Punctured tubes; repair or bin

[yello]

Do you bother repairing tubes? Do you even think about it?

Scenario: you've punctured. You're at home. The tube hasn't been repaired before and is relatively new. You have a stock of new tubes. You also have the means to repair the puncture. What's it to be; the glue or the bin?

Why do I ask? Well, I'm kind of debating why I bother repairing. I punctured a few days back for the first time in ages; one tube of glue was useless (hard as), some of the patches were looking distinctly ropey. A new tube is a couple of quid (say €3 here). Is it even worth the bother??

Just interested in how many people don't bother repairing, not even giving it a thought.

 

[Domestique]

Repair, even though some tubes just want to fight you all the way, they get a patch stuck on in the end

 

[fossyant]

Repair - bin on the third puncture - if old - just bin

 

[Smokin Joe]

Bin.

Five for a tenner post free from bicycle rubber means I can't be arsed with patches and glue.

 

[Baggy]

Ours get stored up until we run out of new tubes and then there's a frenzy of repairing. I quite enjoy patching tubes.

 

[Scoosh]

What - and waste good rubber ? Too miserly to throw away. I sort of enjoy repairing them too.

Old inner tubes also make good shock absorbers (eg through a mooring line to make springs for mooring a boat), the X-sections are good for non-slip round handlebars etc, and they make excellent firelighters, apparently.

 

[4F]

Repair twice, bin third time

 

[Danny]

Repair twice, bin third time

Why do you and fossyant have an arbitrary limit of two patches? I think I've had up to six patches on some of my inner tubes.

 

[Soltydog]

I'm sure the best for the environment is to repair

 

[4F]

Why do you and fossyant have an arbitrary limit of two patches? I think I've had up to six patches on some of my inner tubes.

Down to the cheapness in the price of tubes. I carry 2 on the bike and have a spare one both at home and at work and really cannot be bothered on any more than 2 repairs per tube.

 

[Milo]

Aelways repair im to much of a tight ass to ride with a spare tube.
Sort of regretted that when I got a puncture a couple of weeks back at midnight on a tree laden cotswold road.

 

[yello]

I've always ridden with a spare. Not for me is the road side repair (though I do carry a kit, probably not much good as it's probably past its best). I have always repaired tubes at home though.

I bought a couple of new ones from Decathlon a few days back and it just struck me that they're cheap enough so why bother repairing. I figured some people must just bin punctured tubes... not as many as I might have thought though.

 

[John the Monkey]

I always patch mine (although I bung a spare in at the side of the road, and repair at home). Tubes that are past repairing get new lives as rubber bands to keep spare batteries together in my tool pouch etc etc.

 

[John the Monkey]

BTW, 1,000 uses for old inner tubes.

 

[yello]

1,000 uses for old inner tubes[/URL].

I like that! Especially the 'ugly your bike' ideas!

Why do you have an arbitrary limit of two patches?

I can see the sense in it. It's just a line in the sand decision point. I look at tubes sometimes and try and decide whether a puncture is the result of a generally weakening tube or just a puncture. That's daft; obsessive, taking things too far and maybe not worth the effort. Just bin it!