fooferdoggie
Well-Known Member
mine never had flat I just grabbed them with pliers and took them off.
Slime
- Thread starter bones774
- Start date
m@Robertson
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
If you are saddled with non-removable presta cores, this method works great. Its what I used to do. The hole you make is very small and the sealant you just injected seals the hole if you want to let it. I always patched. But soon after starting to used an in-tube sealant, I made a removable valve core a requirement when buying new tubes.
I had been using Tuffy for years when I went to fat tires on my first ebike. I went to Slime and had to abandon Tuffy because Tuffy's XL construction is thinner to reduce weight, and it literally never met a nail it didn't want to let thru. Slime, on the other hand... if you got a nail or a steel shard or whatever you could hear the problem, jump off the bike, pull the offending bit out and quickly rotate the wheel so the slime could plug it. Part and parcel with this is a pump or co2 to let you refill the tire if the leak takes a while to seal during your ride.
Slime is supposed to be good for holes up to 1/4" and I have taken it right up to that limit. thats about enough to ruin a tire too and the one time I had it happen it took two or three refills to get the slime to hold, but it held. This was back when I was using a Lezyne fat hand pump and co2. Nowadays I use a portable electric pump I plug into my battery.
And speaking of Slime and 1/4"... that formula has remained unchanged pretty muc forever. A competitor is FlatOut and their Sportsman formula was tested on fat ebikes. You use a lot of it (16 oz on a 4.0" tire) but it *never dries out* and an application lasts the life of the tire. Flatout is advertised as good for a 1/2" hole, and on one fat bike hole (twisted piece of steel) that made a 1/4" plus hole, it sealed the tube. Later inspection showed the tube had sealed dry with a tough little plug, unlike slime plugged holes which usually weep forever. My only other flat was when I used FlatOut as a tubeless sealant (!) and it plugged a 6-hole line of nails when I somehow managed to hit a strip of roofing nails left from someone's nail gun.
As a tubeless sealant it is incredible. Better than the Stan's or Orange Seal Endurance I have also used, because it can plug the big holes rather than just the goatheads. And it never dries out, so no Stans boogers or Orange Seal film dried to the inside surface of the tire.
I had been using Tuffy for years when I went to fat tires on my first ebike. I went to Slime and had to abandon Tuffy because Tuffy's XL construction is thinner to reduce weight, and it literally never met a nail it didn't want to let thru. Slime, on the other hand... if you got a nail or a steel shard or whatever you could hear the problem, jump off the bike, pull the offending bit out and quickly rotate the wheel so the slime could plug it. Part and parcel with this is a pump or co2 to let you refill the tire if the leak takes a while to seal during your ride.
Slime is supposed to be good for holes up to 1/4" and I have taken it right up to that limit. thats about enough to ruin a tire too and the one time I had it happen it took two or three refills to get the slime to hold, but it held. This was back when I was using a Lezyne fat hand pump and co2. Nowadays I use a portable electric pump I plug into my battery.
And speaking of Slime and 1/4"... that formula has remained unchanged pretty muc forever. A competitor is FlatOut and their Sportsman formula was tested on fat ebikes. You use a lot of it (16 oz on a 4.0" tire) but it *never dries out* and an application lasts the life of the tire. Flatout is advertised as good for a 1/2" hole, and on one fat bike hole (twisted piece of steel) that made a 1/4" plus hole, it sealed the tube. Later inspection showed the tube had sealed dry with a tough little plug, unlike slime plugged holes which usually weep forever. My only other flat was when I used FlatOut as a tubeless sealant (!) and it plugged a 6-hole line of nails when I somehow managed to hit a strip of roofing nails left from someone's nail gun.
As a tubeless sealant it is incredible. Better than the Stan's or Orange Seal Endurance I have also used, because it can plug the big holes rather than just the goatheads. And it never dries out, so no Stans boogers or Orange Seal film dried to the inside surface of the tire.
fooferdoggie
Well-Known Member
I see I never looked that close at them.
