Slime tubes

Back by popular demand, the general all-things Road forum!

Moderator: robbosmans

Post Reply
User avatar
Rick
Posts: 2034
Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2009 4:30 pm

by Rick

After a bad bout of goathead flats I bought and am using some Slime brand tubes (700c, 18-26mm, prefilled, 117 gms claimed) and they seem to work pretty well. They have already saved me from at least 3 more flats that I know of. In one case, the tire deflated, but after I pulled out another goathead and pumped the tire up, it held perfectly.

The weight penalty seems worth it to avoid ruining a ride or even a race. I have always pooh-poohed tire sealants in the past, but now I am wondering how many people are using them and what type ?

I searched on slime and sealant, but virtually all of the hits were in relation to tubeless tires. I don't want tubeless, I just want to avoid flats on my standard tubes/tires.

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



bm0p700f
in the industry
Posts: 5777
Joined: Sat May 12, 2012 7:25 pm
Location: Glermsford, Suffolk U.K
Contact:

by bm0p700f

Latex sealant in latex tubes seems to work o.k never found that green slime stuff to work at all besides when itdoes not work imagine putting that in your back pocket. Riding open corsa sc tyres at present and punctures asso infrequent i reall cant be botheed with sealant.

aaric
Posts: 430
Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2011 4:10 pm

by aaric

Orange seal in latex tubes works pretty well if you can stomach the extra 50g per tire of sealant. It definitely beats going to something like a gatorskin tire though.

wojchiech
Posts: 405
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2011 6:33 pm
Location: bay area, california

by wojchiech

it's crazy how good that Orange Seal is. Even better than more latex based sealants like Stans. I tried using a smaller plastic syringe to add it into my tubes and the 'nanoparticles' made it impossible to inject into the tube, so I had to use an applicator with larger tubing.

Slime doesn't seem to work with bigger cuts or punctures that Stans or Orange Seal can plug up. Although it does work for lower pressures (CX/MTB) and/or smaller pinholes.

KarlC
Posts: 1028
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2014 2:08 am
Location: De Portola Wine Trail Temecula CA

by KarlC

aaric wrote:Orange seal in latex tubes works pretty well if you can stomach the extra 50g per tire of sealant. It definitely beats going to something like a gatorskin tire though.


So would you suggest something like the new Conti GP4000s II tubular with Orange Seal pre installed over Conti Gatorskins tubular ?

If so why, due to better ride ? Less Weight ? Or ?

I switched over to Conti Gatorskins tubulars as there is so much crap in the roads around my house, got 2 flats on my past race tires and now 2 flats on my Conti Gatorskins all within just a few month. At least 3 of the times Vittoria Pit Stop saved me, but now my newish Gatorskin back tire has 2 cans of Pit Stop in it lol.

Dam crap in the roads.
C64 My Sixty 4 SR EPS 12

aaric
Posts: 430
Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2011 4:10 pm

by aaric

I've not ridden a tubular gatorskin. My experience with gatorskin clinchers is that they feel horribly heavy and dead - and they only protect more against cuts than a 4000 with sealant. I ride a clincher 4000s/latex tube/sealant when I'm concerned about flats: We get a lot of fine wires and goatheads here for flats. The gatorskin is heavy, and uses thicker less supple tire compound.

In about a year (~5000miles), I've not had a small puncture flat that didn't seal. I've had one flat that didn't seal, but it was a roofing nail that was about 1.5" long that got stuck in the tire - sounded like I broke a spoke. This matches my experience running tubeless tires with sealant, and I'd extrapolate it out to be similar with tubulars.

The nice thing about the sealant in the tube is that if you do get a flat, its not quite as messy as the tubeless, and swapping another tube in is pretty quick.

User avatar
FIJIGabe
Posts: 2241
Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2012 6:07 pm
Location: The Lone Star State

by FIJIGabe

aaric wrote:The nice thing about the sealant in the tube is that if you do get a flat, its not quite as messy as the tubeless, and swapping another tube in is pretty quick.


If you know what you're doing on tubeless, there's no mess. Open the tire, dump the excess sealant, put in a tube, keep riding. There's virtually no difference in time between this and changing out a tube in a regular clincher (and I know this from experience, given the crap roads I ride on, and the number of flat's I've gotten).

Returning to the original question, though: Slime's alright, but when mixed with Stan's, makes a great combo. I usually mix it in a 2:1 ratio (Stan'ss:Slime). Recently, I picked up a bottle of the Bontrager sealant, and it works much better than Stan's. I haven't gotten around to trying Orange Seal, but I've read reviews that it's very good, too.

One sealant that is horrible is Caffe Latex. That stuff just downright SUCKS.

User avatar
rmerka
Posts: 618
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:23 pm
Location: Austin, TX

by rmerka

I find that Orange Seal in latex tubes is really good. For tubeless I mix True Goo with the Orange Seal so it will hold the higher pressure on the bigger punctures and that works generally ok. As to the extra 50g...at least it's not rotating weight :D

aaric
Posts: 430
Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2011 4:10 pm

by aaric

FIJIGabe wrote:If you know what you're doing on tubeless, there's no mess.


Yeah, usually. Unless you're in a hurry, late for work, impatient, etc, etc ;-) To each their own I guess. I'd rather run sealant with a latex tube than mess with tubeless: You get comparable flat sealing without the hassle of hard to seat beads and more expensive tires with a limited selection of models that generally have worse road feel.

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



Post Reply