Muc-Off Inner Tube Sealant

Muc-Off has used some of the technology from its tubeless range to create the No Puncture Hassle Inner Tube Sealant, a sealant – as you can no doubt work out – for use solely with inner tubes. It doesn't seem to dry out and does a good job of fixing small holes, but the installation tube is too big for Presta valves.

If you aren't too fussed about converting to tubeless but want a bit of added puncture protection then Muc-Off's Inner Tube Sealant will be of interest.

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Even though I test loads of tubeless tyres, sealants and wheels on my own road bikes, I haven't bothered to make the change myself purely because I get very few punctures – maybe a couple every 10,000 miles – mainly down to the fact that I'm not bothered about running lower pressures for comfort.

During the winter, though, it's nice to have a bit of reassurance that you aren't going to find yourself on a wet, cold, dark country lane swapping over a tube.

As long as you have inner tubes with removable valve cores you can fill them up with this Muc-Off stuff.

However, if you are using Presta valves then that will be your first hurdle when it comes to installing it, as the bottle and kit are designed primarily for Schrader (car type) valves.

To start with, the bottle lid is a core remover but it only works on Schrader, so you'll need to have a Presta one in your tool kit or a small pair of pliers to unscrew the core.

Next, the tube that you use to fill the valve with sealant is too large in diameter for the Presta valve, which means the sealant can run down the outside.

There is a workaround though. That little nut that you screw over the valve right up to the rim... well, if you unscrew that towards the bottom of the valve, you can butt the tube up against that and you will spill very little. Not ideal, but it's doable.

Muc-Off has a video showing how to add the sealant, here. 

The water-soluble nature of the Inner Tube sealant requires more to be added to the tube than you would Muc-Off's tubeless sealant – about 90ml for a 700C tyre rather than 40ish, which obviously adds a bit of weight.

Once installed it is claimed to last the life of the inner tube, and after six weeks in some very high temperatures, as far as I can tell it is still sloshing around in the tube.

Performance-wise, Muc-Off says that it can seal up to 4mm holes and I'd say it is not far off that. I initially started testing things by piercing one tube with a drawing pin, and then making a small incision with a Stanley knife to a couple of millimetres in length, the kind of thing you'd get from a piece of flint.

> Puncture prevention 101: 11 tips on how to avoid flats

It dealt with both of these without much pressure loss and the tube has since remained sealed.

Making a bigger hole saw the sealant take a little longer to plug the gap but it achieved it, although the pressure dropped from 90psi down to 50psi. That's still high enough to let you get home without stopping and give it a top up at home or fix/replace the tube.

At £9.99 for 300ml, which will do three tyres roughly, it's about the same price as Muc-Off's tubeless offering and a much cheaper solution than the inflator cans from the likes of Zefal with its Repair Spray (£5.99).

It's slightly cheaper than Slime's Tube Sealant too, which has the same rrp of £9.99 but for just 236ml (8oz).

Overall, the ability of Muc-Off Inner Tube Sealant to seal the typical sizes of punctures you get on the road is impressive, giving you many of the benefits of tubeless without the cost of getting everything set up.

Verdict

Impressive sealing capabilities and long lasting, but a bit more Presta-specific compatibility would be nice