Top positive review
135 people found this helpful
Work Well
By Dr. X on Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2022
I think these are good tubes, but overrated. The "no more flats" is certainly not true. But at the same time, they have worked well for me in about five thousand miles of riding. Here is my experience: They do get punctures the same way as regular tubes, but if you are moving along the puncture will partially seal. I also use very tough tires (Continental Gatorskin). You can see the green stuff ooze out at the site of the puncture before "sealing". On a recent occasion, my tire went completely flat at a very inconvenient location. I pumped it up instead of trying to replace the tube which I carry (not the slime type). I pumped and spun the tire as fast as possible; repeating several times. This got it up to maybe 60 psi which was good enough to ride back to my car some 30 miles away. When I got there, the tire was still rigid enough to continue riding on. But at home after a few days, the tire was down fairly low, although not completely flat. I replaced it at home, which is a lot easier than doing it on the road, especially since I find it difficult to take the tire off the rim due to arthritis in one of my hands. Another problem I encountered is that the green goo clogs the valve making it hard to inflate the tire when it is low. I take care of pressure before leaving home. I found that if you let out some air the green goo is flushed out of the valve. Then you can re-inflate the tire more easily. I would not recommend risking inflating the tire after you have arrived at your starting destination. Let me say a little more about the flat tire problems on road bikes. I found that the aforementioned Gatorskin tires take care of most of the puncture problems. They resist all the big stuff like small nails and glass shards. What gets through them is fine wiry debris that is left from shards of shredded steel belted tires that are on the road side. In almost all my flats, that's what I found. These wires get through the kevlar and cannot be seen or removed from the outside. Hence requiring a removal of the tube before the tire can be cleared and restored. No tube will seal itself permanently in this situation. So, if you use the puncture resistant tires, these tubes will essentially get you home, but you still have to replace them. For me, that is worth it, so I am giving it 5 stars. I know riders who change tubes out in 5 minutes - for them it is not worth it because these tubes are heavy and expensive. Addendum: After I wrote the review, I had another flat with these tubes. The tire went completely flat after about 50 miles of riding. It was pumped up at the start to 80 psi. I was not far from the end, so I pumped it up and it held for the next 1/2 hr of riding. It still had good pressure, but the next day it was flat. Upon examining the tube at home, there was a small hole in it. It did not seal, or whatever the mechanics was, it is not able to seal to give you more rides as long as the cause is not fixed. Then you can patch it up as you would any other tube, but I just throw the punctured ones out because they can never be relied on. I am still using these, because they are better than normal tubes for my circumstances and needs.
Top critical review
171 people found this helpful
Defective & It Gets Worse???
By LarryAmazon on Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2023
UPDATED FRI JUL 14TH, 2023 Why am I wasting my time updating this review? Because of the principle and to help others. They say the most generous thing you can do is to help someone you don't know without expecting anything in return. Initially, Amazon replied to my initial return "Please contact the seller." Amazon gave the link to contact Slime and I sent them an email. Slime never replied in any way? Like I said before, maybe; they are too busy handling all their problems with a defective "lot" of tubes, or they sell so many tubes that they are happy with their revenue stream so screw the defective negative reviews true or false, or they simply DO NOT care? I'm speculating and I really do not know. What I do know is that they will not make things right and they ignore me. YOU WOULD "THINK" THAT SLIME WOULD CONTACT THE PERSON THAT HAS THE "TOP CRITICAL REVIEW" on the world's largest site??? Apparently not! You can't fix stupid! At some point Amazon decided to simply refund my money. So thanks to Amazon. NOW FOR THE REAL REASON I'M WRITING THIS UPDATE. Not too many manufacturer's sell tubes with sealant in them. If you have a removable valve core you can add your own sealant. This can be troublesome if you do not know how to do it. This can be troublesome if you DO know how to do it and you have Presta Valves. I keep spare tubes in my shop at all times. Recently I purchased here on Amazon a 2-pack of Continental tubes for $18.35 ($9.18 each) and two cheapo Goodyear tubes for $5.96 each. These are regular tubes with NO sealant in them. I installed the least expensive Goodyear tubes, front and back, on my mountain bike. I did not think they would last but a ride or two before a Goat Thorn ruined my day. I carried a more expensive Continental as a back up. I rode the exact same trail systems I rode with the Bell Slime Tubes