Ride On tire protection system

Yep, after 3 tries in search, I found nothing. Is this really magic in a bottle?

It works.

Absolutely not. Used it twice, disappointed both times.

The ride on forms a strip towards the center of the tread.

My problem the first time was it doesn't help with punctures outside that zone.

The second time I got a slow flat from a puncture in the Ride On zone. But it gets worse. On this roadtrip, the plugs I had in my repair kit were old and stiff. The first one I installed popped out while I was riding, leading to an abrupt deflation. Wait, wut? I have ride on in that tire, and I get an abrupt deflation? What good is the Ride On? For flat prevention it seemed utterly useless to me. When I replaced that tire I checked and the puncture was in the ride-on zone.

I can't comment one way or another on its ability to balance the tire.

I don't blame Ride On for the plug coming out. The primary cause of that seemed to be I that left the tails on. A friend had suggested to not trim them and just let them wear away. It was the first and last time I tried that. I think cornering forces on the tails pulled it out. The plug I installed to replace it (also old and stiff) lasted the life of the tire. I liked the idea of not getting tar on my knife while I'm on a roadtrip, but I even more like the idea of tire plugs remaining in the tire.

As stated above, Ride On's website claims it can only protect the tire from punctures near the center of the tread. Further, they claim that it "will eliminate 85-95% of flats in a tubeless tire (from objects up to 1/4"), and "55-65% in tube type tires (from objects up to 1/8")". I do not know if these claims are true or substantiated by research. It costs $14 per bottle and one bottle is enough to do one smaller tire. Even if it works as claimed, i would hardly call this product "magic".

I have it in 4 of my bikes front and rear.

I put it in my Drifter tires for a ride to Alaska three years ago hoping it would at least slow down a puncture as my biggest riding fear is a front tire blowout on a crowded highway at speed.
I was impressed that it does seem to balance the tries since the bike has heavy steel rims with spokes, heavy fat tires, and even at 85 mph there is no evidence of any imbalance.
After getting home I ordered more bottles to use in my other bikes, removed the balance weights, and installed it.
I have not had a puncture in any of my bikes since putting in Ride-On but I don't expect any miracles either.
It might help in certain situations, it might not, but it is worth it to me.
All my bikes have tube tires, btw.

I dunno. But they have a damn good website and I'm heading out on an 8000 plus mile road trip in a day and a half, including the Trans Labrador Highway and who knows where else. I just put Ride On in both tires so we'll see...

Works well to balance the tire. Never tested the puncture aspect of it.

It's possible that if it works for punctures, you may have tested it without knowing.

Agreed, and neither have I tested the puncture aspect of it. But I have no regrets squeezing it into my front and rear tubes on my Tiger just for the balancing benefit I could feel. For anyone reading this; if you have tube tires you have to use more than what is recommended for the tubeless tires. The chart they show is for tubeless tires. I forget how much more as that was almost 6,000 miles ago, but it says it somewhere on the bottle or on the paper that comes with the bottle. I think it was something like 30% or 50% more. IDR

My earlier reply was when I was headed out for a plane flight to Iceland. I've a bit more time now.

I've never used Ride-On, only Slime. In principle, it seems they are similar so some conclusions can be drawn from what I've found with Slime. Especially since the Ride-On is supposed to be better.

Yes, the product only works in the tread section of the tire. You can't do a repair on a sidewall, even with a plug. Nor can you repair a sliced tire with Ride-On or Slime...or anything else.

My first experience with Slime was when I had a screw go into the rear tire. I asked on a forum whether it was okay to try a repair, and what kind of repair to try. The "experts" said they wouldn't even try to ride to the dealership to have the tire replaced. It was totally unsafe. A few others said to just repair it with a plug and ride. I should've listened to them.

I tried the plug, and it didn't seem to be working 100%, so I put in some Slime and ordered a new tire. I think by the time the tire came in, the Slime had actually worked, but I went ahead and changed the tire.

A couple thousand miles later, and I find a cotter pin going in sideways into the tire. I pulled out the cotter pin in hopes it hadn't gone in all the way. No such luck. I think of my wife and how she doesn't like me riding and what she'll say about another new tire...and I reach for the bottle of Slime. It worked like a champ.

I had a string of punctures on that tire, and the Slime repaired all of them. One was a large diameter nail. On that one, I pulled the nail out and as the air started rapidly exiting the tire, I decided to help the Slime and rotated it so the puncture was at 6 o'clock. A couple tablespoons of green liquid came out and the leak stopped.

