Bicycle Mechanics - Sorry for the bad info! How about Slime?

I didn't realize Fix a Flat was so bad for your valves and tubes. I stand corrected! I only have 11 left, and after they're used, I won't order any more. If Fix a Flat is no good, how about Slime? Anybody have any experiences with Slime? As I understand it, you squirt the Slime into the tube before you have a flat, and it makes any tube self-sealing.

If you do a search, I wrote a scathing post about how useless Slime is for anything other than goat-horn punctures on low-pressure ATB tyres. No, slime is a waste of money, and it makes a gawd-awful mess, too!
If you really need to use goo rather than simply carrying a spare tube, buy yourself some Tufo sealant. In my experience, it is the only sealant that works in higher pressure bike tyres. Some people say that it doesn't work well in cold temperatures, and that it gets too thin to seal bigger holes in really hot temps, but I know that it works well otherwise. In the cold, you may need to bring the tyre/tube inside to warm up for a couple of hours before using the sealant.

Slime - depends on the tire.

I find it totally useless for road bike tires. Mainly, for me, it completely screws up the Presta Valve. That is why I use Armadillos. I keep my road bike tires at 120 psi.

I do use it for my Mtn Bike tubes, and it works okay, but still manages to screw up the Schrader valves at times. I will take D'Alex's suggestion about Tufo. I keep my mtn bike tires at about 85 psi

and it makes a gawd-awful mess


I find it totally useless for road bike tires. Mainly, for me, it completely screws up the Presta Valve

My sentiments exactly. Unless you are running fat mtb tires with a shrader Slime is a pain in the A**. I find carrying an extra tube and patch kit much better.

Slainte:beer:

I don't get it. What is wrong with carrying a spare tube and patch kit? They aren't that big and they dont' weight that much. In fact, I have one of those large saddle bags and I also keep a speed lever in it. I can usually change a tube in about 5 to 10 minutes. Add some time if it's dark and cold out. But I've recently just bought one of those small pen lights, so that I can hold in my mouth to see what I'm doing in the dark. So I'm guessing I could still change the tire in about 5-10 mins in the dark.

Dealing with all this slim and fix-a-flat is just more time and effort than you need.

PBW

I don't get it. What is wrong with carrying a spare tube and patch kit?

Around here, especially with the mtn bike, you can't go very far wothout getting a goat head. I'm not talking about riding in the dirt - I mean on cement trails, roads, etc.

I keep slime in my mtn bike tubes because otherwise I would be fixing goat head flats quite regularly. When I finally do need to fix a flat on the mtn bike, when I remove the tube it will have many "slime fixed" holes in the tube, and a numbr of goathead remains in the tire.

So, I clean out the goat heads in the tire and put in a new slime tube about every year (unless I have some other type of flat) and don't have to mess with it.

I use the Armadillos on my roadie, and that seems to stop it. I have yet to find a similar 26 inch "slick" mtn bike tire about 1.25 x 26. If anyone knows of one with the same qualities as the Armadillo road tire, I would quickly change to that.

Anyone know of similar 26 inch slick tire?

Could try the Specialized Armadillo Nimbus. They come in 26x 1.5. I'm sure they'd fit your rim. They fit my 26x1.9 rim very well. And they are slicks. I use them on my MB (turned into a commuter bike).

Stupid question time: What is a goat head?

PBW

Stupid question time: What is a goat head?

Hey, thanks for the info about the Nimbus. Last year I did an extensive search and could find nothing?? Including Specialized's web pages. Okay. (Edit) - Hey, I did find them on the Spec Web Page and ordered two. I DID NOT FIND THESE last year!!

Goat heads are also called "puncture vines" are shaped like a goat heads

http://www.naturesongs.com/vvplants/puncturevine.html

Those look like nasty little buggers. :) Just give me the glass on the bike paths instead... lol. At least I can avoid most of it.

PBW

Originally posted by P. B. Walker
Those look like nasty little buggers. :) Just give me the glass on the bike paths instead... lol. At least I can avoid most of it.

PBW

The wind blows those things all around and they get everywhere. No avoiding them.

slime is really good at preventing deflation due to thorns, etc. i would recommend it for commuting but on the trails it depends because it does weigh you down (rotational mass), and will not prevent punctures due to causes other than thorns, etc.

