Many of you were big fans of our old sealant and the stories we’ve heard about how well it worked was awesome. However this past summer a supply issue caused a massive decrease in its lifespan. At the same time, we were working a latex free version, using a synthetic latex. And this is what happened…
Every sealant has a fluid component and some sort of fill to plug the holes. While working on a new version of our own sealant, we discovered that our “fill” mixed with either Orange Seal or Muc-Off worked like no other. We discovered this when we accidentally poured Orange Seal Endurance into a bottle that already had some of our MTB fill in it. Rather than waste it, we tested it.
We tested it against our own sealant, against both versions of Orange Seal, and plenty of other sealants. Then we started mixing our fill with other sealants and after 8 months of tests, and a ton of sacrificed tires, we decided to shelve our own sealant.
We liked offering our own sealant, especially knowing how well it worked. But we would rather provide the best products possible, even if that means telling you that someone else’s is better. We couldn’t beat the longevity of Muc-Off, and when we combined it with our fill it outperformed every sealant. Orange Seal also slightly edged out our own sealant once we added our fill.
So, we named our fill Highland Dust (some of you will get that joke) and now offer that as a stand alone product. If you need sealant, we also offer Muc-Off and Orange Seal Endurance premixed with Highland Dust. Those two performed the best in our testing.
Personally, I reach for Muc-Off. It lasts longer than anything we’ve ever tested. It’s easy to clean with soap and water and it smells delicious too. Both sealants can be injected through the valve too. With the higher viscosity compared to our old MTB sealant, the fill stays in suspension longer and passes through the valve easier. This is a plus for those who don’t want to pop the bead to refresh.
If you are set in your ways and dedicated to a specific brand, we did test Stan’s and CaffeLatex as well.
For Stan’s we felt it basically turned it into an improved Stan’s Race. However it did shorten its life span by about 2 weeks, as it accelerated the formation of Stanimals. Stan’s always forms Stanimals, so when that does happen, you can just remove it and refresh your sealant. When you combine Highland Dust with Stan’s, it still costs less than Stan’s Race, but works better than the Race version, and lasts about the same duration.
CaffeLatex definitely worked better with Highland Dust, but lifespan was reduced to about 4 weeks. They sell their own additive, called Vitamin CL, that decreases lifespan as well. If you’re looking for race day or special event protection and already use CaffeLatex, the Highland Dust did outperform their own Vitamin CL additive. CaffeLatex cleans up pretty easy too.
Once we get a refresh on tires, we’ll add some more brands to the testing.