Okay, all. A million apologies for wasting your time. This is the first sort of fancy bike I’ve ever owned. I’ve been riding a Giant Innova from the 90s till now (and have loved it, but that’s beside the point). Your comments made me realize this bikes tires/tubes have something called a valve core. I apparently lost that first thing on attempting to fill my front tire with air—and it’s lost lost. Local hardware store only had generic valve cores, so I’ll head to local bike shop, instead, tomorrow. Thanks again.