slimed... Who [err am I] gonna call... ? Or rather - do I need to take a pump?

inkj

So my tyres have been slimed

I always take a small pump with me, [I only go on longer rides, longer for me, 30 - 50 miles]. It's annoying to take as I don't have it bracketed onto the bike.

With slime in the tyres - do I need the pump? I mean, I have a spare inner tube or two - but I don't take them... because the tyres I have are slimed... so it would be very messy/impossible to put a new inner tube into a tyre out on the road.

Now if I have the pump... I guess I could pump up a slow puncture and hope the slime does it's work.

But anytime I have had a puncture - pumping up the tyre did no good - and I got a free replacement 'slimed inner tube' both times... something to do with slimes guarantee.

I really don't know what I should or shouldn't take with me.

I have noticed when pumping the tyres at home [floor pump there] that one of them seems to spew out a bit of slime every time I pump them up a bit.

It looks l messy and difficult to deal with - if I get a flat out on the road...

So should I carry the pump... and should I be taking at least one spare inner tube... and if so - how messy will it be to put it in???

Thanks

reaperactual

To avoid getting stuck miles from home and considering the not so ideal situations you've already experienced with slime tubes I would recomended you never set off without your travel pump , spare innertube, puncture repair kit, etc.

My Buddy tried a slime tube once and it didn't work at all. It just left him with a fountain of green radioactive looking cr#p squirting all over the place and a messy repair to deal with. That was a Ghost Busters situation. 👻

inkj

Cool - so I'll take a spare tube and the pump...

I haven't got a clue - how messy it will be if it does puncture [to fit the new inner tube] but at least I'll have it with me.

I always have my alien II [Topek] tools with me... so I am sure I will be able to work out how to take it off - the tyre... replace the inner tube... and then cycle home covered in green slime... nice

x

reaperactual

You'll be fine, after you've done it once it is an easy job and after a few you'll be a pro.

Good advice on throwing some latex gloves in with your kit. They're lightweight and save getting oil, dirt, grime all over your cycling clothes, hands and gloves.

I always carry a few various sized cable ties too, for such a simple thing they're versatile and have come in really handy on the odd occasion.

steve_sordy

I ran Slimed tubes for years and never had a flat and that was after averaging one flat per 14 miles before using Slimed tubes. I never took a spare tube or the means to inflate or repair. Not through a wise and informed choice, but just because it never occurred to me! I was lucky.

Once I got into MTB, I soon went tubeless. I used another non-latex product that was fluorescent green and was called Puncture Guard (sadly no longer made). Latex sealants are universally available, come in many types and they seal porous side walls very well. BUT they don't last long, six months tops. It is a mix of evaporation and leakage through all those punctures. The non-latex ones last much longer in that they don't evaporate or solidify, but they don't seal thin-walled tyres as well and may take some time before the sidewalls are fully sealed. Once they stopped making Puncture Guard, I discovered that Slime had a tubeless tyre product on the market, but by that time I had a massive bottle of Continental Revo sealant and two tyres already dosed with it, so I chose not to give Slime tubeless a try.

I never go out on my mtb without the means to fix a flat. That probably means a bad tear that the sealant will not fix, or a manufacturing fault (I've had two tears at the bead, each about 4" long - nothing will fix those!) So I have tyre levers, a mini-pump, a spare tube, self adhesive patches in case I subsequently puncture the tube (no sealant remember). I also have a tyre wall patch in case the tyre wall is cut and I need to stop the tube from bulging out.

Fixing a tyre with sealant in is indeed a messy job and is well worth avoiding. Which is why Stans sell a sealant kit that plugs big holes very quickly from outside the tyre. It is expensive, so many riders use a home made kit using bits of cut up inner tube.

Question: What is the point of going tubeless if you have to carry all that weight! After all isn't going tubeless all about weight saving? Not for me it isn't. A tubeless tyre feels different, it allows you to use lower pressures and improve traction. And despite the extra weight in spares and stuff, that weight is not rotating at the rim. Weight at the rim alters the feel of the bike in a big way and that's not just my opinion, it is also a law of physics! Google "Rolling Moment of Inertia" if you want to know what I'm on about.