Free Inner Tubes

slowbike

I've read yet another thread where peeps are throwing away inner tubes after a puncture.

Whilst what they do with their unwanted kit is totally up to them - I'm also aware of a number of posters on here whose finances are a little tighter ...

So - proposal - would those who throw away inner tubes please let themselves been known on this thread and those that would like "free" inner tubes can contact them and arrange mutually acceptable delivery/collection and give those unwanted tubes a bit of a longer life ...

As post may be an issue (not worth the cost of posting) if you could post a general area of where you are (postcode/city/town/whatever) there may be a rider in need close by and do a man2man handover ...


*this is a cycling community post*

sancho_uk

In reality this would never work though would it?

If you are a rider who throws your punctured inner tubes away and you are mid ride when this happens? You arent going to pack said inner tube away again are you to carry home to give to someone else?

You are going to dispose of it at the nearest bin?

Just my two penneth, it kind of equates to carrying what is deemed to be "rubbish" around by the rider.

Nice idea though.. Just dont think it works

rolf_f

sancho_uk wrote:

In reality this would never work though would it?

If you are a rider who throws your punctured inner tubes away and you are mid ride when this happens? You arent going to pack said inner tube away again are you to carry home to give to someone else?

You are going to dispose of it at the nearest bin?

Just my two penneth, it kind of equates to carrying what is deemed to be "rubbish" around by the rider.

Nice idea though.. Just dont think it works

Really. You were carrying the spare inner tube anyway and once back in the pocket, are you seriously saying you are constantly on the look out for a bin to put something in that you are used to carrying anyway? There's hardly likely to be a "nearest bin" unless you have terrible taste in routes!

It's a good idea. If people must waste their own money, it would be nice if they could do it in such a way that helps others.

Anonymous

Will happy give mine away. Not that I am particularly well off, but for the sake of a few quid and the fact I don't get many due to good tyre choice, I can't be bothered to fix. That said I'm sticking the Open Corsa CX's on at the weekend....

Maybe ask to make a sticky in Road Parts for sale?

MattyDeez

I chuck mine away.

Buy decent tyres and you will never have to change a tube in months.

I haven't. *touch wood*

I use continental GP4 Seasons. Expensive at £33 for one tyre though.

Flaka

The DT department at my school will take any old inner tubes as they use the material in some art projects. There must be many more ways to reuse them instead of bust binning them.

TakeTurns

No love for tub riders?

Nice idea, bit optimistic though. Those who're likely not to bother patching their own tubes are also not likely to bother with the hassle of sending it to someone. Or am I being too cynical :roll:

Wirral_paul

TakeTurns wrote:

No love for tub riders?

Nice idea, bit optimistic though. Those who're likely not to bother patching their own tubes are also not likely to bother with the hassle of sending it to someone. Or am I being too cynical :roll:

I think thats an honest assessment - its quicker to repair a tube than to package one up and post it. Nice idea..... but in reality............

Anonymous

Not at all. Happy to meet anyone who wants them. Anywhere within a 30 mile ride? Of you're lucky I'll puncture en route....

djm501

If a tube is 'compromised' upon puncturing surely that means you're just shite at patching them*


*depending upon the location and extent of damage of course.

slowbike

coriordan wrote:

Not at all. Happy to meet anyone who wants them. Anywhere within a 30 mile ride? Of you're lucky I'll puncture en route....

Excellent - nice one .

I'm not after ppl going above and beyond - but if you've got the inclination then passing on unwanted kit has got to be worth something to smile about.

wellbeloved747

If i donated a tube but the person that wanted it lived in London, it would cost approximately £1.50 to send when you can get a new one from planet x for £1.99. the only way to avoid this is if everyone did it but to be honest i don't think it will be catching on.

Anonymous

Just give them to your local cycling club or something. Either way. Better than the bin. Got the race tyres on this weekend. Keep our fingers x'd (for opposite reasons)

Cool4catz

I was running on Michelin Race tyres and nightmare for punctures. Last week got three punctures in 15 miles. One tube had three holes in it, bin. The other two re fixed and back in the saddle bag.
High on Bikes on eBay are doing Gatorskins for 21 quid. Got two, michelins chucked and no more tubes to fix or give away.
PS cut the valve off old tubes and use them to secure bike to car. Make good ties.

