Editor
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posted December 08, 2006 03:03 PM
 Edited By: Editor on 8 Dec 2006 15:19
Tire Patch Kit Showdown!
 We've traveled about 25,000 flatless miles this season. Normally this would be a really good thing but the lack of holes in our tires made it pretty hard for us to put two very different tire patch kits to the test. This week we lost patience and headed down to Burnaby Kawasaki where, with the help of some sharp objects, a drill and some knives we spent the afternoon turning a 190 rear into Bikeland pincushion to find out what works and what doesn't.
PLEASE CLICK HERE AND DOWNLOAD THIS ARTICLE IN PDF FORMAT (RECOMMENDED)
*** CONTENT, PHOTOS AND EXTRAS ARE EMBEDDED IN PDF ***
We compared two kits: The first is the new PowerSport Smart Spair patch and inflator kit from the tire repair guys at "Slime". The Slime kit comes with an extremely compact high-pressure 12 V pump and a single shot of a new type of Slime, specifically designed for Sportbikes. (It has little black chunky things floating around in it).
The second kit is from "Stop & Go"; a small family run company with a cool product. The Stop & Go kit incorporates a very cool glueless mushroom type plug that you insert into your punctured tire using a special (for the lack of better description) oversized machined syringe. It doesn't need any glue or vulcanizing compound, and it provides a quick and painless repair. To inflate the tire you're provided with a handful of C02 cartridges. The upswing of this is that the whole system is compact, very compact. The downsides are that with 9/11 rules in place, you can't ship those little C02 cartridges via air, and once you've used the cartridges, they're gone.
Slime isn't "new", but it's damn cool. It can adhere to all sorts of bizarre shaped punctures, slashes and gashes, and if you have a tube tire you might be able to fix it without taking it off the rim. The downside of the Slime is that it's Slime. Lots of shops don't like Slime because it can make a real mess of the inside of your tire and wheel, and sportbike riders worry about the potential change in performance from increased unsprung weight and other balancing issues. Some shops wont patch a tire that's been Slimed, and not all patches will adhere to a surface that's been slimed.
What is new is the super cool, teeny little 300 psi 12V pump Slime is selling.....
Fun with sharp objects...
The tire lay defenseless, on its side. The poor thing had been neglected by some squid... run right down to its chords... Was this a good way for it to end its life? It didn't have much choice in the matter as we approached it and then plunged the awl into its carcass, dealing it a deadly blow.
As the air leaked out, we grabbed the Stop & Go kit and went to work.
Using the reaming tool provided, we cleaned out the puncture, preparing it for the plug.
PLEASE CLICK HERE AND DOWNLOAD THIS ARTICLE IN PDF FORMAT (RECOMMENDED)
*** CONTENT, PHOTOS AND EXTRAS ARE EMBEDDED IN PDF ***
Next we took the plug and loaded it into the Stop & Go gadget.
Then we took the needle tool and used it to insert the syringe sleeve type gadget into the hole.
Attach the Stop & Go gadget to the syringe sleeve thingy and you're good to go...
The rest is a piece of cake. Insert the plug, remove the tool and seat the plug using a pair of pliers.
Cut off the excess and you're left with a plugged tire.
Inflating the tire using the CO2 cartridges was a little more difficult. The venturi effect from the escaping CO2 gas super cools the cartridge, and its kinda freaky. We inflated a completely empty 190 rear, and the 4 cartridges only netted us 18 PSI.
We tried several plugs in different areas of tread. All were easy to install, and all worked flawlessly. The only issue arose when I failed to pull the plug out far enough to seat it against the carcass. If you make this mistake, the trimmed plug will disappear into the puncture, falling inside the tire.
The "High Speed" Slime is pretty cool and comes in a single shot bottle good for one sportbike tire. It doesn't say this on the bottle or anywhere in the documentation. In fact the bottle says that you need to check their website at Slime.com for sportbike tire Slime requirements (not much good if you're on the road...) Regardless we determined that the bottle was good for exactly one tire, so we started in on our specimen. Already wearing 3 plugs from Stop & Go, we went at it with a screw gun, making two small screw holes side by each.
The cap on the Slime bottle has an ingenious valve core-removing tool built into it.
Carefully removing the core, we pumped the tire full of Slime.
After reinstalling the valve core, there isn't much more to do other than hook up the uber-small pump and let it fill up.
The pump connects directly to your bike's battery with alligator clips, or can plug into a standard electric vest type socket. It had no problem inflating the 190 tire in a reasonable amount of time, although it was a little loud.
The tire needs to be spun around (ridden) to distribute the Slime around the inside of the carcass, and to force the Slime into any punctures. We bounced the tire up and down and sloshed the Slime around. Very quickly the leak stopped.
What fun is Slime if you can't play with it? We pull out a knife, and recreated what might happen to your ride if you left it parked at the local Qwiky Mart overnight if you weren't in the best part of town. Imagine coming back to your bike only to find it had been shivved... something like this?
No problem.. The Slime filled it in...
So we had at it again... a few more slashes... The poor tire was left looking like it had been in a jailhouse brawl, but it still held air.
Very cool indeed.. and very hard to argue against. Now that I've seen it with my own eyes I'd be hard pressed to argue the "unsprung weight" thing against it. I mean, come on... we knifed the tire three times and it still held air.
