Activities Sports & Athletics Slime Skabs Bicycle Tire Patch Review Share PINTEREST Email Print David Buffington / Getty Images Sports & Athletics Bicycling Maintenance Basics Gear Baseball Basketball Billiards Bodybuilding Bowling Boxing Car Racing Cheerleading Cricket Extreme Sports Football Golf Gymnastics Ice Hockey Martial Arts Professional Wrestling Skateboarding Skating Paintball Soccer Swimming & Diving Table Tennis Tennis Track & Field Volleyball Other Activities Learn More By David Fiedler David Fiedler is an experienced cyclist and author of "Ride Fit," a guide to cycling for fun and fitness. our editorial process David Fiedler Updated May 14, 2018 Slime Skabs are a pre-glued patch for your inner tube and can be used if you get a puncture while you're out on the road. While they are not one of the seven things that you need to carry with you on a ride, they're not a totally bad idea either. They are intended for quick and easy patch repair, with no need for rubber cement and the waiting time for the cement to set. The goal is to make your repair quick and easy so you can get back home. Description One-inch pre-glued patchesSix in a container suggested retail $2.49Simply peel off the backing and apply over the punctureCost suggested retail price of $2.49 for six 1-inch pre-glued patches. Pros Easy to useLightweightBetter than the patches in the Bell Deluxe Patch Kit (but not by much) Cons Not reliable for high-pressure tiresNot intended for long-term repairs. Review With a nifty little storage container and decent adhesive, you'll find that these Slime Skab patches will do the trick in a pinch, but don't count on them for a permanent repair like a traditional patch held on by rubber cement. They will likely get you home, but they won't hold much longer than that, probably not even overnight. Also, while they'll work okay for lower-pressure tires like on a mountain bike or cruiser, their holding ability will be challenged particularly when applied to high-pressure tubes like you find on a skinny-tire road bike. Another thing that we found was that when fresh, the glue on the Skabs worked reasonably well. However, over time the types of temperature extremes found in a typical garage, both hot and cold, can degrade the effectiveness of the glue. If you can keep these stored at a more constant temperature, you'll help yourself. The Bottom Line If you are choosing between carrying a full rubber-cement flat repair kit or the Slime Skabs on a ride, take the rubber cement and do the patch job once. Better yet, just carry a spare tube and a CO2 cartridge or a pump. However, if you just need something light and quick to simply get you back home again, the Slime Skab patches might be able to do the trick - but it was definitely hit-and-miss in our experience. But plan on replacing the patch with a permanent fix to repair the puncture for good before you plan to do any more riding, and be wary about the reliability of the Skabs on any tubes that require even relatively high air pressure for inflation, like a hybrid bike or road bike. My bottom-line assessment: skip the Skabs, and use traditional rubber cement patches for more certainty of success on your repair.