Disposing of old bike tubes and tires.

[cpope 10]

Is there a good place to get rid of old tubes and tires? Over the years I've amassed a large collection of tubes with holes, along with a bunch of tires that ranged from gently used to bald, including some with sidewall holes. Yellow Bike was able to take the gently used tires, but they didn't need any tubes, and their recycler is no longer taking any rubber, so I still have all the tubes and most of the tires. From what I can tell I'm not supposed to throw them in the CoA recycling bin, so do y'all know of anywhere else that might take these off my hands?

[Big_papa_nuts 87]

Take the tubes to REI. They send them to Alchemy to make bag out of.

[Barry 1,010]

Based on what I've seen, you should just leave your used tubes in the trees along the trail.

[TheX 1,675]

2 hours ago, Barry said:

Based on what I've seen, you should just leave your used tubes in the trees along the trail.

Next to the poop bags?

[Barry 1,010]

Right. You can make a poop bag slingshot.

Edited November 12, 2020 by Barry
Always fun fixing last night's drunken typos.

[cpope 10]

19 hours ago, Big_papa_nuts said:

Take the tubes to REI. They send them to Alchemy to make bag out of.

Great, thanks for the tip. I'll give REI a ring and hopefully they can take all of them (~50) off of my hands.

19 hours ago, Barry said:

Based on what I've seen, you should just leave your used tubes in the trees along the trail.

17 hours ago, TheX said:

Next to the poop bags?

Some of the tubes I'm trying to get rid of have been plucked from trees, but the only thing I've done with the bags o' poo is curse them.

[AntonioGG 1,496]

Are none of these tubes patchable? I only don't patch when they are getting dried out or if it's a big slash.  I just recently bought 100 patches and 5 tubes of glue.  I patch and keep some in my car and have also given them away on my street.  I've been doing this since someone gave me their last spare tube on Parmer Rd.

[cpope 10]

Many of them are patchable, but I'm running tubeless now, so I don't really have the need for them. Plus, they're all 26" tubes. I figured Yellow Bike could easily patch them and give them out as spares, but they already had what they needed.

Also, I just got off the phone with REI and they were willing to take all the tubes (and the tires too), but they currently can't take them because the recycling company has temporarily stopped  picking up the rubber. 

These things have been in my garage for a while now, so a little while longer won't hurt. In the meantime I can start making them into slingshots.

[Chongo Loco 161]

Are none of these tubes patchable? I only don't patch when they are getting dried out or if it's a big slash.  I just recently bought 100 patches and 5 tubes of glue.  I patch and keep some in my car and have also given them away on my street.  I've been doing this since someone gave me their last spare tube on Parmer Rd.

Takes me back to my broke ass college student roadie /commuter days. I had tubes with a dozen patches. Used to buy the bulk patches from performance and 2 tubes at a time.

An old mtb friend got me started picking up the tree tubes to patch and give out on the trail so you don’t have to give up your spare. Don’t really see many these days.


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[taco_junkie 288]

I had a few tubes I would never use after switching to tubeless and away from 26". I thought to myself what would Pringles, a laid back company, do? So I cut them up. Now I have endless rubber bands! Some thin some fat. This time of year they mostly keep my helmet light on but they also keep the tools and CO2 shots in my pack together without rattling around. I've used them to shim bells and stuff like GPS mounts from sliding around. Now I keep a few in my pack as an emergency prophylactic just in case.

But 2 tubes makes like a lifetime of bands. That's cool that REI takes them back. Maybe I will try that next time I go up north.

[Chongo Loco 161]

Same. Had same 2 or 3 different sized ones in garage for years. Chainstay protector, CO2 holders, bike light bar mount shims, around multi tool so it doesn’t poke tube in roadie seat bag. Endless uses but only need 1 or 2.


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[AntonioGG 1,496]

Yep, I have one 26" tube I cut as needed for rubberbands to hold patched tubes.  I use a Dremel tool with a drum sander to make that part super easy (gets rid of the pesky seams/ridges), listening to tunes, maybe with a beer in hand and patch 5-10 at a time.

