My Bontrager Hard Case tires failed me, leaving the gym I found I had a flat due to a nail puncture. It happened to be next to a Target so got Fix A Flat and a hand pump which got me home. Is FAF reliable as a repair or should I just replace the tube?

Thanks!

Replace the tube

it can hold up indefinitely, or fail in a day...
the main issue i have with that stuff is getting it into my pump chuck, and it also clogs the air valves in the tubes, that then require a minor struggle to remove because of the FAF gumball on the bottom of the valve.

if a bike is donated here, and the inner tubes are full of sealant, the tubes get removed and tossed out. ASAP.
this includes those massively heavy Slime "thorn resistant" tubes. The bike suddenly becomes fun to ride, due to the removal of a pound or so of rotating mass.

My local Walmart sells bike tubes preloaded with Slime. A know a few riders that use Slime as tubeless sealant.

We are there with you....well almost.

If the tube is still good, we leave it in. but we don't patch tubes with sealant, they get tossed.

Ditto at the non-profit where I volunteer. Green valve cap? Toss it.

If it had a nail in it, replace once you are home. A lot of us have sealant in our tubes to lessen the chance of rides being interrupted by small punctures.

At one time the Fix a Flat products used a very flammable formula. Not a problem in the tire but if a mechanic happened to have a lit cigarette in their mouth and they deflated the filled tire the stream of Fix a Flat could ignite, imagine a flame thrower aimed at your face...

In a bike shop these days the usual concern is about sealant spraying in one's face. More messy than dangerous. Please tell whoever does the next work on a sealant filled tire that there is stuff in it. Andy

if that green slop gets into your pump, it may Ruin your pump... the Valve will eventually clog up, and then you can't get the faulty valve out, without a struggle.
the extremely thick tube material will make the tires ride like bricks, cause the entire bike to feel even heavier, and offer reduced traction too.
all of those negative effects so that a person THINKS their bike doesn't need an occasional few pumps of air..
most bike problems can be found while checking a bike for air pressures, and a quick look after airing up a tire...like, a bumped QR that needs reset, a frayed cable, or a bent derailleur.

AIUI Fix-a-Flat is a get-you-home (or to a tyre shop) measure not a permanent fix. Most people avoid sealant in bike tubes, but some folk swear by it, particularly the Slime prefilled tubes. If a puncture is too big for sealant to close, the presence of sealant can make it impossible to apply a proper repair patch so that tube is trash. If you have a problem with punctures you might want to go tubeless - that seems to be the best use of tyre sealant on bikes. Most other puncture-resistant tyre solutions cost too much in terms of weight and ride quality for a typical cycling enthusiast to entertain their use.

The concept is not new - from 50 Years Ago: July 1975 in Bicycling! magazine :



I agree with the others that sealant in this case is a temporary fix, and swapping out the tube is the best option for long-term reliability.

Damn her hands must get cold on those bars in the winter

best bet is to

carry at least one tube (I do 2), a fresh rema tip top patch kit, a tire boot and a pump. nice to have is CO2 and spare valves
replace the tube and patch the old one at home

edit forgot tire levers also

I found an old can of Fix-a-Flat and asked the company about it.
I was told to toss, and they were not making the stuff for bikes anymore.

The ends of that handlebar probably make good apple corers too - people, plug your bars, even if you just pound a piece of wood in there and cut it off flush. I'm surprised how many cycling videos I watch that the presenters don't wear anything on their hands - I often wear mitts even on short local trips because you don't have to go far before you're sliding on the road* and I prefer my hands to work properly. Obviously wear full finger gloves of some sort if it's cold or wet, but they won't be all that grippy without bar tape.

* this may just be my bike handling skills

I got one because it was the only one Wamart had that fits my bike - it comes as a 29" x 1.85, which fits my 700x45c tires. For some reason the 700c tubes they have are all the skinnier diameter. Have some 700x45c ordered from eBay. I'll report back if anything bad happens as a result of the Slime tube being in place. It's odd hearing the squishiness going on inside the tube - lol.

I've never used it in a bicycle tire, but carried it when I rode motorcycles. While on a group ride, a fellow rider (crazy rider!) has a flat. We used my fix-a-flat. It worked for the rest of the ride (this rider rode FAST), so good thing it held. Don't know if he replaced the tube later or not (yes, it was a tubed tire). But it is not a permanent remedy--replace whatever you use it in asap.

A problem with any sealant (fixaflat, slime, Stan's, latex, whatever) is that it considers the valve to be a hole in the tube (or tire system) and acts accordingly. Technically, the slime isn't wrong, as it is a hole in the system, but valve core replacement due to leaks caused by the glorp that is supposed to be preventing leaks is a minor annoyance.

i just now had to use vise grip pliers on a valve stem remover to get a stuck valve out of a Slimed tube. the valve wouldn't allow air past it, in or out.
i've had to CUT a valve stem off to remove a Slime tube from a wheel/tire.
i've had a few come in the shop that were WAY over-filled too... like, half a big bottle of Slime oozing around in them.

A 700c bike wheel is the exact same bead seat diameter as a 29" bike wheel, btw.

Maybe it's more obvious on a light carbon bike, I don't perceive anything like what you mention with the Slime tube - it's an aluminum Trek Verve 2 comfort/hybrid bike with 45c Bontrager Hard Case tires, rides the same as with a conventional tube.