installed and had multiple holes, both on the outside seam and INSIDE seam. I had to patch my tires more than ten times with multiple tubes (read below). With the NO sealant least expensive Goodyear tubes, I have logged just over 500 miles riding the same trail systems I rode with the Bell Slime tubes, have had ZERO flats, ZERO tubes split on the inside seam, running the same tire pressure??? I do have to inflate the tires 2 or 3 PSI a week which is expected. CONCLUSION I never would have guessed running regular tubes without any sealant through some nasty off-road stuff would yield me no flats and much less aggravation. That is what is working for myself at this time. Your results may vary! Remember, if you are gonna be stupid, you better be tough! And for us mountain bikers, the end of the road is only the beginning! Have fun and be safe! -Larry UPDATED SUN JUN 18th, 2023 Well, just when you think things couldn't get worse!?!?!? FIRST, AND IMPORTANT, I began the process of returning the last two tubes, that developed holes on the inside seam, to Amazon. I received a message to work directly with Slime so I did. That was about a week ago and I have not heard anything back from Slime. Maybe they are just too busy handling all the other complaints that were already in line ahead of me? So far I will give their customer service a "0" (Zero). Back to the story. So I am preparing my back-pack to go for a long ride. I always carry an extra "new" tube with me on long rides. I found a "new" slime tube in my gear bag that I forgot I had. I'm a die hard mountain biker/racer and I'm a risk taker (within reason). So, I install the "new" Slime Tube in my front tire and place the "new", but slightly used, Continental Tire (No Slime in it) in my back pack. I air up my front tire to 30 PSI. get everything ready to go and about an hour later I'm rolling my bike out the back deck and BOOM!!!!!! Flat Tire??? I did not get 30 feet before the "inside seam" of the tire got a six inch split in it. I took the tire off to see what you see in the picture. I removed the "new" tube and you can see what I saw in the pictures. Did I pinch the tube installing it? Nope, I was able to install the new tire with my fingers without using a plastic tire tool. Did I over-pressure the tire? Nope, I aired both tires to 30 PSI. I checked the tires to make sure my pump gauge and hand held pressure gauge read 30 PSI and they did. No over-pressure. I plan to return this tube to Slime, assuming they will ever respond to me? Dis-appointed. Frustrated. -Larry ORIGINAL POST ..... I have purchased many of these tubes over time. In the past they worked as well as any other tube with the added advantage of slime protection already installed. It can be a pain to add slime to a regular tube and it is time consuming. First a note, I'm a licensed Engineer by profession, a certified bike mechanic and volunteer to repair bikes for children and elderly in poverty and homeless people via a local not for profit bike shop. I have raced mountain bikes and dirt bikes off and on for over 40 years. My son raced dirt bikes and mountain bikes for a number of years and God only knows how many flat tires I have repaired over that time period. The last three tubes I have purchased developed a hole, or holes, on the inside seam. The first tube developed a hole and I patched it. A few hours later I got another hole near the first, again on the inside seam. Then another the next day, again on the inside seam. So, I purchased another tube. I looked inside my rim and the rim strip and no problems. There was nothing inside my tire like a loose something that could puncture my tire. I first use my fingers and then will use a tissue and lightly rub it inside the tire and rim strip to see if anything sharp cuts the tissue. Nothing. I replaced the tube with a new Slime Tube. ONE (1) day and another hole, on the inside seam, but in a completely different location than the other tube? I patched that tube. ONE day later and another hole on the inside seam. I patched the above tube and moved it to the front tire and the tube in the front tire to the rear in an effort to eliminate a possible rim, or rim strip problem. The tube I moved to the front tire, and already patched from previous holes on the inside seam, developed another hole on the inside seam. I think I eliminated the possible rim or rim strip problem on the rear of the bike. I think we have a bad batch (? how many 100's or 1000's) of Slime tube seams? I replaced that bad tube with another brand tube that did not have slim in it. The tube was just a regular, name brand tube, with nothing but air in it. I placed this tube on the rear rim to make certain there is nothing wrong with the rear rim strip. About 50 miles over all kinds of obstacles, hard pack, grass, curbs, rocks, no flat. I think Slime has a quality control issue and there is a large lot of tubes that have defects on the inside seams. In 40 plus years I have never had a hole on the inside seam on one of my bikes. Time to move on to another brand tube, one I have used in the past and sold here rings a BELL and it has slime sealant in it as well. It costs $2 more but that is worth it to not be stranded somewhere in the middle of nowhere. -Larry
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