Same bike, different tire. I put the Slime in before the puncture. I was going down the freeway when my rear tire had a sudden loss of air pressure. When I stopped, I could see the imprint of the roofing nail that went in and right back out of the tire. The Slime didn't work then, and only sprayed itself out through the hole.

A couple thoughts...
...first, the Slime (or Ride-On) works best in a semi-controlled situation. If you can do like I did and pull the nail out in the garage and then rotate the tire so the Slime can run into the hole and fill it, great.
---second, the Slime (or Ride-On) is facing an uphill battle if the tire is rotating when the nail is pulled out. It's physics. The Slime is fighting not only the air trying to escape, but the centrifugal force as well.

I carry a Slime Spair with me on any trip outside the local area. It has a pretty decent air compressor and bottle of Slime in it. You can buy it at even a place like your hardware store. I finally exchanged my Slime bottle though for a Ride-On bottle simply because my current bike has TPMS and I needed the Slime/Ride-On to be TPMS compliant.

Chris

Re: Ride-On Tire Balancer and sealant.

I swear by it, use in in both my bikes.

I like it for the Balancing effect, and truly believe it allows me to get about 25% more wear out of each tire as a result of the balancing effect, that ebbs and flows with tire wear immediately as wear happens. Result? Less vibration, less wear. It also seems to hold air in the tires better than without, so you have less time under inflated.

Haven't had a flat tire in over 15 years, so maybe it works. Can't say I ever found a nail or screw either, so who knows.

I DO know that it balances the tires continuously, so the bike rides super, super smooth at high speeds, very noticeable change when compared to conventional weights.

Love it, and wouldn't ride a bike without it.

I have found though, that detractors and nay-sayers more often than not didn't follow the installation instructions, or are using it on the wrong type of tires. It only works on tall, thin motorcycle tires, not car tires, not large fat, wide tires. Tall and thin is what it is designed for. The amount you put into the tire is also very important. Make sure it is at least what the Ride-On chart says per tire, or more if the weights removed totaled more than that.

FWIW - "Slime" is totally different from Ride-On, it's like comparing apples to cucumbers. Totally different technology and concept. I referred to this earlier when saying some folks don't know enough about it, and it fails for them. It's definitely not in the same category as "slime' or like products.

I don't use Ride-on or Slime but another sealant brand called Quad Boss. It is for ATVs. Much thicker than slime. Where I ride in the desert there are lots of stickers, thorns and things sharp enough to puncture the sole of you shoe. With this stuff finished 100 mile ride with a drywall screw in my tire. After the ride I removed the screw and the tire tube re-sealed with no loss in pressure. It also helps balance the tire. When I replace the tire and tube it was a little messy, but cleaned up with just water. I wouldn't get very far without something in the tires.

Tried Ride-On in tubed tires. Would never balance and made the front end shake bad at 70 that I removed both tubes and replaced them. Eventually went to mag wheels w/o tubes and carry plug kit and mini compressor.
On another note the guy who changes my tires said he would not work on wheels that had any of that stuff in them.

I've used Slime in bicycle inner tubes, and it worked well enough. Good for thorns and slivers of glass. But I didn't think it adequate for the nails and screws we face on a motorcycle. Good to know Quad Boss handled that for you. Is it suitable for street use too?

A negative effect of Slime was that if it didn't seal the puncture, it made the tube hard to patch.

Ride-On is nothing like Slime other than what it does. Slime is garbage. But even Ride-On has it's limits. But for well balanced motorcycle tires it's very hard to beat if it even can be beat. We use it in both our road vehicles, my Indian and wife's Spyder. Had to get the car formula for the Spyder but works the same. Being almost puncture proof is just a side benefit. But I did get a quarter inch size hole from something that the stuff just couldn't plug. It slowed the rapid release of air so I was able to get to the side of the road speeding along at 75mph without getting a tank slapper. That's partly due to the Indians TPMS that suddenly put up a warning. I saw it at 14lbs and by the time I could get stopped it was down to zero. But I did limp the bike to a safer place down the road another 12 miles. Tire was completely shot by that time and the Ride-On was nothing but powder by that point. New tire and more Ride-On and I'm still going. I'll not ride without it. But never ever use Slime. It might be okay for bicycles but that's it.