Anonymous

Right. Got a couple after some friends got unlucky in the New Forest last weekend.

Can meet in Parsons green just after 6pm weekday evenings. Pm or reply to dibs/arrange

Also happy to meet in the mornings in PG or in Richmond for some pre-work laps and sometimes after work.

CiB

Flaka wrote:

The DT department at my school will take any old inner tubes as they use the material in some art projects. There must be many more ways to reuse them instead of bust binning them.

Or give them to your local Scout group. Scouts love fires and an inner tube is enough fire-lighting material to keep em going for yonks. My Scout leader chum has eked his current tube out for three years and is only half way round it.

Find a Scout leader and present him with an old inner tube. Or give them to me. A proper patch is stronger than the original if it's done right. Long valves only though. Ta.

simon_masterson

CiB wrote:

Flaka wrote:

The DT department at my school will take any old inner tubes as they use the material in some art projects. There must be many more ways to reuse them instead of bust binning them.

Or give them to your local Scout group. Scouts love fires and an inner tube is enough fire-lighting material to keep em going for yonks. My Scout leader chum has eked his current tube out for three years and is only half way round it.

Find a Scout leader and present him with an old inner tube. Or give them to me. A proper patch is stronger than the original if it's done right. Long valves only though. Ta.

Indeed - old tube is good stuff for fire lighting, though having said that some of ours struggle with firefighters.

As for patching, it's a matter of ignorance on the one ('patches can't handle high pressure') and lack of responsibility/being a general lazy goodfornothing on the other. Throwing away inner tubes rather than repairing them is a ridiculous waste. If everyone were that much of a tosser (literally, but this matters), it would probably represent a pretty impressive increment of landfill waste. No. So many of our spiralling environmental problems could be reduced considerably if people weren't so pathetically lazy and selfish.

This idea is a good one, though. Green Oil have proposed to do it on a production line and sell the tubes on for cheap.

Anonymous

Well as a lazy good for nothing tosser I am giving my bust ones away as I am too pathetically selfish to be arsed to fix them.

drlodge

I use Conti Race Supersonic tubes, and at about £10 each I'm not throwinig them away easily! I patch punctures at home, but I dare say that once a tube has a few patches it will be used only as a spare, or eventually put in the bin.

Twin pinch flats are a bugger since to fix these, 2 patches are required and they overlap, defeating the ultra thin design of the supersonic tube.

team47b

I patch once then usually replace as they are usually quite old by the time I get a second pun*ture.

But then I cut them up and use them as:
• washers
• elastic bands for grouping all kinds of things together in the shed
• piece glued onto metal garden gate to stop that annoying clang when it shuts
• strips to tie plants to stakes
• strips stuck inside car vinyl roof to prevent wear from the frame
• wrap bike rack (doesn't everyone have these bolted to the front of their house?) like bar tape (hmmm idea!) to protect wheels

etc etc

brucey72

^^^^
Ingenious use of an inner tube there

wellbeloved747

team47b wrote:

I patch once then usually replace as they are usually quite old by the time I get a second pun*ture.

But then I cut them up and use them as:
• washers
• elastic bands for grouping all kinds of things together in the shed
• piece glued onto metal garden gate to stop that annoying clang when it shuts
• strips to tie plants to stakes
• strips stuck inside car vinyl roof to prevent wear from the frame
• wrap bike rack (doesn't everyone have these bolted to the front of their house?) like bar tape (hmmm idea!) to protect wheels

etc etc

The words of a very experienced cyclist!!!!!!!!!!!

andy_wrx

I stopped for a slash in a country lane last week and found some litterdropping individual had chucked an inner tube in the hedge.
Thinking that this really wouldn't give cyclists a good name, I shoved it in my back pocket intending to bin it.
Back home, I shoved the pump on it, thinking that out of interest I'd see just how punctured it was, expecting a big slice out of it or nasty snakebite, as someone had just junked it.
Nope - the easiest, simplest, tiniest little hole.
Someone's clearly got more money than sense, as well as not giving a stuff about the countryside.
The tube is now fixed and in my saddlebag...

Headhuunter

I patch my tubes. If anyone in London has any I'd gladly take them, I work off Berkeley Sq and live in Brockley... Let me know if you've got any kicking around, ideally with long valves