Slime serves it's purpose. I am not a big fan of Slime, but it isn't all bad. Some of my bikes have Slime in the tires.

It doesn't always work and it adds wheel weight which is the most important weight to minimize. I can say that I certainly DO notice the extra wheel weight from the Slime. There is no question about that. After adding Slime, I immediately noticed a more sluggishness and weightiness to the wheels.

Dollar for dollar, a bottle of slime costs about the same as a new tube - maybe even more. If you consider that you have to slime both the front and rear, a spare tube that will work for either is cheaper than slime.

You can put a spare tire under your saddle. The added weight of the saddle will cause you less grief than the added slime weight to the wheels.

There is a convenience factor to consider. Slime might save you time from changing a tire - especially in dark, rainy, or cold conditions. Slime also stops slow leaks which are troublesome.

Slime will occassionally goof up the valves - noticeably on Prestas and occassionally on Schraeders. With the Schraders, you can take the valve stem out and clean the Slime fibers off the seal ring, but that too is a pain in the fanny.

I'm on the fence with my opinion of Slime. For grannys who casually ride their bikes and don't want to mess with tires, Slime is fine. For riders to which perfomance is important and who have the talent to change tires, I'd say bring a spare tube.

I'll tell you one thing slime does not work for; Tubeless Tires!
I had a tire with 11 small leaks in it earlier this summer. It would take a couple days to deflate but got cumbersome always having to air it up. So I figured slime would seal those tiny holes easily. It didn't even phase it. Kept leaking just the same.

As a kid I had a slime tire blow up on me in my living room... My mother just about killed me, I have been anti-slime for the last 8 years ;)

Originally posted by Joe Gardner
As a kid I had a slime tire blow up on me in my living room... My mother just about killed me, I have been anti-slime for the last 8 years ;)
I'd give 10 bucks to see the video of that! That's hilarious Joe.
:roflmao:

I used slime tubes for months, in my MTB commuter and whilst the extra weight didn't worry me , the presta valves clogging up became such a pain I stopped using them.

Richard

Thank goodness those "goat heads" don't grow here! YET!

It seems like every new pest import ends up here!:mad:

They make kevlar skins to put on the inside of the tire, and they work really well. I personally don't run them because flats are rare for me, but I've heard very good things about them. You don't have to deal with any slime or ooze, either. Just put it between the tube and tire, and ride on.

I am the biggest authority on bicycling and thorns.

If you get more than 2 flats/hour off road in thorn country go with slime (as well as kevlar tyres as well as liners). This is for any type of thorn, including goatheads.

I will debate anyone on this, including Mr Sheldon Brown himself. Period.

TIP: Sometimes it takes 2-3 times of pumping up a flat tyre with slime, AND spinning the tyre rapidly to spread out the slime and seal the puncture.

I guess this makes me lazy.

On the roadbike ON the tarmac road I don't use slime because I like to go fast.

Erik "the sheldon on thorns"

Originally posted by Mzungu
I am (one of) the biggest authorities on bicycling and thorns.

Erik "the sheldon on thorns"

:D "The Sheldon of thorns" Absolutely cool! I'll take the advice from Eric of Tanzania. Something tells me he knows thorns. :thumbup:

From my experiences with Slime, and from reading the posts of others, I have come to the following conclusion:
Slime only works on thorns. It does nearly nothing for punctures caused by glass, metal, or snakebite flats.

Originally posted by D*Alex
From my experiences with Slime, and from reading the posts of others, I have come to the following conclusion:
Slime only works on thorns. It does nearly nothing for punctures caused by glass, metal, or snakebite flats.

Agreed - but if you have a lot of thorns and little glass, and pump your tires correctly to prevent snake bites, it is nice to have.

Where I now live, or in any irrigation-desert area, if you don't have slime you can't go 50 yards without getting a puncture.

Spare tube ? 50 yards then another puncture. And if you manage to get a few kilometres from home you will have to walk or destroy your tyre.

No, cycling is impossibel here without slime or thornproof tyres.

Being a Newyorker, I'm very familiar with flats (you should see some of the crap on our streets/bike paths); so, on my hybrid (not being concerned with wt.), I use slime liners ($ 8.99 a pair @ Performance Bike); and, on my road bike, I use kevlar reinforced tires. Can't remember the last time I had a flat (still carry extra tubes and pumps). What are you guys riding on (surfaces, that is) that you're getting all these flats????