Slime question?

Saratoga Dave

Saratoga Dave

Well-Known Member
Someone here will supply a science based and correct answer, but I reckon it’s just centrifugal force when the tire starts spinning. I always thought the interesting part is that it congeals only when it encounters a leak or hole, whether while spinning or with the aid of gravity, when you rotate the leak to the bottom and just sit there for a few minutes.

However it happens, I wouldn’t venture out on longish trips away from support without tubeless tires. Yes, I carry a spare tube just in case, along with a plug kit and a little gorilla tape, but if anything its more likely to allow me to help out someone else than be needed for myself. Hope so, anyhow.
 
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Tars Tarkas

Active Member
Plus, a lot of it adheres to the tube all the way around. In any case, I've looked for the problem and never been able to notice it on the road. I have seen it a little bit for a while when the bike is on a service rack and I just added the Slime. So I'd say there is probably at least theoretically some imbalance for a while, but unless you're the princess from The Princess and the Pea, you will probably never notice it.

TT
 
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AHicks

Well-Known Member
Friendly "advice" from a local bike shop delayed my use of slime for several years. I finally got fed up with that "advice" and tried it anyway. Floored at first by the overwhelming success, I've never looked back.
 
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Tars Tarkas

Active Member
Saratoga Dave said:
I wouldn’t venture out on longish trips away from support without tubeless tires.
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Not all on one trip of course, but I have over a thousand miles on my tube tires. I have had one flat, before adding Slime, but I fixed that easily on the trail, albeit only a couple of miles from any kind of support. Took maybe 20 minutes.

I don't understand why anyone shouldn't go out on a longish trip without tubeless tires.

I've looked into this a good bit and have found no satisfying explanation for why tubeless tires are less prone to flats than tires with tubes. I get it about pinch flats, and I'll concede that tubeless tires probably have an advantage over tubed tires at low pressures. But for normal multi-use trails or roads, at tire pressures normal for that kind of riding, the alleged advantage of tubeless tires, with regard to flats, seems to be based totally on the fact that tubeless tires use sealants. So, what if I level the playing field by putting sealant in my tubes? Isn't that apples to apples? Does anyone actually contend that tubeless tires get fewer flats than tube tires when both are treated with sealant? I just don't see how that's possible, yet it seems like a widespread claim.

I hope my mind is at least somewhat open to persuasion. Can anyone explain the miracle of tubeless tires to me?

TT
 
FlatSix911

FlatSix911

Active Member
dAz63 said:
This a good enough reason?, Tyre didn't go flat while the nail was in and after I removed it, and used it for another 18 months after, fitted a new tyre and tube and more slime.
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Impressive. The nail appears to have gone through the tire at an angle... did it penetrate the inner tube?
 
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dAz63

Member
FlatSix911 said:
Impressive. The nail appears to have gone through the tire at an angle... did it penetrate the inner tube?
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Yep, in two places, how it happens is apparently the fencing nail with a flat head is lying on the road, as the front tyre passes over it the nail is tipped up and the rear tyre catches it, I was doing about 35kph, and suddenly noticed a thumping noise from the rear tyre, pulled up at the post office a half a kick later and had a look and saw this nail sticking out of the tyre, didn't try to remove as the tyre still had pressure, just as well I have disc brakes as the nail would have snagged on the calipers of rim brakes.

Cycled home 2km, then removed the nail, tyre still held pressure.
 
Mtl_Biker

Mtl_Biker

Active Member
Love is...finding the right ebike said:
How does the liquid not pool in the tire causing an imbalance?
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Many of the sealants are thicker than water and once you've put some in the tire and spun the tire, most of it should be coating the inside of the tire. It's not like it would pool at the bottom. But other sealants could be more liquid (like the Finish Line that I'm currently using) but pooling at the bottom doesn't seem to be an issue. Maybe it does if the bike is just sitting there, but the moment you start riding it distributes itself around the tire. Really not an issue.
 
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