MILWAUKEE, WI (BRAIN) — Uncle Dick's Bead Slip is a lubricant that helps install tight clincher and tubeless tires. It helps get tire beads onto the rim and helps tubeless beads to pop into place to create a seal and allow the tire to run true.
The product was developed by Rich Travis, who designed the Hayes Stroker brake family and worked on Manitou products before giving up his industry job to get back to the simple life, managing a service department at a bike shop.
After seeing the difficulty that mechanics had mounting some tire/rim combinations, Travis brought in some bead slip from an auto tire shop, and his mechanics couldn’t stop raving about the stuff.
Word got around to other bike shops and pretty soon Travis was supplying other shops with the stuff and decided to get serious and develop packaging that worked for bike shops. He is now developing other service tools under the Uncle Dick’s brand.
A 2.7-ounce tin of Uncle Dick’s Bead Slip sells for $20, enough to mount 20 to 30 tires depending on how thick you lay it on. If you just swab difficult spots it will go much further.
For more information on Bead Slip and other Uncle Dick’s products: www.uncledicksbikeshop.com.
