That Slime/OKO/Gloop is good stuff, and doesn't damage the wheels.

I first used some back in the late 70's on me old Escort MKI GT1300. it had a nail in the tyre. I took the valve core out, filled with OKO (as it was then) and refitted the valve. I spun the wheel - took the nail out & pumped it up. SIMPLES. Lasted until I sold the car a few months later (a few 1000 miles).

I'd use it in my tyres if I was off on a trip - use to do all me bikes, but can't be arsed now. Its also claimed to help balance the wheels too?

So IMHO - 9/10 good stuff !

I hope I'm not next in line. My rear dropped from normal ripio pressure (about 20) to near zero very abruptly the other day, just as it started to rain. I pumped it up to 35, rode for a while, checked it again: still 35. I finished out my day, forgot to check it because my clutch cable snapped in the hotel parking lot (in the rain). Checked again in the morning after changing my clutch cable: 5 lbs down. Pumped it up. Rode for two more days without losing a single molecule of air.

I'd like to assume it's the valve core, since not only can I check for leakage easily but I'm carrying some spares. What I don't want is to ride the next umpteen thousand miles subject to this little nagging voice which says, "Don't forget that your tire could go flat at any moment, hurling you under that truck you're passing." I like concrete answers, not mysteries.

Mark

(from Villa Gesell Argentina, where all the college students have kindly vanished until next summer)

Slime works well until you get something stuck in the tyre. I had a flat in France about 2005-ish. It was my first overnight trip with the Bonneville and pillion so I'd stripped the toolkit down to the minimum. The Slime sealed each hole until the nail found the seam in the tube. Then it made a V-cut which was too big. I was was lucky it was France, centre of town on a weekday, a scooter place had us moving again in an hour. The last bike puncture I had fixed in the UK took three days :thumbdown:. Needless to say I now carry levers, tubes and a G-clamp. The sidestand trick works well BTW.

The best prevention for punctures IMHO is a proper mudguard. Add a cut out section of oil bottle or conveyor rubber to extend your "fashion" mudguards and the front wheel will cease setting the rear up for punctures. Keeps crud off the exhaust and engine too.

Andy

You will of had a puncture. The trick is to really over inflate the tube (until it's like a tractor tyre lol). At low pressures, you cant always find the hole and bubbles. Over inflating the tube then squeezing it as you hold in under water will show you the tiny bubbles. If a hole is that small, the properties of the butyl will close it up until you put it under the strain and pressure of the bikes weight.

Another common mistake is not holding it under water long enough to really look properly.

Ted, if the weight of the bike causes a pinhole leak to open up, why would I not lose any air at all in two days riding, then wake up this morning to find a perfectly flat tire?

I guess I´m in for some detective work after all. Sigh.

Mark

(Just a day´s ride from the famous Javier of Dakar Motors, Buenos Aires)

Hmmmm ! I cant answer that one.

Ask Javier for a new tube and be done with it..

Make sure you tell him Ted says hi and say that I promised you a discount ;)

I wish I was sitting back in Dakar motos right now. Listening to the parilla crackle with a cold beer in my hand ! ahhhhhhhhhhhhh happy days !

I recently went through this in Mexico a few weeks ago. Took my front tire apart 7 times in one day, along with two trips to the vulcanizadora, only to roll into my final destination with a flat tire, go figure. Add to that i was using a super heavy duty tube. These things are near impossible to work with! Never again, my knuckles are still scarred! Roadside repairs can be tough, especially trying to find the bloody leak in the first place. Even inflating a tube on the roadside to twice it's size is only a fraction of the PSI it will receive inside the tire, but it does give the hole an opportunity to open up. A patch that i applied around a month ago finally failed on me while entering Mexico City last week, right across from a vulcanizadora. I should of bought a lottery ticket. Mark, go buy new tubes and put your mind at ease. Some mysteries are not worth solving IMHO.

@dave
yeah I tried but tyre is pretty big so had problems, plus im a skinny lad so all i did was bounce of whe I jumped on the tire. looking at the machine the bloke used i would be inclined to use a spade next time, so even though i didnt repair the puncture for myslef which would have been useful, i know what to try next time, plus i can get my back tire off easy.

If the wheel rim is dented (even slightly) it can cause a slow puncture, on cast wheels with tubless tyres.

I was less than 20 miles from Dakar Motors when my tire (which held air perfectly for 200+ miles of riding) went flat at a gasolinera. I pumped it up. It was flat within minutes. I pumped it up, but suddenly my little pump couldn't keep up with the air leaking out. I took off the wheel and took it to a tire place, since that seemed easier than doing it myself by the roadside. By the time I got it back on the bike and messed around with unrelated stuff it was long since dark. I got lost. Found a hotel, which was full. Gathered from various people that the next nearest hotel was likely a llllooooonnnnngggg way away. Got lost again. Rode various toll roads in the dark until I started to develop the suspicion I was headed back the way I came. Found a hotel, after following faulty (but very specific) instructions from three or four different people. Finally flagged down a pizza delivery guy, who gave flawless directions to a quaint little four star place. It costs a mint, but I've got a place to sleep and from which to resume my journey to Dakar Motors tomorrow.

Motto of the story? Well, there must be many. For one, I no longer give a shit about solving any mysteries. There was a half cm gash in my tube, of unknown origin. Who cares why it leaked only occasionally for a solid week, then gave out completely? Wny am I carrying a spare tube if I'm too lazy to use it even on bright, sunny, warm afternoons?

Something about penny wise and pound foolish. I'm for bed.

Mark

(from somewhere within a half-hour's blind wandering in the dark from Dakar Motors, Buenos Aires)

I had a tyre that displayed similar symptoms.It would hold air for weeks and then it would deflate slowly for a few times,then remain inflated followed by a spate of deflation .
It was caused by an extremely small pebble,stuck in the inside of the tyre .Sometimes the tube would seal ,sometimes not .
I suspect that it depended on the position of the wheel when the vehicle was parked.

My old Trumpet has a DR650 rear end (which I fitted) and the tyre was old & hard - so I decided to replace it! After a good hour or more in the garage I gave up and got my tyre fitter mate to do it for me. I'd use a large vice, a chissel & lump hammer and a lot of f**k, sh*t & b****s!
He has a mobile tyre business & arrived in his van.
It took him a good 10 mins - and he had to keep running his on-board compressor to eventually get the tyre free from the rim!
He said it was one of the most stubbon he had come against - and the tyre date code said it was 1989 !!!! So may well have been on for 20yrs! The tyre bead had welded itself to the alloy rim....

Id of just cut the tyre off by then :)