tubes with slime or sealant in them, are they any good and which ones have you tried…

My mate had some basic ones, something like Brand X off CRC. They are fine for small punctures and will allow You to finish Your ride, but after getting a small puncture You need to pump the tube up, but if You'll get a bigger cut or a snakebite then the sealant isn't going to get it sealed and it will loose air like normal tube plus will spit out the sealant on the rim or tyre.

I wouldn't bother with those tubes for normal mtb riding, for a commute would be ok-ish but they are heavy and not that great so I'll stick to normal tubes and puncture proof tyres. It's heavier than a tyre and tube setup while being only slightly better, probably going tubeless with a sealant would be better and lighter.

I've used slime tubes and slime sealant in standard tubes. By far the best method of preventing punctures is probably to go down the ghetto tubeless route with a decent sealant like Stans or Joes.

i'm keen to hear what people say here too – i'm looking to do a tour in summer and don't want to have a tyre roll off the rim on a 50lb bike on a steep hill. so was considering gunking up some innertubes with stans.

Why would the tyre roll of the rim?

I'd be very surprised if the tyre rolled off the rim, even with a ghetto setup. IME it's no more likely than having a conventional tube pop out of the bead of a tyre.

i'm weary that the extra load might increase the likelihood of a burp (i'm talking tubeless here).

i'm weary that the extra load might increase the likelihood of a burp (i'm talking tubeless here).

If you're particularly heavy adjust the pressure to suit

Loads of people here run ghetto tubeless without issue – unless you're particularly cack handed, they're a doddle to set up

If you're particularly heavy adjust the pressure to suit

yes, but for touring, i don't want to run tubeless at over 60 psi to account for weight, because that is advised against (for good reason i'm presuming)

Road bike?
I would bother with tubeless, good puncture resistant tyres is about as far as I go

mtb. all i said was i wanted to hear people's views on slimed innertubes! this isn't even my thread…

hijack 😳

sorry mattp. i really didn't meeean toooo! 🙄

i'm only joking mrk – that's what forums are all about…

…

Anyway ….

I'm a recent convert to slime tubes, I use Bontrager branded ones as thats what my LBS had, got them for a trip to Morocco as I'd got lots of punctures there before, didn't get any this time.

Last weekend went on my usual route on a bike with normal tubes to find they had cut the hedges for about 2 miles, loads of thorns and cuttings all over the place, half hour later 2 flat tyres and getting dark, cold and freezing muddy fingers trying to change tubes. Next day I replaced the tubes with the slime tubes, went out on the same route and no flat tyres, had a few thorns in the tyres and pulled them out at the end of the ride and spun the wheels and they just sealed up, you could hear the air hissing out and then stop, tyres are still up and firm now. Superb in my opinion! Can't say I notice the extra weight, about 50g, you can lose, or gain, this easily with tyre and rim choice if you're that worried. 🙂

We use them here in Spain a bit because there's loads of spikey stuff to puncture your tubes. They are great for that kind of thing (and better than cheaper immitations I think) but if you ride quite hard and get pinch flats they aren't really worth it, they still pinch and are quite hard to fix as the Slime stops the glue sticking..

Big thick DH tubes would be better than a slime tube mefinks…

I've been using lightweight tubes and some sludge in them for my XC bike.This is a South African sealant that you can put in presta valve tubes.Works very well! Especially if your changing tyres a lot! The trail bike has UST tyres and stans for ultimate reliability though!
Thanx Max

I discovered the joys of slimed tubes by accident after much scepticism. I bought a s/h bike for winter and rode the whole of the first winter without a puncture which, given the amount of gorse hawthorn and blackthorn around here, I thought was a miracle. I only discovered the previous owner had fitted slimed tubes when changing the tyres for the spring. I have two Cove Stiffee hardtails, one being a lighter build with UST tyres, the winterbike being a heavier build and riding both the extra weight of the tubes with both bikes on fat tyres is not especially noticeable most of the time.

The only mistake I ever made was not understanding that as they work, they will loose small amounts of air so when you start detecting those odd rocks through your rim that you did not feel earlier in the ride, you need stop soon to pump them up, I failed to and got a snake bite on a not particularly large rock which I am putting down to the low pressure resulting from the continual air loss each time a puncture was sealed.

Like all good things that come to the end when the tube started puncturing a lot, indicating the goo had dried or been used up. Given that I now have a bike that when ever I walk up to it the tyres are not flat, I put in new lightweight tubes and then filled anti puncture sealant. If they require any extra work to ride I would rather get fitter / put up with it than have to endure the fag of changing tubes on a wet winter ride.

If you have 1 bike and it's been on the full course at Weight Watchers for XC racing I'd think twice about doing it unless you have a spare general abuse wheel set, if you have a bike and are prone to adding lights mudguards bags and not fussed about the weight of your tyres or rims and hate punctures I would suggest you might want to consider it every winter at least it if your rims will take car valves. Am interested in Turnerfan's suggestion about presta tubes.

thanks all – i think this is now getting a bit more in favour of using them. I bought some from crc last night they're the "joe's no-flats" type with presta so i'm going to give them a whirl. the reason for asking was i was given a pair of r ralphs and they are so light that i was worried that as soon as i look at a canal path i'd end up with two flash but flat tyres….

Slime tubes definitely make a difference if you are prone to puncturing a lot. However, one thing to bear in mind is the valve getting gunked up. IME when slime gets around the valve and drys it becomes a proper challenge to close the valve fully and it leaks.

Its not a big problem as you can buy new valve cores for your tubes pretty cheaply but its a hassle I've encountered more than once.

Solution to that is always let air out of tyres when the valve is at 8 or 4, I had slime in off road motorbike tubes before they invented mousses. Blocked valves that did not let air either way were common unless you stuck to above suggestion

I reckon latex tubes are the way to go. I've pulled inch thorns out of my tyres without puncturing the tubes and they're lighter than regular butyl and certainly lighter than slime. The outside of your rim's where you need to save as much weight as possible which is why I've always avoided slime. Plus a couple of my buddies have punctured slime tubes, whilst I've gone sailing on over the same trails with my latex tubes.
The biggest problem is availability. Michelin sell them, but tracking them down in shops is sometimes an issue.

I use the joes no flats ones from CRC. Been great so