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Anyone put sealant in their inner tubes?

andyebandyeb Posts: 407
in Commuting general
Yesterday I had a puncture in the back wheel on the way to work on my new ebike . The back wheel is particularly difficult to remove - requires tools, disconnecting the motor etc. and is also especially tricky to re-fit afterwards. The puncture was a large slash (~5mm) in the shoulder of the tyre - probably just off the side of the central strip of puncture protection. My guess is a tubeless setup probably wouldn’t have re-sealed. However, the hole in the inner tube was small and patched ok on the second attempt.

This got me thinking about ways I could better guard against punctures. I know it’s possible to put tubeless sealant inside inner tubes if the valves have removable cores. Has anyone tried this?

For various reasons, I’d prefer not to go full tubeless on my ebike/commuter.

Many thanks,

Andrew

Posts

  • figbatfigbat Posts: 680
    Isn't this precisely what 'slime' inner tubes are? Tubes pre-filled with sealant?

    Also, tubeless tyres can have larger holes repaired using tyre repair kits, often without needing to remove the wheel or tyre.
    Cube Reaction GTC Pro 29 for the lumpy stuff
    Cannondale Synapse alloy with 'guards for the winter roads
    Fuji Altamira 2.7 for the summer roads
    Trek 830 Mountain Track frame turned into a gravel bike - for anywhere & everywhere
  • andyebandyeb Posts: 407
    figbat said:

    Isn't this precisely what 'slime' inner tubes are? Tubes pre-filled with sealant?

    Also, tubeless tyres can have larger holes repaired using tyre repair kits, often without needing to remove the wheel or tyre.

    Yes - I was aware of the slime tubes, but if you happen to have a good stock of inner tubes with removable cores and some tubeless sealant to hand...

    I was not aware of tubeless repair kits. Any you would recommend?
  • davebradswmbdavebradswmb Posts: 412
    You can buy the slime sealant separately. https://halfords.com/cycling/bike-maintenance/bike-puncture-repair/slime-bike-tube-sealant

    I'm not a fan though, I used a couple of the slime tubes for a while and it did seal against a massive thorn once. The issue was that eventually the valve got bunged up with the sealant and I had to chuck them away.
  • figbatfigbat Posts: 680
    andyeb said:

    I was not aware of tubeless repair kits. Any you would recommend?

    I can’t recommend anything as I have never needed to use one - after multiple punctures on tubes I went tubeless and have never had to stop for a tyre issues since (2+ years of offroad, year-round riding).

    There are various reviews... example:
    https://enduro-mtb.com/en/best-tubeless-repair-kit/
    Cube Reaction GTC Pro 29 for the lumpy stuff
    Cannondale Synapse alloy with 'guards for the winter roads
    Fuji Altamira 2.7 for the summer roads
    Trek 830 Mountain Track frame turned into a gravel bike - for anywhere & everywhere
  • paul_the_pedallerpaul_the_pedaller Posts: 135
    I've been using the Conti sealant in tubes for the past two winters, valves don't get stuck and it doesn't solidify. Hard to tell if it works though if you see what I'm saying......
  • cookeeemonstercookeeemonster Posts: 1,991
    Slime tubes never worked for me at road bike pressures...everything just spurted out. Assume they are more for lower pressures I.e. 40-50 tbh?
  • oxomanoxoman Posts: 11,732
    Ideal on MTB, BSO,S and wide tyres bikes. As mentioned above slime spurts out when at high pressures in my experience.
    Too many bikes according to Mrs O.
  • fenixfenix Posts: 5,437
    Get some Schwalbe Marathon tyres. Nothing gets past those babies.
  • lincolndavelincolndave Posts: 9,441
    This is my thinking on sealant in inner tubes , sealant and tyre work fine due to a tyre being thicker than an inner tube, an inner tube is probably less than 0.25mm , a tyre roughy 2 mm thick, so there is more chance of sealant sealing a tyre than an inner tube,
  • andyebandyeb Posts: 407
    fenix said:

    Get some Schwalbe Marathon tyres. Nothing gets past those babies.

    I’ve currently got my Schwalbe Winter studded tyres on and they are quite slow enough!
  • The RookieThe Rookie Posts: 27,811
    With that type of tyre damage you where only mm away from a hug hole in the tube nothing would seal.

    Just decent tyres and avoid things that will put a 5cm cut in them!
    Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.
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