Road Cycling - Slime?

Does it work ? I noticed lots of tires have "slime" in them now. Worth the .50 cents? ;)

On a road bike. it will likely thoroughly clog your Presta valves.

Get Specialized Armadillos or tire liners and a good quality tube.

I'll look into that.

On a road bike Slime does not work at all above 60 to 65psi; but it does work at sliming the inside of your rim with green slime when you do get a leak. I second the Specialize turbo Armadillos which is a commuting/training tire if you need the ultimate protection against flats in both the tread and sidewalls (something liners cannot protect); and use a ultralight tube with them such as Spec 65gram tube or the Mich 70grm tube to keep rotational weight down as much as possible because the Armadillos weigh 360 grams.

Or you could find a lightweight racing/training tire and use SpinSkin liners that cost about $35 but weigh next to nothing, and combine that with the Specialize Airlock tube that I've heard-but never used-works far better than Slime. Drawback to the Spin Skins is that you need to replace them when you replace the tire they were in! That makes for one heck of a expensive tire change!

So much to think about with road bikes! I'll check out the tubes you mentioned. Now I'm worried because I picked up a slime tube for my back tire. I only paid 8 bucks for it too ;) I'm thinking this could be bad then? I'm not worried about the mess as much as blowing out a tire at a decent rate of speed. Should this be a concern? Or will a blow out just result in tons of drag and the bike slowing to a stop?

Don't use the slime, use the slime liners instead. I have used them in my bicycles for more than a year and knock on wood, I have not had a single flat.

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

I didn't get the kevlar because I don't know how effective it would be to repelling a sharp item after continuous revolutions. It you get a staple, as I did one time, in your tire, the slime repelled it and I had no problems. Kevlar is not effective for multiple and/or continuous piercings at the same point. That's why it is not a good guard against knife attacks. It constricts at the initial blow and stops it, but then it expands back out and is therefor vulnerable when the penetration continues.

I am a firm beleiver in slime. I used to get a lot of flats, mostly because I work in a machine shop, and the area around it is covered in tiny metal chips. I was up to 4 flats a week. Enter slime. I went 2 months without adding air to tire. Tire was soft 1 day, so I aired it back up, 2 weeks later it was flat. I took tube out, I counted 17 holes. I say go with the slime.

Slime will work good in a MTB tire but not on a road bike the pressure is too high for it to work; plus if you get a puncture while riding a road bike the tire will flat, it will not go down to 60 or 65 psi and stop. You then have to air up the tire to about 45 psi and spin the tire slowly so the slime can move around inside the tube once the leak stops you can then air to about 60psi and ride-not enough air pressure for a roadie-BUT could get you home. You also have to air the tube up with the valve at either the 4 or the 8 o'clock position, any other position could result in your pump getting slimed.

Also the Slime presta valves are crap, mine lasted about 5 or 6 pumpings then the valve failed...which was ok the Slime didn't work anyway!

Howdy from Tucson!
The less you ride, the less flats you'll have!
Moral: ride lots, get a few flats, throw in a spare tube, fix other tube when you get home.
Tried Slime & did not like it. Patches are cheaper in the long run!
Rudy & Kay/Zona tandem/Merlin single (which is for sale)

Seems like slime is a no-go. I guess I will just use this tube for the time being and order some nice ones for my planned 200 mile trip in July. At least I won't waste my 8 dollars this way :P