Inner tubes with sealant in. Are they any Good ???

wardy235

I've looked at these in halfords http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?mpe_id=70856&cm_cr=No+Campaign-_-Web+Activity-_-LJ+402842-_-PRODCAT_ESPOTCAROUSEL_228351-_-Slime+Bike+Innertube+26+x+1.75+Presta&catalogId=10151&evtype=CpgnClick&intv_id=124463&langId=-1&partNumber=402842&storeId=10001&ddkey=ClickInfo are they good and how long so they take to fix the puncture

The Northern Monkey

I had some slime tooooobs and thought they were ok. Never saw he benefit as I didnt get a flat, but as soon as I changed I got a puncture.
Very heavy though.

Phonk7

Just DONT, they do NOT work, two of my mates bought these, all they do is spurt out greeny crap when you try to pump the tyre up and DO NOT seal the tyre when you get a puncture, i expected some sought of thick slime, the green stuff was about the same viscocity as water! just dont bother not worth the packet it comes in

wardy235

are there any alternatives what are better???

omegas

You get mixed reviews on Slime and sludge, I don’t use it but the wife has it in her tubes and it has worked every time, pulled a thorn out of her tyre and it sealed straight away when out riding a few weeks ago. Changed the back tyre last week and the tube had punctured a few times and it had little dots of green in a few places where it had sealed.

If you can change a tube or fix a puncture when out riding I would not bother with slime as its added weight, for the wife who rides 20 miles a day as part of her training she does not have the time to be fixing punctures so it’s a good product that works well. I am sure that one day it will not seal but with everything it depends on the conditions what causes the puncture and if the offending item stays in the tyre.

delcol

wardy235 wrote:

are there any alternatives what are better???

yes....

diy your own.. take one inner tube, (i personally wait till it gets punctured) find the hole make a little bigger hole with a stanley knife and add joes sealent or no flats sealent..
patch the hole with a patch.
i did this in oct 08 i aint had a punture since on the pace that is..

i did this on the santa cruz,, but found out in whistler bike park, that it wont fix pnich flats i ended up exploding my front tyre on a rock a speed,, my forks, legs, feet ,wheel,and frame looked like an elephant had made some sweet loving to them, :shock: .....
you can remove the valve core thing to to add sealent if you have the tool to remove the valve thingy,,,

Buckled_Rims

delcol wrote:

you can remove the valve core thing to to add sealent if you have the tool to remove the valve thingy,,,

The top cap of a bottle of slime usually is the tool to open the valve.

I don't like the stuff. Feel the weight of a bottle of the gunk or the inner tubes. It's messy and it didn't seal my puct* very well.

Easier to just carry a spare inner tube.

delcol

i don't mean slime,, i mean joes or stans... or no tubes
i use these
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=18710

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=38850

wardy235

seen these on CRC are they any better or is just easier carrying a spare inner http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=7958 and http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=21128

tri-sexual

used a few different brands and never liked any of them
i agree with others, they make a mess when using a pump, dont seal punctures that well and worst of all it spoils my ride- heavy and makes cycling a chore rather than a joy.
i carry a spare inner tubes with additional patches for emergencies.

i really like delcol's idea of using old inner tube with stans or joes- never heard of this but seems like a clever idea.

Mastineo

I've got the slime tubes fitted in my stumpjumper, couple of weeks ago when it was rediculously cold, I got a puncture that didn't seal.
Next day after leaving the tube overnight in the warm kitchen, went to repair it and couldnt find a puncture!! ( found plenty of little green dots though)
Refitted, pumped to 30 psi, 100+ miles later and still up.
IMO they do work, but you still need to carry spare tubes/patches in case they dont.

delcol

it was the dod god doddy (mbuk) who gave me the idea, on one of those free dvds that came with mbuk a few years ago, sometime in 2008 around sept or oct..

dav1

On the whole they work very well.

I used them for around a year and most punctures (i.e thorns) sealed very well and I just kept on riding.

I think the stuff does need a top up after a while as they get to a point where it stops (i.e a year of very heavy use of the bike).

Where the don't work is with pinch flats (aka snakebites - where the tube is caught between the rim and tyre and ripped) but this issue is usually prevented by running the correct tyre pressures.
They also won't seal big rip in the sidewall, but in this case the tube is the least of your worries TBH as the tyre is wrecked and a standard tube will do no better.

The downside is the weight, they are very heavy! And where you want the weight least. It was this sole factor that made me swap to standard tubes.

All in all for a fast ride at the weekend I wouldnt use it, for a commuter I might consider it where reliability is more important (although its gone nowhere near my roadie yet...)

bails87

Slime seems to collect in one place and cause a heavy spot in the tyre, which is unpleasant. I had them for a while and they worked ok, occasionally needed to pump the tyre up a bit, where a hole had taken a little while to seal, but still less faff than patching/replacing the tube.

Then I moved onto the same as delcol, which I preferred as it's lighter but seemed to work just as well, until I split the tube.

Now running tubeless. And I burped the tyre off the rim at the weekend, so nothing is flawless, but I prefer tubeless tbh.

ride_whenever

Eeerm, why not go for a ghetto tubeless setup?

Less weight, and works a hell of a lot better.

The Fopster

I fitted Dr Sludge tubes this autumn when the Hawthorn cuttings on all the trails near me were a minefield for inner tubes. Yes, they are a bit heavy. And during the snowpocalypse the gunk in them did seem to freeze. But before fitting i was getting at least one puncture a week, and after fitting I have had none. To me, that seems like a good deal. A bit tempted to try a ghetto tubeless solution, but can't be bothered to learn how - yet. Maybe in the spring...