Self repairing tubes (slime)

[Harrow]

Just saw these self repairing tubes advertised in Bicycling Australia magazine. They seem to have some slime embedded in the rubber and are around 40grams heavier than a standard tube, but considering the time saved by not having to repair a puncture, and not have to carry so many spare tubes, they would appear to be a good investment for an ironman race.

Does anyone have any experience with these? Two things come to mind:

1. How successful is their ability to repair punctures?

2. Do they somehow inhibit the performance of the bike? (ie. increased rolling resistance, etc.)

Thanks,
Harrow.

 

[rek]

There are some archived discussion on the usenet parts on the board, click the Search link at the top and look for "slime"

The general consensus from those discussions seems to be that they are useful for things like thorn pricks, but not pinch flats or significant punctures.

 

[cotty]

I have used Slime (mtb tubes not road) that you put into your tire or purchased with it already in the tube. According to an old spec that I remember it should seal a puncture up to 1/8" in dia, which it did well, but I never hit anything larger that a thorn(lots of them in colorado). As for performance I did not notice too much but I ride mostly single track, not road races. I did notice that it does tend to collect in certian areas and cause the tire to be out of balance. Things to consider though, it does cause valve stems to become clogged, and if you have a presta valve on your tube it cannot be put into the tire without destroying the tube. Recently there is a new product in the states, do not know if it is available outside the U.S. that I am using and so far so good. No tire hop at higher speeds. It coats the tube instead of floating around inside.



http://www.mtbreview.com/reviews/Tube/product_23522.shtml


Good luck.
Cotty

 

[JohnO]

I've had three bad flats this year. In two cases, it was a rip big enough to finish off the tire (darned expensive Vittoria, at that), so slime wouldn't have made much difference, except maybe for a more colorful display. The third was a pinch, another hole too big for slime to seal.

Where I have used it is with the MTB, where you're more likely to hit a thorn. My road bike flats have either been big rips from something sharp in the road, or pinches, where slime won't do much good.

 

[Evo]

I've used a product that I think is similar to slime called "Mr Tuffy" in my 700x23C (Conti Sport 1000) tyres and they have prevented heaps of flats. ie. I've only had three flats in about 5 years. I used to ride a lot on bike tracks, (with some of them in varying states of disrepair!) and they still survived. No noticeable difference in performance or feel.

Just a thought...