Slime tubes

[Piemaster]

fitted them recently to my hybrid and now I'm not sure if I like them or not now as it took me best part of an hour to get the rear tyre to hold any pressure when I found it a bit soft this afternoon and decided to put some air in it.

Pumped up to 65psi (max road press for Panracer Mach SS). Damm, can hear the leak. Whips it off and into kitchen to fix it in comfort - I find and patch the leak (didn't really find any cause for it)....hmm perhaps they aren't that good.
Refit tyre and pump it back up again. Another leak, in a different place. Find a dirty great thorn in the carcass...ok so maybe this slime is ok after all, Tube has gone back on in a slightly different place so thorn has made a second hole. Patch and try again.
Anyone guess what happened next?

Yup - third leak. Yet another thorn. Repeat above.

So good...two big thorns and an unknown leak and it had been soft but OK earlier on.
Bad...no idea how bad things were until all sorts sticking in it. Would have been a real pig to do at the roadside (especially as it was raining). In above circumstances even a spare tube wouldn't have helped.

I will be carrying on using them but now have learned carcass will have to be checked v. carefully if tyre ever has to come off in future.

 

[arallsopp]

I gave up on slimes after a daily commute cross London on SkinnyBint (RIP). The only difference between them and normal tubes seemed to be the fizzling whistle they give when punctured, and the spray of gunk that I'd have to clean off my face, bars, and down tube after any such event. Amazing the places that stuff gets.

Mind you, my usage was pretty agressive. The combination of London potholes, narrow tyres, vastly high pressures and urban recycling (re-use unwanted broken glass, whitegoods, and car radio parts as handy bike stoppers, simply leave them within a metre of the kerb for imminent collection) might have skewed my experience

Am glad you're getting use out of them. If they make a 20, I may go back.