Road Cycling - I put slime tubes on my feather of a road bike

There I said it.

I probably just added a coupla rotating boat anchors to my TCR but I'm just sick of all the sliced tires and tubes. Does anyone have any experience with slime tubes and know if they actually work? It'd be nice to know I didn't add the weight for nothing. I'm not doing any road racing this year, just mtb, so I figured it would be a good time to try 'em.

don't get any of that junk on your skin...or in your eyes...i've heard one of the chemicals in it causes cancer too.

I have at least one on my mtb. It hasn't flatted since I put it on. The flats before it seemed to be fron thorns and sharp twigs. I can't tell any difference in weight or performance.

I would think twice about them on my Banchi Volpe.

Joe

why not just kevlar?

SACRELIDGE!!! HEATHEN!!! YOU WILL BURN
FOR THIS!!!

Armadillos might be as good or better than uugh slime!

I think slime tubes use propylene glycol as the sealant. Also used in de-icing/antifreeze, Astroglide, among other things. Probably won't hurt your skin. Avoid getting it in the eyes. Avoid eating it. :rolleyes: Doesn't cause cancer.

why not just kevlar?

'Cause I'm a dumb@ss who is easily swayed by the latest marketing techniques. :D

Because I spent all of last year stripping the weight off my bike, the idea of a stronger tire is somehow alien to me. Go figure.

Good point though.

Only real problem with Slime is that it doesn't work at sealing flats above 60 to 65 PSI; which means on your road bike it's useless! Then when you do have a flat the green goo messes the inside of your rims.

As one poster said Specialize Turbo Armadillos are the best tires on the market for protection against flats.

There is a tube put out by Specialize called the Airlock which I never used because I thought since Slime was useless the Airlocks would be to, but another forum was suggesting that this tube works far better than Slime. Maybe someone here who has used the Airlock and report on it.

If you go with the Armadillos (the weight is about 360grms) you can get away with using the Specialize ultralight 65grm racing tube or Mich 70grm racing tube which will help to keep the rotating weight down a little. Or if the Airlocks are good you could get those and use a lighter tire like the Conti 3000 4 seasons or...and add the Airlock which weighs about 130 grams and your total weight would be a little less than the Armadillo combo, but the flat protection will not be quite as good.

There I said it.

I probably just added a coupla rotating boat anchors to my TCR but I'm just sick of all the sliced tires and tubes. Does anyone have any experience with slime tubes and know if they actually work? It'd be nice to know I didn't add the weight for nothing. I'm not doing any road racing this year, just mtb, so I figured it would be a good time to try 'em.

I used Bontrager's version once on my rear wheel. The thing I noticed was every time I went to clear the valve to pump the tire, the stuff blew out of the valve. After about 30 inflations, no more stuff came out. I suspect it was all gone.
That was the only time I tried it...

Get the slime liner. I have it on my OCR and TCR and have never had a flat. I change the liner once a year because it does degrade and become less effective. One thing that you have to do is to check the tire after your rides to make sure there is nothing sticking in the tire.

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/cboProfile.cfm?SKU=4588

Shecky,
What's up with the avatar? Pretty morbid and cruel. :)

[QUOTE=pletcgm]Get the slime liner. QUOTE]

Ooh. I like that idea. Thanks.

The Slime liner does not degrade; in fact because of Plets comments, I took my kids tire off to check the condition of the liner and it's perfectly fine-after 3 years. The Slime liner weighs 110 grams but is a tad cheaper (about $2 less) than the Mr Tuffy and works just as good. The only problem with the thicker liners in road bikes is you do have to use a thicker tube thus heavier tube or the liner could rub a hole into the ultralight tubes. If your interested in a ultralight liner that will not rub a hole in your tube than look into Spin Skins they weigh only 15 grams but cost $33.00!!! These you do have to replace every time you buy a new tire. Not sure why you have to replace them because I never used them, but $33 seems excessive, especially since their not reuseable.

I think slime tubes use propylene glycol as the sealant. Also used in de-icing/antifreeze, Astroglide, among other things. Probably won't hurt your skin. Avoid getting it in the eyes. Avoid eating it. :rolleyes: Doesn't cause cancer.

i saw a label on a bottle of the stuff once that said it has chemicals in it "known by the state of california to heighten the risk of certain cancers." that's all i'm saying.

