As much as I've raved about the combination of Slime inner tubes and Schwalbe Marathon tyres over the years, for a great anti-puncture combo. I'm sorry to say that, due to a horrible experience today, I will no longer be using Slime inner tubes. Instead I'll be sticking with a normal tube and the Schwalbe tyres.
Basically, every now and then, I'll pop a bit more air in the tyres to keep them at my usual inflation pressure. Go to inflate the rear tyre this morning and the pump struggled to get any air at all into the tube. Thinking the valve pin might be a bit clogged, I pushed it in and out dozens of times. Funny thing was, no air was coming out when I pushed it in.
No amount of fiddling about with it was getting air either in or out. Cue, the next 5 minutes trying to pull the valve out to release the air and replace the inner tube. It was horribly stuck in there.
When I did finally get it out, I was confronted with this:
Still no air was coming out, so another few minutes spent gouging a hole through the Slime gunk that had solidified beneath where the valve seats.
So, no more Slime tubes for me, just plain old normal ones. I'll take the risk of having slightly less puncture protection, over the hassle of replacing the tube.
If this had happened out on the trails, then I would not have had the tools to successfully remove that tube.
Just hope my rather drawn out story, will help members in the future, decide on whether Slime tubes are for them.
Basically, every now and then, I'll pop a bit more air in the tyres to keep them at my usual inflation pressure. Go to inflate the rear tyre this morning and the pump struggled to get any air at all into the tube. Thinking the valve pin might be a bit clogged, I pushed it in and out dozens of times. Funny thing was, no air was coming out when I pushed it in.
No amount of fiddling about with it was getting air either in or out. Cue, the next 5 minutes trying to pull the valve out to release the air and replace the inner tube. It was horribly stuck in there.
When I did finally get it out, I was confronted with this:
Still no air was coming out, so another few minutes spent gouging a hole through the Slime gunk that had solidified beneath where the valve seats.
So, no more Slime tubes for me, just plain old normal ones. I'll take the risk of having slightly less puncture protection, over the hassle of replacing the tube.
If this had happened out on the trails, then I would not have had the tools to successfully remove that tube.
Just hope my rather drawn out story, will help members in the future, decide on whether Slime tubes are for them.
