Thank goodness for Slime . . .
It was time to give my bike a minor service today - new brake blocks, then clean & lube the chain, derailleur, pedals, cables & brake pivot mechanisms. So even though it’s STILL really windy here (but now only 23 mph 
), I just had to head out for a test ride this afternoon.
I didn’t really have time (or permission) for a long ride, so I just headed off to Byker and back. It was pretty dark by the turnaround point, so I was glad I’d kept the lights on the bike.
Five miles from home I started to hear a rubbing sound coming from the front wheel, and wondered if I’d messed up fitting the new brake blocks. It also looked like I’d run over some fluorescent chewing gum. When I stopped to investigate, I realised that I had a puncture, and the Slime I’d fitted to my inner-tubes in preparation for last summer’s jaunt across the Penines was doing it’s job. I could see a piece of glass had penetrated the tyre, and Slime was oozing around it to block the leak.
I nearly pulled the glass out, but realised this would make the hole bigger - with the tyre pressure apparently keeping up, I could make it home without having to stop and fix the puncture. This was a real bonus, as I was just outside of Percy Main - an area of town that’s not the most salubrious, and where someone changing an inner tube would probably attract the wrong kind of help at that time of night (although there are also of course many respectable, hard-working people who also live in Percy Main . . .)
I’ve got 39 miles to do tomorrow if I’m to remain on target. Even if the Slime’s stopped the leak completely, I think I’ll change the tube before I start though - there’s no sense in pushing my luck too far.
[...] January 13th, 2007 in Uncategorized As part of the maintenence I did on my bike today, I also adjusted the saddle height & positioning over the pedals. This was because on recent [...]
I’ve always wondered about these types of products… I’ve never used them. But this sounds like a pretty solid endorsement!
I had a stint where I was getting flat tires left and right. I think I got 10 flats in the course of 500 miles… which is just ridiculous. I had a couple of double punctures and a couple rides where I got a flat, changed it, and 10 miles down the road got another flat.
Why me? Well… I learned two things…
1) How to change a tire really fast.
2) To always check my tires for thorns, or small shards of glass after every ride.
and
3) That if you got that many flats, you probably need new tires.
I know that’s three things… but well, it turns out, that last one was the most important one… now I regularly change my tires… I think that saves me from getting most flats.
But I am going to check out slime… it sounds like it might be worth using.
Worth checking out, but it also has two down-sides:
1. It only works on Schraeder-valved tubes (where the valve looks the same as on a car tyre)
2. It does add some weight
Both of which mean that it’s not for your race bike, but ideal for your training bike, which is probably the one that gets the higher mileage anyway.
Karl.
[...] crouched next to my bike releasing the brakes so that I could take the front wheel off to repair yesterday’s puncture (the Slime only slowed the leak enough to get me home - still needed fixing) when a gust actually [...]
Ahh… well, that’s out then… I only have one bike with Schraeder-valved tubes… and it is rarely ridden far enough to matter.