Handlebars
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Canada
It would be nice to have a little portable stand for repairs, and, for example, you could spin the wheel to help plug the hole. I can turn the bike upside down due to the city bike handlebars and stem, but a stand is better for some repairs.
m@Robertson
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
If I am roadside, I flip down the kickstand, then set the bike 'down' and then tilt it up a tad using the kickstand as a peg to hold it up in the air. Then I hit the throttle and hang on while the sealant does its thing (I hope). If I have a 2-legged stand I make sure the back wheel is off the ground - I may need to push the front down to tip up the back - to do the same thing.
Riding bikes like a Surly Big Fat Dummy... you are pretty well screwed with respect to flipping it over, or even using a bike stand in your garage. Lots of folks use a come-along thrown up over a rafter and looping back down to hoist the bike up. I have been able to get away with a couple bricks under the 2-legged stand.
m@Robertson
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
I forgot to mention I made a portable workstand. What you see is sitting inside of a receptacle on the wideloaders I made. the 'U' shaped stand is a separate piece and you raise the front wheel and lower it down onto the 'U', which is free-standing and - on a bike this size - is not noticeable with respect to weight or carry convenience.
In the pic, its hard to see but the rear wheel is up off the ground and is free spinning.
For my Bullitt, I either use a couple of bricks to raise the existing factory 2-legged stand, or trolleys like these, one under each leg so the wheel is up off the ground and you can spin it around like a top if you want.
Handlebars
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Canada
Heavy duty bike!
Coolbob
Well-Known Member
14-day return window has closed and the wife loves her new Momentum Vida E+ so I 'Slimed' the tubes yesterday. It was a simple task to remove the valve core with tool incorporated into the cap on the Slime bottle, squirt in 4oz of Slime (I purchased the 16oz bottle), reinstall the valve core and air up the tire. If it prevents one flat when she's riding, it was money and time well spent.
Handlebars
Well-Known Member
- Region
- Canada
Luckily I don't ride my bike 60-70 miles an hour.
Coolbob
Well-Known Member
Slime to the rescue....now what do I do?
I happened to notice what looked like a mangled paperclip on top of my tire recently while installing a new rear rack, The wire was kinda chewed up as if it had been there for a while and as I picked it up I discovered about 1/2" of it was embedded in my tire. A small bubble of Slime about the size of a pencil tip bubbled up out of the hole. I checked my tire pressure and it was still inflated to 45psi. I rode around the neighborhood for about 8-miles and checked the pressure again, still 45psi. I'm heading out of town for a few days and I'll check the pressure on the tire when I return.
Assuming the pressure is still at 45psi, do I replace the tube or just forget about it and ride on.
PS-The tube and Slime are about one year old.
I happened to notice what looked like a mangled paperclip on top of my tire recently while installing a new rear rack, The wire was kinda chewed up as if it had been there for a while and as I picked it up I discovered about 1/2" of it was embedded in my tire. A small bubble of Slime about the size of a pencil tip bubbled up out of the hole. I checked my tire pressure and it was still inflated to 45psi. I rode around the neighborhood for about 8-miles and checked the pressure again, still 45psi. I'm heading out of town for a few days and I'll check the pressure on the tire when I return.
Assuming the pressure is still at 45psi, do I replace the tube or just forget about it and ride on.
PS-The tube and Slime are about one year old.
Tars Tarkas
Well-Known Member
I sure wouldn't replace the tube or even patch it. In my opinion the Slime did a great job of exactly what it's supposed to.. And there may or may not be several other punctures you never noticed anyway.
TT
TT
reed scott
Well-Known Member
What size tire? 4 oz would only be enough for a fairly narrow tire.
reed scott
Well-Known Member
DANG, I could use a bike like that on the ranch. It wouldn't be for sale by any chance would it?
m@Robertson
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
Nope
That was that bike early in its life. Nowadays it has a retractable 2-legged stand (I bit the bullet and bought a Rolling Jackass) and recently I put a 32T front chainring on so I could use it overland in the Lower Sierras on a camping trip I would have been coming back from today if the Forest Service hadn't closed all forests in CA due to the fires :-( Maybe this winter.Similar threads
