course works exactly the same.
Since you don't recognise the valve, my guess is that is the second type:
Presta valve - this is a much thinner valve. It has a little tip that screws in and out. You need to screw it out so you can press it in to let the air escape. You also screw the tip out to pump it up. When you screw it in, the valve is sealed and air will not leak out -- and you cannot pump it up.
Many/most decent quality tire pumps, whether a floor pump, or one that you carry on the bike, come with adapters for both types. Sometimes it's obvious. For example, one of my floor pumps has two holes, one larger than the other. The larger hole is used for the Schrader valved tires, the smaller hole is used for the Presta valved tires.
Sometimes the pump is not obvious. There are often two versions of the not obvious types. One type can adapt to either valve when you flip a lever that tightens the pump nozzle on the valve. The other type has inner workings that have to be reversed, depending on which valve.
Hope this helps. If not, repost.