The Slime brand is not worth my money. Even their brand of tire gauges have failed on me. I tried the Dyna Beads for balancing, but had too much trouble with the beads jamming the valve stem core and deflating the tire when adjusting pressure.

I went to a presentation by a Dunlop Tire representative and of course he advised against any tire sealants. But I think anything to slow down or prevent a flat is worth considering.

In Moab I got a goat head thorn in my mountain bike. The slime brand stuff couldn't plug a pin sized hole. So it was hand pump ride like hell for a few hundred yard and repeat to get out the last couple miles of the trail.

Quad Boss is recommended for ATVs and claim to be able to plug a 1/2 inch hole (I never believe marketing claims). I assume ATVs are tubeless tires. I have use QB in a DRZ doing 80 mph on the highway with no problems. I have ridden for months with QB and a mesquite torn in my tire. We have actually transferred the Quad Boss from one tube to another when replacing a pinch flat tube on the WRT. Just connect the tubes with the filler hose and squeeze.

Sealants are messy when you reuse the tire. I generally consider a tube is disposable and always carry spares. Sealants can be a problem if you intend to patch. Most of the sealants are in a water soluble base like antifreeze so clean up isn't too bad but soap would be needed.

I have not used QB on my street bike. I have no reason not to other than fewer thorns and stickers on pavement.

Weird hearing all the negative comments against Slime. I carry it with me on my dual-sport. I ride in some pretty crappy areas and seem to get more than my share of flats. I add the Slime after the fact and in every instance at a minimum, it has gotten me at least back to the truck or to the house.

I use Ride-On in my tubeless street bike tires. But ironically, I rarely get flats on the street.

Before I tried Ride-On I searched online to read reviews by riders who had actual, personal experience with one or more of the tire sealants because I wanted the best.
Most interesting were the comments by those who had personally used more than one brand so they had experience with at least two types.

Ride-On was the winner, not by a small margin but by a landslide.
And the number of riders who had tried Slime, been disappointed and tried Ride-On and have been sold on it were the deciding factor.
As others have said, Ride-On is in no way the same as Slime.
(I know nothing about Quad Boss)

I have a wheel truing stand and used to balance my wheels so I was a bit concerned about the ability of Ride-On to balance wheels but it has worked perfectly for my 4 bikes.
You can balance the wheel when using Ride-On, you just balance the wheel BEFORE adding the Ride-On.

It would be very interesting to examine a wheel that it couldn't balance.
Correct amount installed?
Tire mounted correctly?
Tire out of round from the factory?
Wheel out of true?
Rim and tire heavy spots aligned making a massive out of balance condition?
And probably more possible reasons it won't self balance.

There is no perfect answer and one product will not work the same for everyone.

FWIW...

Here's their Site: http://www.ride-on.com/tire-balancer.html

One thing to note: Consider "Ride On" as a tire balancing system, with the added benefit of reducing the effects of a puncture.

Note as well that the balancing effect works best if your tires and rims are well built, in excellent condition, not damaged, and true from a axial aspect (side-to-side), you can tell by looking at your current wheel weights. If the weights are positioned on the outer rim directly across from each other - you have a well trued rim, and can use the Ride On Balancing Gel.

Inspect your wheels before considering using Ride-On Balancer. If the weights are NOT directly across from each other, your rim is out of true axially, and needs to be repaired. This is why some find the Ride-On product defective. It's not the product, your rims need repair and trueing.

Ride On does a tremendous job in balancing the tires and rims radially. If the rims are in good condition it works wonders, if the rims are bent or off axially, it won't help, get the rims fixed or replaced.

And, as others have Mentioned, how much you put in is very important. READ the instructions carefully. I found that if you check how much the weights you removed weigh in total, and install that amount PLUS the Ride On suggested amount, it works wonders. Also note that it takes about 10-15 miles for the gel inside the tire to conform properly the first time, so be patient. Ride at about 40 MPH until you start to feel the bike smoothing out, then once the ride is glass smooth, go as fast as you want!!!

Cheers!

Ditto.

The website has a calculator (and a PDF; see p. 6) that displays the necessary dosage amounts for tubeless and tubed tires. The latter requires what Ride-On calls a "severe" dosage. For my own purposes, the difference was one ounce: 5 oz. for tubeless vs. 6 for tubed.

Use the calculator for precise application data.

I just used Ride-On when installing a new rear tire, colloquially known as a pusher, on the Ural. A road test at speed (which is a relative thing on that rig) proved that the sealant balanced the new tire & tube combo perfectly.