Got a bicycle ? You need slime ... ...

As I've mentioned in previous posts I use a bicycle to get about, I leaned to ride a bike when I was about 8 years old, it was christmas and had snowed a lot, and it was hell, but I learned to do it.

I've been riding a bike for most of my life (about 26 years, but not constantly obviously) and I have learned that carrying certain equipment is a must, I've lost count the amount of times I've been caught out by a puncture, or a cable breaking or something coming loose.

This is why I now carrying a variety of stuff with me, even if I'm only going to the shops, I have some tools, an adjustable spanner, and of course a pump and a puncture repair kit (which includes tire levers) and in the past I've also carried a tin of tire weld (link opens in new window) which is basically a foam type substance that you can squirt into your tires or inner tubes if you get a puncture, this is usually enough to get you home so you can make a more permanent repair.

But what about puncture prevention ? you can avoid riding over a broken bottle, and other things, but sometimes you pick up a thorn or other sharp object and there's nothing you can really do about it, you can't avoid everything.

That's where slime (link opens in new window) comes in, it's basically a green (at least the stuff I use) coloured goo that you fill your inner tubes with, it has some kind of fibres in it as well, and the idea is it will stop punctures and holes up to a couple of millimetres which means you won't (or shouldn't) get caught out by a surprise puncture.

I've been using it for a few months now on my bike, and it has already come in useful, for some reason the tire on the back wheel developed some cracks in it, and the inner tube came through a little, enough for it to make contact with the ground, this isn't ideal and the inner tube did suffer a little, but the slime held and I got home, fixed the puncture and fitted a new tire, with out it I would have had a long walk home with a rucksack full of shopping, not good.

So get yourself a tube or two of slime, it's great stuff, and it works. If you enjoy cycling with the kids it's probably going to come in quite handy as well, you can use it in the inner tubes of bicycle trailers as well, I intend to get some for my trailers wheels, it's easy to use, you basically undo the valve on the inner tube (the tube comes with a tool for removing the valve) and squirt it in, a tube should be enough for two inner tubes, the wheels on my bike are 26inches and a tube did both of them.

Thanks for reading.