The Slime liner does not degrade

Thanks for letting us know that. I was told a long time ago here on the forum that they do degrade. That's why I have changed mine every year.

You finally took your shades off so we'll let you slide on this one....

I have used slime tubes on my Cannondale R800 bike. I have gotten punctures and heard the air coming out, within a few tire rotations the leak was stopped. Tire pressure is 120psi max and have had no problems. I know others cringe, but I got tired of changing tires all the time also.

"I have used slime tubes on my Cannondale R800 bike. I have gotten punctures and heard the air coming out, within a few tire rotations the leak was stopped. Tire pressure is 120psi max and have had no problems. I know others cringe, but I got tired of changing tires all the time also."


Ahh, confirmation and acceptance.
But, I just found out the other day they make a slime tube lite. D'oh!

Thanks everyone for your advice, it's nice to know I have options if these tubes fail me.

I used the Slime tubes for about 1 month, during that one month I got 3 flats, neither time did the sealent work above 65psi and these holes were small. Only reason I did not ditch the tubes earlier was I couldn't get down to the LBS to replace them, so I patched the dam things. Plus they left the inside of the rims with green slime crap everywhere, I had to clean the rims and replace the rim strips. And anyone here on this forum or people that I know that have used them also will tell you they don't work in road bikes with the higher pressures they require. Your experience is oddly unique.

'Cause I'm a dumb@ss who is easily swayed by the latest marketing techniques. :D

Because I spent all of last year stripping the weight off my bike, the idea of a stronger tire is somehow alien to me. Go figure.

Good point though.


I put a set of Bontrager Hard Cases on my mtb about 2,000 miles ago. I used to average a flat about every 500 miles, but with the Hard Cases, nothing. When I order my roadie next month (FINALLY!) I am opting for 700x25 Hard Cases, Gatorskins, or the like, and the weight difference - a few paltry grams - be damned.

Only real problem with Slime is that it doesn't work at sealing flats above 60 to 65 PSI; which means on your road bike it's useless! Then when you do have a flat the green goo messes the inside of your rims.

As one poster said Specialize Turbo Armadillos are the best tires on the market for protection against flats.

There is a tube put out by Specialize called the Airlock which I never used because I thought since Slime was useless the Airlocks would be to, but another forum was suggesting that this tube works far better than Slime. Maybe someone here who has used the Airlock and report on it.

If you go with the Armadillos (the weight is about 360grms) you can get away with using the Specialize ultralight 65grm racing tube or Mich 70grm racing tube which will help to keep the rotating weight down a little. Or if the Airlocks are good you could get those and use a lighter tire like the Conti 3000 4 seasons or...and add the Airlock which weighs about 130 grams and your total weight would be a little less than the Armadillo combo, but the flat protection will not be quite as good.

I have Armadillos on my Cannondale. Had a real problem with flats and the Specialized tire was highly recommended. I had my first flat in several months the other day. I looked back in my log book and realized that I went over 2500 miles without a flat! I really didn't have a flat time this time, but had a slow leak. I can't say enough about the tires. But I will forewarn you. I found the tires to be heavy and seemed to slow me down about 1 mile per hour on rides.

Mike

But I will forewarn you. I found the tires to be heavy and seemed to slow me down about 1 mile per hour on rides.

Mike

Yes, they are not a fast racing tire...although, where I use to live in Bakersfield CA, my LBS had two guys that ran in the RAM races 2 or 3 times and the entire team ran it on the Armadillos, the reason: because they felt by not stopping to fix flats they would have better times-and they did. But you could train or commute on the Armadillos then switch to a lighter tire for racing and perhaps the extra weight of the regular tires may make you faster on the lighter ones?

That is what I'm hoping will be the case. I'll be riding in the MS150 in Houston this April. I'm planning on buying a lighter tire for that ride. I'm hoping that it will cut some of the effort and shorten my time on the bike.

Mike

Check out Tufo's tubular clinchers, you can run them with sealant at whatever pressure you like (175-220psi hehe)