Customer Reviews

Slime Lite Tube 48mm Presta Valve Bicycle Tube (26 x 1.75-2.125)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

At mile 9 of the North Fork Century in Long Island New York I got a blow out on my front wheel. I didn't know that this had happened except that I saw all of the green goo shooting out of the hole. I stopped a couple of seconds later and within about a minute the hole had sealed. There was minimal loss of tire pressure. I was able to get to complete the ride that day and I was able to use the tire the following weekend. All without having to refill my tube. Amazing.

All the tubes I buy now are Slime Lites.

Before, you either bought a light tube in case you got a flat, and you had to take off the rim and replace the tube or patch it. Or, you went with a Slime-filled tube and carried some extra weight, but you might avoid a flat.

The Slime Lite tube offers a light tube with magical healing powers. Sure, it costs $2 more than the heavier tube with Slime. When you are 25 miles into a ride with lots to go, will you really care that it cost a bit more. Over a season of riding, the difference is nothing.

Last week, I went on my longest ride of the year. I bonked with 20 miles to go on a hot day. Then to add to my suffering, with 10 miles to go my rear tire started to go flat quickly. (More than a thorn hole.) I bought a set of these smart tubes a year ago, and this was my first flat!

Well, I pulled over and pumped up the tire. And I was able to ride another 3 miles with my 200lb weight loading the rear tire before the tire started getting too low on air pressure. I pumped it up again and was riding 2 minutes later, and it held the air well for me to cover the next 3 miles. One last fill of air, and I rode home no problem.

Amazingly, a week later, the tire is still holding lots of air pressure from the last time I filled in on that trip!

Do I still carry a patch kit and a spare (regular) tube? Absolutely! But this tire was worth its wait in gold in allowing to just get myself home when I was physically spent without having to hassle with repairing the tire in the heat.

I like the slime tubes. They have worked well for me when I have had a puncture I've been able to ride for days without patching the hole or putting air in it. When you get a puncture you get loud hissing because the slime is spraying out of the tire. If you stop with the tire pointed down the hole will fill in with slime and you can continue riding. The only problems are the stem on the presta valve version unscrews to come apart (I'm guessing so the manufacturer can put the slime in)and as a result sometimes you get a leak and have to take it apart and clean the seal. The other thing is when using a presta to schraeder adapter, because it screws down tight, when unscrewing it I've had the stem loosen and pop off. A nice pop at 70 psi. Over all they've saved me a few times during my commute on wet or cold days and nights.

I've used this tube for a few months now on my road bike, and I've had 1 flat that sealed immediatly and only needed more air, and 1 flat that I had to patch or replace the tube. I would guess this helps reduce flats a bit, but I'm not sure it's worth the extra money, and you still need to carry repair and reinflating kits, so it doesn't save you space or weight on the ride. A great idea, but it doesn't quite live up to its promise.

I ride trails and bikeways in the Phoenix area. It's pretty much impossible to ride any significant distance in this environment without running over a goat head thorn or some other sharp spine dropped by the native plants.

These tubes perform as advertised, plugging pinhole leaks caused by these thorn punctures. Note however, that due to the sheer number of thorns in my areas, I have also found it necessary to use tire liners (in addition to the Slime tubes) to minimize the number of punctures that the slime has to seal. The reasoning for this: the tire liners by themselves do not stop all punctures, and the practice of using the slime by itself results in quickly depleted tubes due to the sheer number of holes (I've had over 20 punctures in one tire at the same time, the Slime sealed them all without flatting; however, there's only so much Slime inside the tube and it depletes quickly with that many holes to patch).

The combination of the slime tubes and the tire liners has virtually eliminated the flats that I experience on the trails. Occasionally, a tire will go flat overnight after riding; however, pumping the tire and spinning it will allow the Slime to seal the puncture.

Note: I use the 26" Lite tubes on my 29" Mountain bike with no problems. Slime does not offer a light weight 29er tube as of yet, so I use the 26" tube to offset some of the additional weight added by the slime and the liners. Installation of the tubes is slightly more difficult but no big deal. Other than that, the 26" tubes have held up just as well as the "right sized" tubes.

I have probably close to 2500 miles on my bike. I am an avid cyclist and have done a 100-mile century ride with NO flats whatsoever using this tube.

My daily commute is ~3 miles each way and bike regularly on roads and bike paths.

To be honest I can't remember the last time I've had a flat using this tube. It's October now and I've biked to work pretty much every day since March without getting a flat.

Holds pressure well, no instant flats like you can get with other non-slime tubes. The couple times I've gotten a flat these tubes have done their job to get me either all the way home or to a safe place.

One caveat with these tubes is you shouldn't put air in your tire with the valve at the bottom of your wheel like you were trained. Because of the slime it can come out and clog your valve, so it's HIGHLY recommended you fill up your tire with air with the valve on EITHER SIDE, just not the bottom. It works flawlessly.

These tubes have a long stem and work well in deep v rims.They have saved me countless tire changes out on the road also work well on fixed gear bikes

I've been using the slime tubes for several years now. As a daily bicyclist in a non-bike-friendly area, I've had my share of flats and am pretty motivated to keep them to a minimum. The slime tubes seem to be most helpful with small leaks/punctures. They seem to be hit-and-miss with anything larger than a very small nail (once or twice, they have successfully sealed relatively large punctures -- at least enough to limp home -- before the seal pops loose...). However, for small pinhole leaks, they really seem to do the trick. One other plus -- the bright green fluid spurting out gives a quick "heads up" that you've got a leak -- it's nice to be able to make a decision immediately rather than being a minute or two further down the road and waking up from a reverie to discover one is rolling on the rims.

The first puncture I had while riding with one of these tubes seemed to be too big for the slime to fill in the hole. I gave it a chance to settle by rotating the wheel so the hole was at the bottom and gave it many minutes, but that still didn't help. I couldn't tell what had caused the puncture because the object didn't stay in the tire, but the hole looks like the kind I get from good sized nails. I was going to change the tube out, but when I started to take the tire off, I noted that the slime stuff was just everywhere inside the tire and dripping out on the wheel. Ugh, what a mess. I was within a mile from home so I just walked my bike home. I won't be using one of these tubes again. I never would've walked my bike home if I had been using a regular tube. Even if slime tubes can fill in some punctures, the hassle created when it can't seal the hole negates the usefulness for me. Since the punctures I get that interrupt my ride are about the size of the first one I got with this tube, I don't see the point in using these at all.