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Self Sealing Inner Tube: Do They Work ?
Hello,
Do those "self-sealing" inner tubes work ? When putting on new tubes, worth going to the trouble to get them ? Any thoughts on would be appreciated. Thanks, Bob |
#2
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Self Sealing Inner Tube: Do They Work ?
On Mon, 11 Apr 2011 12:20:41 -0400, Bob wrote:
Hello, Do those "self-sealing" inner tubes work ? When putting on new tubes, worth going to the trouble to get them ? Any thoughts on would be appreciated. Thanks, Bob No one answered? Well, they seem to work for me, assuming you're talking about the slime tubes. The slime does add some rolling resistance but it's worth it for me. There are several kinds of slime though, online some folks have written that stuff sold in Walmart is watered down. I just got some new slime from Nashbar to use in my Significant Other's new bike. It does tend to mess up Presta valves though. They become hard to unscrew in order to open them. |
#3
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Self Sealing Inner Tube: Do They Work ?
On 4/11/2011 11:20 AM, Bob wrote:
Hello, Do those "self-sealing" inner tubes work ? Some swear by them, other swear at them. When putting on new tubes, worth going to the trouble to get them ? Any thoughts on would be appreciated. Thanks, Bob Do you live in an area with lots of puncture vine thorns, broken glass, etc where you will be riding? Otherwise, flats are not that common, assuming that you are not using racing tires with relatively thin and fragile casings and tread. -- Tºm Shermªn - 42.435731,-83.985007 I am a vehicular cyclist. |
#4
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Self Sealing Inner Tube: Do They Work ?
Tºm Shermªn™ °_° wrote:
On 4/11/2011 11:20 AM, Bob wrote: Hello, Do those "self-sealing" inner tubes work ? Some swear by them, other swear at them. When putting on new tubes, worth going to the trouble to get them ? Any thoughts on would be appreciated. Thanks, Bob Do you live in an area with lots of puncture vine thorns, broken glass, etc where you will be riding? Otherwise, flats are not that common, assuming that you are not using racing tires with relatively thin and fragile casings and tread. I have been on a journey the past few years to try and minimise the number of times I am stopped by punctured/slashed tyres. My commute is 25km from one of the northern beach suburbs of Cairns, Australia. The main problem is that there are a large number of fools hereabouts who throw glass (mostly beer bottles) out of car windows, secondary problems is that the area is one of rapid growth which means lots of things like screws, nails metal off-cuts etc. When I first started riding to and from work I was averaging a couple of punctures a week, and losing about one tyre a month to irretrievable slashes from various sources. I should add that my homeward run is usually in the dark. In addition to playing with tyres I have also been experimenting with lighting systems, but I digress. After trying myriad brands of tyres, both cheap and expensive I discovered Schwalbe Stelvio + in 2008 and suddenly my puncture rates dropped to about 1 per month. The Stelvio + model was discontinued and replaced by the Durano plus in 2009, I have happily continued to have a very low puncture rate with these tyres, although in the past year I have had two of them slashed beyond practical repair. Good though the Duranos are, I still occasionally suffer a puncture from thin metal, wire, nails or screws - frequently the puncture "agent" does not stay in the tyre and I am unable to say for certain what the cause is. This made me start thinking about the various sealants you can put in car tyres to prevent deflation in similar circumstances. Now you can't put "green slime" (a catch-all covering tyre sealants as they generally tend to be a slimy green colour for some reason) in past a Presta valve, I tried and it won't work. Period. A search of the net found some brave souls were cutting the pin in the Presta, putting the sealant in, and then carefully feeding the pin back into the valve. I tried this on a damaged tube and bluntly I lack the dexterity required. Another solution beckoned. Why not, I thought, simply cut the tube somewhere close to the valve, a slit just large enough to feed in the nozzle from the green slime bottle, and then once the requisite amount of slime has been added simply put a normal patch on the tube. A $2 disposable scalpel from the local chemist and a $20 bottle of green slime (sufficient to "treat" 4 bicycle tyres according to the label) and a couple of larger than normal glue on patches were obtained. A small slit allowed the nozzle to carefully squirt in the slime, I then cut the "truck tube" patches I'd bought down just a bit and patched the slit. I've now been riding on two tubes treated as above for the past week. On Friday morning I noticed that the front was down a little in pressure, but did nothing at the time other than pump it back up to 120psi. Today I pulled the tyre off and found 2 small spots of "green chalk" on the tube that appear to be sealed up holes. At this stage I'm counting the experiment a provisional success, if I got the whole month with no stoppage causing punctures I'll be very happy indeed. Cost to treat 4 tubes - about $26 made up of $20 green slime sealant, $2 scalpel $4 for 8 large tube patches. I guess there is also some glue in there too, but I buy my patch glue in bulk and still working my way through the 100 tubes I bought 5 years ago. -- |
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Self Sealing Inner Tube: Do They Work ?
On 17/04/11 09:27, Blue Heeler wrote:
snip Cost to treat 4 tubes - about $26 made up of $20 green slime sealant, $2 scalpel $4 for 8 large tube patches. I guess there is also some glue in there too, but I buy my patch glue in bulk and still working my way through the 100 tubes I bought 5 years ago. Doesn't that stuff go off after a while? I tend to 'collect' glue tubes and have had a couple of *unopened* ones reveal themselves to be a solid rubbery block. Although, thinking about it, I've had some 5 year old ones be fine on first opening. Maybe it's in the manufacturing process. |
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Self Sealing Inner Tube: Do They Work ?
