Flat solution or big bang?
 

I once saw a rider with a can of pressurized automotive tire sealant secured into one of his water bottle holders. I got to thinking this might be the mother-of-all quicky flat fixes. Then I got to wondering if the summertime heat and the constant jostling could cause the can to burst.
Any thoughts on this?

Seems unlikely, if it's in a bottle cage.

It's not like it's rattling around in the boot of a car.

Yeah, it probably gets hotter in a car than on a bike, by a good bit.

If it wasn't intended for bikes, I'd be reluctant to try it on a bike, though. The pressure it puts out may be too low or two high, may air it up too fast, or get too much slime in there. And I've never really trusted slime-type products- saw it used long ago on truck tires, and it seemed like it only postponed the problem, then made it gooier to fix.

It would have to have the correct valve fitting to start with, none of my cycles use car valves.

Also, (afaik) you need to remove the shraeder valve when inflating/filling the tube or tyre with the stuff.

I don't know if car tyre sealant for tubeless tyres would even work with a cycle innertube......

If you are interested you might do some research on it. They have some new products out that are supposed to cure the 'gooier' problem of the old cans.
They have several that are meant to go in all the time, so that when you are about to get the flat, you don't get the flat. You put them in and then run with them in, and they seal if a puncture comes up.
They are made for cars or motorcycles, but I'm sure the manufs have looked at the bike and tube issues.
On the old can products, I never heard of one exploding. I have several that are ancient and never exploded.
dc

Hmm, interesting. I was doing a bit of research on this stuff. I don't find specifics (like what happens if you use the car can on a bicycle tire).

On the Fix-A-Flat website, under Q&A, ( http://www.fixaflat.com/faqs.asp ), I find this, though:
6. Why can't Fix-A-Flat be used in bicycles, high performance, motorcycle or Z-rated tires?
A. Fix-A-Flat is not intended for these type of tires.
That is certainly a nice informative answer.

On that website, I also see they list sizes- 12 oz for compact cars, 16 oz for mid-size cars, 20 oz for large cars.

Doing some more searching, I found from this site: http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/000721.php :
"NOTE: According to Fix-A-Flat, the bike version has been discontinued. If anyone has any suggestions for a comparable solution, please let us know.
"Here is the discontinued bicycle version:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EA5WOU/ref=nosim/kkorg-20 "

So apparently, there used to be a bike version after all!
Note the package shows "Valve adaptor enclosed", so there's the Presta answer.

Here are Amazon reviews on the bicycle version:
http://www.amazon.com/Fix-Flat-Bicyc...owViewpoints=1

Some quotes from the reviews:
"It fixed the leak enough for me to make it all the way home."
"The second time it didn't work because the hole in my tube and tire were too large and the Fix-A-Flat just sprayed right out."
"Like the other reviewer I too only saw a temporary fix (it got me home-over 15 miles and held air for a couple of days) when using this product with a tube/tire combination."

I also find a "Fix-A-Flat" brand product and what appears to be the identical item under the Pennzoil brand, not sure what goes on there: http://www.amazon.com/PENNZOIL-PRODU...m_cr_pr_sims_t And the Amazon listing doesn't show it being out of production, even though the Fix-A-Flat site does.

Anyway- seems to me like even if you carried a can of this stuff, and even if it pretty much worked as described, you'd still need to carry a pump and patch kit or else risk being stranded if the hole is too big. And you'd still better fix the leak when you get home, too.

I'm still not sure how you use this stuff, either. I'm pretty sure you don't remove the valve core from a Schrader valve to put it in, as the sealant and "air" are in the same can. But if you attach the can and put the entire contents in a tire, I can't imagine how you'd properly air a road bike tire to 120 psi and air a cruiser tire to 35 psi from the same can.

Since you are probably going to through the tube away anyway after spraying that junk in your tube that may or may not work, why not just carry a couple of spare tubes? It is not like it takes an hour to replace a tube. Then you have a tube that could be patched that you could use for another spare.

Wouldn't it just be easier to run a tubeless set up with the sealant in the first place? It'll seal punctures as they occur.

http://www.notubes.com/tubeless_about.php

Why not just carry a spare tube, patch kit and pump? We're talking about three or four minutes for a complete, permanent repair.

What I said ^^^^^^^^^.

And if you carry a bottle of Fix A Flat in a water bottle cage don't be surprised if a whole lot of people start calling you Fred.:lol:

Just noticed.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=525099

Guess answers in this thread were not good enough.