Raleigh71

This was a new one on me.

I picked up a Zed 3.2 mountain bike that someone was tossing, and found one of the tires had a leaky Schrader valve despite replacing the core.

When I 'retire' a bike tube I save the tube for reuse in various capacities in hobby work, or as a shim when attaching something to a bike frame so I don't mar the paint job.

I usually cut the value off on either side of it and store the tubes until I need them.

When I cut this one open, I noticed it was wet inside and had about 4 or 5 oz of what looked like watery oatmeal that gave off a horrific putrid odor. It grossed me out. Gimmie a compazine, quick!

In the past the only thing I ever found inside a tube was a little powder..

This isn't an April fools day joke.

I would have taken a picture of it all gloppy on the floor but I couldn't wait to clean it up and trash the towel I used, and open up all the windows.

Any ideas?

Cyclist0108

Did you buy the bike from Fred Beckey?

Raleigh71

Good point! Maybe he was storing oatmeal inside a bike tube for his next Everest trek. That would also explain the malfunctioning Schrader valve: clogged with oatmeal.

Actually, he didn't live around here, so it probably wasn't his. I have no idea of the history of the bike. I can't pass by a bike leaning up against a dumpster, which is where this came from.

Cyclist0108

This is a bit of a stretch, but maybe someone decided to try using oatmeal as a tubeless sealant, but inside a tube?

Check the handlebar grips for Micky-D catsup packets.

Iride01 

Maybe they put some sealant of a cheap brand in there and that's the dried up stuff. I once filled a car tire up at a gas station and got all kinds of water and crap in it from the poorly maintained compressor.

Maybe the previous owner was thinking of some of those old hacks for leaky radiators or cracked cylinder head.

Troul 

at least it wasn't raw eggs. Scrambled tubed eggs mmm

Crankycrank

I used some tube sealant from maybe 30 years ago that left the same type of mess but can't remember the brand. Wouldn't be surprised if the same concoction is still being sold under some other cheapy brand name.

Raleigh71

That's probably the best explanation for how the crap got in the tube, and why the valve was not functioning. Somebody was trying to plug a slow leak with either a commercial product or home remedy.