Tosspot wrote:
On 17/04/11 09:27, Blue Heeler wrote: snip Cost to treat 4 tubes - about $26 made up of $20 green slime sealant, $2 scalpel $4 for 8 large tube patches. I guess there is also some glue in there too, but I buy my patch glue in bulk and still working my way through the 100 tubes I bought 5 years ago. Doesn't that stuff go off after a while? I tend to 'collect' glue tubes and have had a couple of unopened ones reveal themselves to be a solid rubbery block. Although, thinking about it, I've had some 5 year old ones be fine on first opening. Maybe it's in the manufacturing process. I keep them in refrigerator no problems so far. -- |
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Self Sealing Inner Tube: Do They Work ?
On 17/04/11 11:54, Blue Heeler wrote:
Tosspot wrote: On 17/04/11 09:27, Blue Heeler wrote: snip Cost to treat 4 tubes - about $26 made up of $20 green slime sealant, $2 scalpel $4 for 8 large tube patches. I guess there is also some glue in there too, but I buy my patch glue in bulk and still working my way through the 100 tubes I bought 5 years ago. Doesn't that stuff go off after a while? I tend to 'collect' glue tubes and have had a couple of unopened ones reveal themselves to be a solid rubbery block. Although, thinking about it, I've had some 5 year old ones be fine on first opening. Maybe it's in the manufacturing process. I keep them in refrigerator no problems so far. *boggle* You've got a better touring bike than mine :-) |
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Self Sealing Inner Tube: Do They Work ?
On 4/17/2011 5:01 AM, Tosspot wrote:
On 17/04/11 09:27, Blue Heeler wrote: snip Cost to treat 4 tubes - about $26 made up of $20 green slime sealant, $2 scalpel $4 for 8 large tube patches. I guess there is also some glue in there too, but I buy my patch glue in bulk and still working my way through the 100 tubes I bought 5 years ago. Doesn't that stuff go off after a while? I tend to 'collect' glue tubes and have had a couple of *unopened* ones reveal themselves to be a solid rubbery block. Although, thinking about it, I've had some 5 year old ones be fine on first opening. Maybe it's in the manufacturing process. The problem is that the tubes are often not gas-tight. Since they (unopened) are sealed at the screw top end, the only place for them to pass gas is at the bottom crimped end. What I do, even with new, unopened ones, is make another fold at the crimp. That seems to help. I also carry 2 glue tubes in my patch kit. In a gas-tight container the glue will last indefinitely. |
#9
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Self Sealing Inner Tube: Do They Work ?
In rec.bicycles.tech Peter Cole wrote:
:On 4/17/2011 5:01 AM, Tosspot wrote: : On 17/04/11 09:27, Blue Heeler wrote: : : snip : : Cost to treat 4 tubes - about $26 made up of $20 green slime sealant, : $2 scalpel $4 for 8 large tube patches. I guess there is also some glue : in there too, but I buy my patch glue in bulk and still working my way : through the 100 tubes I bought 5 years ago. : : Doesn't that stuff go off after a while? I tend to 'collect' glue tubes : and have had a couple of *unopened* ones reveal themselves to be a solid : rubbery block. : : Although, thinking about it, I've had some 5 year old ones be fine on : first opening. Maybe it's in the manufacturing process. :The problem is that the tubes are often not gas-tight. Since they unopened) are sealed at the screw top end, the only place for them to ass gas is at the bottom crimped end. What I do, even with new, :unopened ones, is make another fold at the crimp. That seems to help. I :also carry 2 glue tubes in my patch kit. In a gas-tight container the :glue will last indefinitely. You're repeating Jobst's 'this is how they did things in the dark ages' spiel. Modern cement tubes are heat crimped. They're normally a multi-layer sandwhich. It's not perfectly gas impermable, and some are just defective, so there is a shelf life. For those who patch at the work bench, cement is available in larger containers. An 8 oz jar with a brush in the lid costs a few bucks, and lasts a long time[1], as ong as the cap is screwed on after use. If it dries out, the usual cause is the solvent has evaporated; it can be thinned with hexane. If it's over heated, it can vulcanize itself into a blob. [1] the tubes in a patch kit are 5 grams, so about 50 of them. -- sig 20 |
#10
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Self Sealing Inner Tube: Do They Work ?
On 4/17/2011 3:27 AM, Blue Heeler wrote:
[...] My commute is 25km from one of the northern beach suburbs of Cairns, Australia. The main problem is that there are a large number of fools hereabouts who throw glass (mostly beer bottles) out of car windows, secondary problems is that the area is one of rapid growth which means lots of things like screws, nails metal off-cuts etc.[...] Do you have a bottle deposit law? Here in the US, broken glass is much less of a problem in states that require retailers to offer between $0.05 and $0.15 for each empty glass beverage bottle (mostly beer bottles) returned, compared to states with no deposit law. -- Tºm Shermªn - 42.435731,-83.985007 I am a vehicular cyclist. |
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