Tubes with the slime?
 

Do they make you slower? My husband bought me these tubes for christmas and put them on my bike and I don't know if I am more out of shape this season or what but it seems like I have more resistance to my ride.

It is added mass .. read a story of someone, while pumping up the tire,
blowing the tire out with a slimed tube in the wheel,
worst thing was trying to wash the neon green stuff off the Cat.

i guess "slower" would depend on how long it takes you to fix the flat tire :) I ride with them and maybe they are slower. I figure is mass that should then make me stronger in the long run, and I likely won't be on the side of the road trying to change a tube.

I am probably grasping at straws. I am training for my first century, coming up in three weeks, and I just feel so sluggish on the bike. It seems that I can't get my avg pace up like I used to and I'm kind of worried about the cutoff time. I may switch the tubes just for peace of mind. Even a mental edge will help I guess.

It'd be an inexpensive experiment, right? Post back and let us know whether you notice a difference.

FWIW, I do believe those slime-filled tubes would lend some sluggishness to a bike.

I've never tried them but I have heard from others that they might create an unbalanced wheel in the sense that if the slime isn't evenly distributed in the tube it would be like having a ceiling fan or car wheel that wants to rotate in an elliptical motion rather than circular.

did he make any other "improvements"? :lol:

I notice some of that in cooler temps at the beginning of my rides but it quickly goes away as the slime more evenly distributes :) I'd rather be a tick slower (if I am) and enjoy the scenery a bit more than be worried about every little thing on the road, or be sitting on the side of the road trying to get the tire changed.

:roflmao2:

My cat won't go anywhere near the air pump now...has something to do with more than one tire coming unseated.:rolleyes: not too keen on bicycles now either.:P

I don't like slime tubes except in extreme cases. I have one bike out of 30 with slime tubes, it is my "industrial" cruiser that I use at manufacturing plants where flat tires are a fact of life. My daily riders use decent quality kevlar tires and a rider that usually pays attention to where he is going.

Aaron :)

Some people swear by slime tubes; I swear AT 'em.

Yes, they create extra rotating weight, since they ARE extra rotating mass.

My x-bro-in-law joined me for a bike ride across town once; he put slime tubes in his tires, believing the hype and hating flats. He made the 20-mile RT (barely, said later I almost made him hack up a lung), but the VERY NEXT RIDE, he flatted both tires. The mess was so bad, he never rode that bike again, or any other. (He's 10 years my junior, and had a mild heart attack last year.)

one of my bikes had slime tubes. when i got a puncture the slime just came out of the puncture, didn't plug up the leak
that's been my experience
i just bought tires with kevlar lining, that have been a good experience for me at keeping flats at bay

I use them and like them. They do a good job of reducing flats. But they are not race tubes. And they may add 30 seconds to your net 30 mile ride. You decide if that's a problem for you.

I put slime tubes in my commute bike, and the gooky stuff kept plugging up the presta valve when I would remove the pump. I used them two days. Found that the flat-resistant tires were lighter and did the trick fine.

If I understand correctly, the effectiveness of slime will be related to tire pressure. That aside, they most certainly ARE heavier, and I would wager add a bit more than 30 seconds to your net 30 mile ride, particularly if you ride in any hills at all. That is a lot of added rotating weight. They drove me nuts since the slime never evened out, so there was a noticeable heavy spot on both wheels.

In the end, learning how to change a tube isn't that big a deal. Granted, on an early morning ride to work in the dark it would be a pain, but in the end it is a small price to pay to get to ride. And tires of varying levels of bulletproof (resistant, I guess) can be had - but the more bulletproof the heavier. I made it through 2011 with no flats on my road tires, only had flats when I put the cyclocross tires back on the bike thinking they would be better for the commute from a flat resistance perspective. Two days of riding, two flats... Hopefully 2012 will be another year of mercy from the Flat Fairy.

They're putting that slime stuff in tubes now? And they changed the color from the pink that went into hamburgers to a neon green? That's disgusting!

Slime is a particular brand of tire sealant, sold to Bike people.

For most conditions I'd say slime is a bad idea. But there are exceptions. I used to bike commute in an area with an unbelievable number of goatshead thorns. With Kevlar lined knobby 26x2 tires with flat strips and heavy "thorn resistant" tubes, riding riding on asphalt and avoiding debris as much as possible, I still got two flats in the first mile. Removed the flat strips and added slime. Got one flat in one year And it sealed the flat, just not before dropping below 5psi. And that was with me picking dozens of goatshead thorns out of the tires after each ride.

I've cleaned up slime messes (although the worst I had with mine was a little coming out the valve when I aired them up). I've sworn at the stuff. And I've used it and sworn by it.
It really depends on conditions. But if you can't get it evenly distributed in the tire there's something wrong. If it's not dried up or frozen solid it should even out pretty quick.

I used it in my commuter. It's kept me from a roadside repair twice in the last year. It allowed me to get to my doctor appointment on time instead of patching a tube. For the brief period that I had a tube (or maybe both) without slime, I couldn't tell a difference. But I'm a very unsophisticated rider. I can't feel the extra drag from my dyno hub, and I don't really notice when I'm carrying an extra gallon of water on my self supported rides in the summer.

I don't think I'm going to put it in my long distance rider that I intend to have some short tours with, because I want the ability to patch a tire and the slime seems to make that extremely difficult due to the mess it creates. I will put on good puncture resistant tires though, which I think probably help more than anything.

Interesting. Thanks for the feedback. I'm definitely taking them off. It feels like riding with mud in your tires and basically that's exactly what you're doing. It just feels different. I also don't want to deal with a mess on the side of the road. I had one of them leak already when I didn't have the valve in the correct place and now I can't get air in that one at all..I guess there's slime in the valve. PITA.

If it's schrader valve it's easy to clean out. If it's presta it's possible, but you're better off just getting a new tube. And if no one is going to be using it soon there's no point.