Remember, none of these methods provides a permanent repair, and the instructions with the Stop & Go kit say that a more permanent plug from your local bike shop should replace their plug.
Here's the deal. Depending on the type of trip you're taking and the potential road hazards you face, we'd recommend owning both systems. It made sense for us to carry the Slime compressor, the tube of Slime and the entire Stop & Go kit (minus the cartridges). This way we knew we were covered regardless of the type of flat we might encounter.
I'd personally leave the Slime out of my tire and opt for the easy to use Stop & Go plug to tackle a small conventional puncture (nail hole, screw etc), but I'd use the Slime compressor to inflate the tire. (I have to add that Stop & Go makes a compressor, but it isn't nearly as small and cool as the Slime unit)
For everyday use and around town I'd opt for the Stop & Go kit, minus the CO2, and instead invest in a miniature high-quality, high-pressure bicycle pump.
If I was on a long trip, or in the middle of nowhere and had a long distance to travel, I might instead opt for using the Slime to patch a flat, especially if the puncture was an odd shape (as this is where Slime excels). Either way I'd use the Slime as a last resort (that's just me)
There really is no clear answer. Which tire patch kit to get? You really need both of these products, and I know that's not the answer anyone wants to hear, but it's simply a case of apples and oranges. Both kits excel in certain areas. Carry them both and you're covered.
The Stop & Go kit is available directly from stopngo.com, and will set you back $31.95 .
Slime's PowerSport Smart Spair kit costs $39.99 and you can find out more about it at slime.com.
PLEASE CLICK HERE AND DOWNLOAD THIS ARTICLE IN PDF FORMAT (RECOMMENDED)
*** CONTENT, PHOTOS AND EXTRAS ARE EMBEDDED IN PDF ***
Source: Bikeland.org
   
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ZX11D
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posted December 08, 2006 03:34 PM
Excellent info here Mr. Editor 
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fish_antlers
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posted December 08, 2006 03:52 PM
Edited By: fish_antlers on 8 Dec 2006 15:54
BTW important to download the PDF... full 'o pix important to the story...
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osti33
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posted December 08, 2006 04:04 PM
Good product review. Thanks Bikeland. 
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INTIMIDA2OR
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posted December 08, 2006 06:29 PM
Cool!
I love the 'lil' slime pump , i gots ta get one 
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'06 Passion Red ZX-14
*Lee*
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Tool man
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posted December 08, 2006 07:11 PM
I have seen Slime fill a hole you could put you fist through. It was a Atv tire and we "sewed" the hole shut with some safety wire (crudely) and let the slime do the rest. I would not have bet 2cents that it would work. But my Hillbilly Redneck Boys from Illinios were right.. It got us back without destroying a rim. :d
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fish_antlers
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posted December 08, 2006 08:44 PM
definetly cool stuff... wouldnt believe it if I hadnt seen it wit mine own eyezzzz!
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What business is it of yours where I'm from, Friendo?
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INTIMIDA2OR
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posted December 08, 2006 11:23 PM
Edited By: INTIMIDA2OR on 8 Dec 2006 23:25
Yah Slime has my vote for a highly effective tire sealant 
On one of our spur of the moment over and back day trip runs that lead us to Reno's "Hot August Nights show" and back to Socal in a Day had slime in the rear tire of my dads bike due to a tiny leak seconds before the run .
Slime never let the tire leak i pound of air.
DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME BOYS AND GIRLS!
We then decided to take it a step further and run it 'till it's tire change time.... if it makes it !
The tire was near new when Slime went in and It started blowing slime out the pinhole when the tread was nearing the cords and whenever speeds over 90mph were achieved more slime would not resolve the air loss but slower speeds still kept the slime in!
So seems if the tire tread is almost bald the tire is too weak for slime to do it's job for high speeds?
Crazy.
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'06 Passion Red ZX-14
*Lee*
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Stalwart
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posted December 09, 2006 01:04 PM
WOW, awesome review and sensible recommendations, thanks Fish!
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Stuart
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HiMile14
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posted December 25, 2006 04:34 PM
This is a great review. I use the stop and go plug kit and this is an excellent product.
I wanted to mention that the mushroom plugs are perishable
For the record: One plug went over 10,000 miles on a rear tire, without losing 1 lb of air.
Finally: after using these plugs (some 15 times or so) I've learned some secrets to plugging quickly.
After you punch through the tire (leaving the head of the syringe thingy in the tire) when attaching the pump/gun with the loaded mushroom, snug the gun to syringe then back off one rev. The mushroom likes to have some space between gun and syringe, or so it seemed to me.
Rob
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MasterBlaster
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posted December 26, 2006 06:52 AM
Ive used the shroom plugs many times with great success. Even wore out a few tires with the plugs in place. A good alternative for air is a small Cambel Hausfield 12 volt pump Walmart carries for about 10 bux. To make it very small you can remove the plastic housing. Slime has a bad rep for corroding aluminum wheels, dont know if the new stuff addresses this, but should be considered if you leave it in long term. Nothing like being able to make an emergency repair when you are in the boontoolies, in the rain, out of cell range, and during a holiday weekend when all the shops are closed. Isnt this when its bound to happen......TB
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