[Dr.Meltdown 6]

There used to be a post on Craigslist from a guy asking for old tubes. I think he said he recycled them or something... I can't find it right now. Probably expired.
Sorry, I just realized my post offers nothing. But I've already gone this far so I might as well click submit.

[cpope 10]

Although REI is currently not taking the tubes, it looks like I can send tubes directly to Alchemy if I want to pay the postage.

https://www.alchemygoods.com/pages/tube-upcycling

Postage for that many tubes is beyond my pain threshold, so I'll hold onto them for now. In the meantime I've got plenty of new ideas for reusing what I have.

[TheX 1,675]

I cut them into 6-8" long pieces, andd keep them in a bin. I've been tubeless for quite a while and I don't think I'll run out of them for a long time. They do come in handy from time to time.

[AntonioGG 1,496]

I kind of have the urge to make a wallet for some reason:

https://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/g20033774/diy-cycling-gear/

[TheX 1,675]

6 minutes ago, AntonioGG said:

I kind of have the urge to make a wallet for some reason:

https://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/g20033774/diy-cycling-gear/

Wow, never thought about using them as tinder to start fires!

[AntonioGG 1,496]

30 minutes ago, TheX said:

Wow, never thought about using them as tinder to start fires!

Yeah, might stink for a bit but it's a cool idea to keep your tinder dry!

[olddbrider 308]

On 11/14/2020 at 2:56 PM, AntonioGG said:

I kind of have the urge to make a wallet for some reason:

https://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/g20033774/diy-cycling-gear/

Someone actually got me a wallet made from recycled tubes years ago. I thought it was super nifty until I actually tried to use it. Cash works fine, but the friction between plastic and rubber made it basically unusable for credit cards.

[AntonioGG 1,496]

22 minutes ago, olddbrider said:

Someone actually got me a wallet made from recycled tubes years ago. I thought it was super nifty until I actually tried to use it. Cash works fine, but the friction between plastic and rubber made it basically unusable for credit cards.

Yeah I'm thinking credit card slots need a cloth liner.

[olddbrider 308]

2 minutes ago, AntonioGG said:

Yeah I'm thinking credit card slots need a cloth liner.

Ooohhh, fancy!

[taco_junkie 288]

I don't know anything about rubber wallets but I use Tyvek or rip stop nylon when lining card slots on my leather wallets. Less bulk and hopefully wouldn't gum up as much down the road with something absorbent like a cotton fabric.

For example all 6 of these card slots are lined w/ nylon:

 

[AntonioGG 1,496]

That looks really nice!  Do you use a speedy stitcher?  I think I see one in the background.

[Tree Magnet 843]

2 hours ago, taco_junkie said:

I don't know anything about rubber wallets but I use Tyvek or rip stop nylon when lining card slots on my leather wallets. Less bulk and hopefully wouldn't gum up as much down the road with something absorbent like a cotton fabric.

For example all 6 of these card slots are lined w/ nylon:

 

That's awesome!  I could use something like this for my phone to hold my ID, one credit card, and my health insurance card.  Everything I need for a good (or not so good if the health insurance card is needed) day on the bike.  Th e one I have now works but it's not nearly as cool looking.

[taco_junkie 288]

2 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

Do you use a speedy stitcher?

No I use a double needle saddle stitch with, in this case, 3mm diamond chisels and orange Ritza tiger thread in 0.6. I was doing a Halloween theme with some thinner veg tan I dyed black for the back.

In the background there's a scratch awl and it looks like my edge beveler. Once I punch the holes and cement the parts I can stitch and watch TV so I kind of like that method.

44 minutes ago, Tree Magnet said:

I could use something like this for my phone to hold my ID, one credit card, and my health insurance card.

I make a small card wallet just for that purpose. Like this one. Same setup as above. I made these 2 as a set for my dad's birthday, the day before Halloween, witch explains the theme.