Commuting - I've Been Slimed!

Well folks after all the great debate about whether Slime is a good thing. I have had the road test to echo Cambronne that, indeed Slime works. Last night as I headed back to the hacinda, three miles to go and the rear tire picks up glass and goes totally flat! :(

To make matters worse, the family had been on vacation, and I had left my tool bag in the van! bummer! :cry: So the only tool I had was my air pump!

So I pull off the road, flip the bike over, and pull out the glass. You guessed it, here comes the slime! Next, I spin the tire a few times to let the stuff settle in, pump up the tire, and I'm good to go. I made it back home and attached my tool kit back to the bike!!! :o And repaired the tire for real this time.

All that to say, Slime works. :thumbup:

Alph,

Whilst I was at a bike show here in Germany, I came across a stand displaying 'Spin Skins', a band of finely woven Kevlar that slides in between tyre and inner-tube to stop flats. They are made in the USA but I have found a place here in Berlin which sells them.

The thing is, they are not cheap, and before I splash out my hard-earned reddies, I was wondering if anyone uses/used them?

These things are supposed to stop everything, in fact my brother-in-law almost broke the display stand when he tried to puncture one!

Cheers:)

My experience has been just the opposite. I slimed a very expensive tubular once, rode it twice, before picking up a very small piece of glass. The slime exited the hole, coated the inside of my nice, new tubular with green goo, and didn't do a damn thing to seal the hole!:irritated
I e-mailed the slimistas, and they told me that "slime was not intended to stop glass punctures!! :confused:
I have since switched to TUFO tyres, and use TUFO sealant, which actually DOES work! :angel:
My observations:
slime::thumbdn: :thumbdn: :thumbdn:
TUFO: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Well, if it's not suppose to seal glass punctures, why even have it on the market. I would bet that glass accounts for a majority of bicycle flats. All of mine are from glass as far as I can tell.

Thanks, Weasel, for the note on Spin Skins. I went to spinskins.com to take a look. They are a little pricey - $39.95 for the Race (tougher), $19.95 for the Duro (economy). Even at that, I may get a pair of the Race model for my commuter. I am willing to go to some extreme to avoid flats on the way to or from work. The trashy streets I have to ride demand something tough. I am using Tuffy liners right now. They work well, but I have had a couple of flats with them in the past.
Regards,
Raymond

Originally posted by D*Alex
I have since switched to TUFO tyres, and use TUFO sealant, which actually DOES work! :angel:
My observations:
slime::thumbdn: :thumbdn: :thumbdn:
TUFO: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

I'm thinking about getting the Tufo tubular clinchers. I don't know if they come wide enough for my wheels. I may need to buy wheels, first. They sound like an excellent alternative with many advantages over other <RP>tyres</RP>.

Jonathan

Originally posted by RainmanP
Well, if it's not suppose to seal glass punctures, why even have it on the market. I would bet that glass accounts for a majority of bicycle flats. All of mine are from glass as far as I can tell.


That's exactly right. Mind you, the last flat I had involved running over a nail. That was bad! Totally destroyed the tube.

Chris

Rainman, I am off to buy a pair of Spinskins this weekend funnily enough. The only punctures I seem to get are caused by thorns when out on my MTB. I'll let you know how they get on.

I bought the new Spin Skins. They were touted to me as tougher than the originals. Well I installed them, went out and rode with them. I could notice right away the weight advantage over Mr. Tuffy's. However within one week, I got a total of 7 flats, on two different bikes. Hey out here in Tx. there are many, many things to puncture a tube. Anyway, I took them out, noticed the main liner was seperating from the thnner outer material, and the outer material was shredding apart. Needlaess to say the Mr. Tuffy's went back in. Yeah I know the weight, but out here, who cares! With the Tuffy's I may get 1 or two a month.
Having said that the terrain and the number of inner tube unfriendly plant life has alot to do with it. In Va. a flat from thors or anything else was almost unheard of. I carried a patch kit but I think I used it on the trail maybe twice in 5 or 6 years. Out here in Tx. though it is a totally different hockey game. I have used about 60 patches and gone through at least 10 tubes in 3 years.
So if you are coming out here Spin Skins will not cut it! I am sure they will work elsewhere but not here!

Those Tufo tubular clinchers come mosly as 21mm wide tyres. You do NOT need special rims for them, they mount on regular clincher rims. Mine are true tubulars (with base tape, stuck to the rim by tubular glue).

Cheers Hunter. I don't ride in anything as extreme as that, so maybe they might work for me. I race alot and have just bought a very light set of wheels and tyres (being a weight weenie) so the Spinskins make sense to me.

Only time will tell I suppose.:)

Has anyone tried industrial Kevlar tape with or without stickum on one side? It ought to be way cheaper than fancy full-retail bike specific products.

Ken keeps bumping these 4 year old threads. I wonder why?

I tried Slime this year in the form of Slime Lite tubes. Epic failure. Fact is I've never owned a product that actually failed in every conceivable manner. Truly amazing. Out of six tubes purchased: One tube seam failure (blowout resulted), two flats of the type advertised to cure you of, one valve stem separation from the tube, and one valve core that flew off upon removal of the valve cap. One in the drawer crafting a whole new way to piss in my Cheerios. Slime blows. Literally, on my bikes. The single most wretched cycling product I've encountered in twenty years of it.

True Goo (clear and better then Slime)