"Ride On" Tire Sealant

[Scratch33]

Who here has used it?  Thinking of getting some for my WeeStrom's tires before my Alaska trip.

http://www.ride-on.com/

[sprint_st]

Who here has used it?  Thinking of getting some for my WeeStrom's tires before my Alaska trip.

http://www.ride-on.com/

I used it on my last bike, and maybe it was OK.  I really didn't do any scientific testing.  It's supposed to decrease tire temperature, help with balance and increase tire mileage besides the puncture sealant.  I do know my last set of tires was getting better wear but I sold it before they actually wore out.  You do have to inspect the tire and pull out any nails then check the seal.  Inspecting the tire should be something you do anyway.  Also, whoever replaces your tires will convert your name to a four letter word if you don't inform them that it's in there, and then they might not want to change them.  If you change them yourself, you can just blow it out with a hose.

[FastCat]

When I get tire-changes at the shop with any sort of "fix-a-flat" or "tire snot" types of products in them, I *do* charge the customer for the extra time that it takes to clean all the stuff out of the wheel and off the machine and off of my tools.  These products can also cause your schraeder valve to fail/leak and I have never seen a tire with a puncture that was "fixed" by any of these products.

I must admit that I'm not sure whether or not I have ever gotten my hands on a set of tires with this specific "Ride On" stuff in them or not, so I cannot say good nor bad about it - but generally-speaking I am not a fan of any of these types of products.

I personally just keep a plug-kit and a CO2 inflator (mine is home-made and uses a large paintball CO2 bottle - not those little cartridges that require 7 or 10 of them to inflate one tire) aboard my bike.

[Andrew]

Well I must admit that the "ride on" sound good. BUT I for one , having been someone who has changed a lot of tires in the auto and truck business, will only put air in my tires or NO2 if available. The idea of adding any kind of sealant to the inside of a tire brings back bad memories of being the poor bastard that had to remove the tire from the rim after some fool put "fixa flat" in it

[nwconk]

...snip...The idea of adding any kind of sealant to the inside of a tire brings back bad memories of being the poor bastard that had to remove the tire from the rim after some fool put "fixa flat" in it

I change my own tires, for the most part, and have used ride on.  It is water soluble and I just rinse out the tires and wheel, no big deal.  The fix a flat and slime I have no idea about those.

--chris

[MarcS]

I have used Ride-On with 3 sets of tires. It does a better job balancing the tires than weights (I used it to get rid of a high-speed vibration) and tire life seems good. My current front tire (Michelin Anakees on a BMW 12GS, 9k miles, the original tires on said GS) is cupping a bit -- I don't know if this is related to the Ride-On or not. No plugged valves. Haven't picked any road debris up yet, so I don't know how good a job it'll do plugging a hole, but so far there have not been any ill effects (20k miles or so, and it improves ride smoothness enough to make it worth the $.

Clean up is not hard. It does wash right off with water, and I imagine you could break the bead with a C-clamp and flood the tire+rim in a bathtub (or outdoors) at home and do a fine job before you take it to the shop.