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Uncle Dick’s Bead Slip slides out of distributors, goes consumer direct at half the price

Written by Tyler Benedict
16 Comments
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Uncle Dick’s bead slip, which uses childish humor and a slippery wax base to help you get stubborn tires over the hump and seated on your rim, is going consumer direct. The benefit? Besides a nice conversation starter on your workbench, it means the price is cut in half.

The 3oz tin will now retail for $10.99, down from $20.99 MSRP when it had to go through a distribution channel to get to your local shop. Founder Rich Travis found that most of his customers where at the shop level anyway, using it to speed up tire setup to maximize efficiency in the service bays.

Their brush kits, which make application easier, will see a similar price drop. Check our review here and their website here.
Tyler Benedict
11,282 articles

Tyler Benedict is the Founder of Bikerumor.com, where he’s been writing about the latest bikes, components, and cycling technology for almost two decades. Prior to that, Tyler launched and built multiple sports nutrition brands and consumer goods companies, mostly as an excuse to travel and ride in new places.

Based in North Carolina, Tyler also loves the Vanlife & family adventure travel and is always on the lookout for the next shiny new part and off-grid adventure.

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16 Comments
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JTrain
JTrain
9 years ago

Yea, that title is pretty disgusting.

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Dick Durishin
Dick Durishin
9 years ago

I don’t get it. What’s the joke?

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Rixter
Rixter
9 years ago

Does that stuff work?

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Rico
Rico
9 years ago

Woah 50% less without distributor? How much does it cost without a shop? If u just order online? Shops near me are horrible. Seems like a dead business model.

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Richard Durishin
Richard Durishin
9 years ago

As a guy only called “Richard” by my mother when she is mad, or when I stalk the cube farm in Wilton, I don’t get the joke.

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Dr Boom
Dr Boom
9 years ago

I wonder if a can of auto paste wax would accomplish the same thing? And be a lot cheaper? Or some bee’s wax thinned with mineral oil to a nice paste?

Also wonder if it will become a problem if you try to run tubeless and it prevent the sealant from making a good seal once dry?

I like to support the small business owner if it’s a good product but I also like to tinker and make things so I’m not trying to shoot down the product.

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Alistair
Alistair
9 years ago

Im sorry you have bad experiences with local shops Rico, but they are far from a dying business model. Sorry guy :((((((

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EP
EP
9 years ago

Stick with coconut oil…

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Drew Diller
Drew Diller
9 years ago

I thought the title was funny… but I’m pretty childish.

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grog
grog
9 years ago

$10 is still not cheap enough to make me use something that will leave a residue, instead of soapy water, which works great, & bubbles where you need to swish sealant, providing a handy visual aid, & costs almost nothing, unless you live off paper plates.

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Andy
Andy
9 years ago

Dicks, beads, rims… If you don’t get it, consider yourself lucky 🙂

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anonymous
anonymous
9 years ago

Aren’t those brushes just a dozen-a-dollar acid brushes?

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David French
David French
9 years ago

@Rico… Also sorry you’ve had a bad time with shops around you. I’m not sure what it is you do for a living if you think that shops are a dead business model, but frankly we would ALL be better off if it was online shopping that was dead! As it is when people go for the lowest online price, you’re simply taking money from a hundreds who used to earn an OK living and putting it into the pockets of ten people earning $1million a year.

(Not quite the same with this as it’s gone direct and I doubt UD is making millions off this, but that’s the general point of online vs offline).

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Pistolero
Pistolero
9 years ago

bike shops is a dead business model, ovbiously and of course, at least for the premium, or specialized cyclist who want to save money…

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Nick
Nick
9 years ago

This stuff works great, but we don’t use nearly as much as in the photo there…at our shop.
Works wonders on hard-to-seat tires!

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Dewber
Dewber
9 years ago

Nick, I agree. Great product. Never used it on tubeless, but worked wonders on tight tire/rim combos.

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