I guess the question is whether they're good enough. Good enough to finish the ride. Faster than patching with the wheel still on?
They would DEFINITELY be faster than removing the wheel to change the tube.
Yeah, but flats that are so severe you can't patch the tube with the wheel still on have been very rare for me. With the advent of Flatout, they are a grand total of one time over the last 2 1/2 years... I can say that cuz I have only had one flat in that span and it was a complete blowout. Still, removing the front hub motor'd wheel was just two bolts on the axle, two more on the torque arms and unplug the motor. Off it comes. The real saga was cleaning all the goo off of everything so I could try to patch it (turned out I didn't have a spare tube on the bike, which is because I am an idiot).
Awhile before that, I took this pic while I was doing a patch job on one of my hub motor'd wheels. Note the tire and tube are still on the bike. As an aside, this tube got to 7 patches before #8 was on a seam and I finally had to put in a new one.
Its not about doing a tough job so much as it is reconciling yourself to doing it, and getting on with it.
Its been a very rare thing for me to have to completely remove a wheel because I couldn't patch a tube. Its actually pretty easy to find the spot where the air is leaking out. In addition to the usual look-for-the-nail stuff, you can (preferably without witnesses) run the tube in front of your (ahem... closed) mouth. Yes really. Your lips are vastly more sensitive than regular skin and you will feel air coming out of a tube even coupled with a light outdoor breeze.
Can FlatOut be used through Presta valves?
Yes it can, no problem. I use Presta on all of my tubes and of course my tubeless wheels, and even the tubeless use Flatout as a sealant, always put in thru the valve.
Yes, 26x4. That’s FlatOut’s recommended amount. 16oz
It’s pretty thick stuff so I can see why it could need more volume than the thinner alternatives.
If you are really up $hit creek, you'll be happy you have 16 oz in. I have had 6 holes in a tire from a line of nailgun nails still on their strip that took three tire refills (riding a block in between each refill) before Flatout finally sealed the tire permanently (years later I still run on the same tubeless Snowshoe XL). Another time I almost blew out a tire beyond redemption. Never did see what holed it, but there was a ton of sealant on the bike and that took a few air refills to limp home. Remember Flatout is meant to seal holes up to 1/2" wide and a whole lot of goo can blow out that big of a hole before it seals up.
Like ozzie21, I also gave Flatout a call and spoke to possibly the same head guy (he was their product manager for their bicycle products) and they had just completed working with Backcou, who did their first bicycle tests. The confirmed the 16 oz to me on the tires, and for say a 29x2.5 I was quoted 12 oz. Scale down from there depending on your tire size. They had never tried it as a tubeless sealant and we discussed what I planned to do and I passed along how it went after the fact to them.
The valve is not removable
Oh yes it is
There is a hack for presta valves with non-removable cores which you can google ... but forget that, because nowadays only the cheapest tubes have Presta valves with non-removable cores. You just unscrew them with a little tool and poof you have an open hole that Flatout or any other sealant goes right in thru. All of my tubes from small and skinny to big and fat have them. Here's a pic that shows the component parts.
