Several of 1000 Uses for Old Bicycle Tubes

Our throw away society has begun to irritate me. Therefore, I have become a COB (Cheap Old Bastard). I grew up in an era when you made do; you didn't throw it away or buy a new one, just because one bit broke. So, welcome to the Tommi Potx COB Recycling School.
I carry a bit of inner tube, paracord, duct tape, zap straps and a multitool whenever I venture into the wilds. I am almost invincible with these items.
With these, you are a repair god.

Step 1: Strap Retainers

I know this is a little OCD, but I hate it when my pack is all rigged up, and there are all these spare bits of strappage hanging around all over the place. This is especially true of more recent packs / load bearing vests. I use slices of bike inner tube about half inch wide, and wrap them around the offending strap after I roll it tightly to the pack. They are also handy for use elsewhere, as they are already on your pack.(Note paracord zipper pull in background)

Comments

[Mihsin]

One more: Treats leaks in water lines or irrigation pipes. lol

[jschap1]

I've been trying to figure out what to do with my old bicycle tube for months. Has anyone seen anything in-depth about bicycle-tube powered launchers?

[jack002]

The small maglite, I put some road bike inner tube on it so I can hold it in my teeth without feeling the metal and slipping. A 700x20 tube fits it perfectly.

[Yard Sale Dale]

I like to save sandwich bags to keep my batteries in. It keeps them from contacting things in my tool pouch, and keeps them dry. Just save sandwich bags that weren't too greasy, and rinse and dry them, can even put the rubber band on the outside of the bag after sealing them.

[gearhead1951]

The hillbilly creed " use it up , wear it out , make do or do without " !!

I was born and raised in the Great Smoky Mts of East Tennessee and I garuantee that when I am done with something , Its DONE !!

[Agentfern]

One of your keyboard keys went AWOL? Have you read "Unwind"?
Where does that term come from?

[rickharris]

Absent With Out Leave

[batonas]

I used old bicycle tubes to reduce my washing machine vibrations, works like a charm.

[I am in the shed!]

Another... I ride my (motor)bike all year round, some parts don't respond well to the wet/salt (our roads are gritted with rocksalt) so whenever possible I bind these with inner tube , good on upper fork tubes cut spirally/hellically to about40mm wide, and for other chrome stuff, good for cable ties too

[andrew_allen]

I have done similar to this on my bicycle computer, but used zip ties instead. Inner tubing is agree great to recycle, I have also use it along with what you have listed to keep my shed door open when it's windy and I'm getting my bike out, I'll just wedge it under the door and the door stays.

I have also wrapped some around my shower head to replace a broken washer and then keep it in place. (best thing about that one is that you have extra grip when you have wet hands)

And finally the price for handle bar wraps is ridiculous, instead I have wrapped inner tube around to give grip on the bar.

[jamievandegrift]

i did this as a machete grip a while ago it worked great

[zebutron]

I made a water proofish wallet out of old bike tube. Maybe not totally waterproof but no more sweaty soggy money.

[ken26101]

I used an old inner tube once to fix a leaking faucet. I was pulling my windo a/c out of the kitchen window for the winter and accidently dropped it down on our faucet causing it to crack just about where it came up from the base. i wrapped a section of the hose around the faucted and used a couple of metal screw clamps and never saw another drop of water leak out. Sadly, I have to admit that my faucet is still like that and its been that way for several years.

[jploss]

This is clearly an excellent idea -- but it gets even better!

Inner tube is an excellent tinder: you can start a fire with it literally 10 seconds after pulling it out of a puddle: shake, shred (increase surface area for ease of lighting) and spark!

To prepare a high-friction fire starting kit for all occasions, slide a Bic inside a length of tube, fold some excess tube over the top of the lighter and then lock it down with an innertube band (all this to waterproof the flint and striker).

Ain't it great when you find out a good idea is even better than you thought?

[SteampunkManiac]

Step 21. Phone Saver! Just check out my instructable by clicking here for more info

[Jan in France]

I like this idea. Its a standing joke in my house that my zippo spends more time on the floor than in my hands

[frogmeetcog]

Kudos to you, fellow COB. As my bicycle frame does not mate flush with my new fork, I put 1" sections of tube around the partially exposed headset bearings to seal them from dirt/mud/offal. When traveling with batteries, I stretch a thick piece of MTB tube around the ENDS to protect the poles from shorting on other metal stuff. My spare spokes are strapped to my frame with tube strips, as is the extra waterbottle cage. The uses while camping probably number at least 300 out of the 1000.... I have a loop of tube strip tied around my two seatstays, so I can buckle my helmet through there, and have it sitting snugly atop my saddle while the bike is on a busrack, rattle free. Oh yeah, when my cycling shoes got a hole in the toe, I sewed a square of tube on for a patch!

[hughscott5]

If you fill a one foot length of bike tube with sand it can be used as a weapon. It's sometimes called a "Concussion Maker". You can guess what happens to you if you get hit in the head with it. I used some left over string to sew the ends shut but I'm sure a knot on each end would do fine.

[kiwing]

made a draught stop for my brother's front door out of a length of bike tube filled with sand. knotted both ends and used the rest of the tube cut into rings to attach to a straightened wire coat hanger nailed across the bottom of the door. the ends can be rolled back to cover the knots and the end of the wire

[bdblock94]

wheres the sling shot?

[sonicx059]

manly.

[seanrdz]

i have fingers on my hands, will they act as a holder instead??

[sonicx059]

When your biking without any place to put your items what do you do? I like this for it allows you to create a hold that will help organization. Among other things.

[mysss]

 When you store batteries, you should always put like poles together, to minimize discharge between the poles of the batteries themselves. It's just a better practice, and I'm sure it has some effect, if not a huge one.

[mysss]

It's for storage of the inner tube pieces themselves for when you need them. 

[martynbiker]

BRILLIANT USAGE OF INNERTUBES Many of you seem to not realise what this Dude is About....... HE WANTS TO SAVE MONEY, re use, what he has, if everyone was the same this planet would be a whole lot less screwed up! I applaud this Guy!

[mr.space]

but if no-one threw anything away then it'd just build up on YOUR land

[Kactapuss]

 UM.... It would only build up on your land if YOU didn't throw anything away....right?  If nobody else threw anything away then how would it get to your land?

[Kryptonite]

He wasn't implying "don't through ANYTHING away", but "reuse, reduce, recycle." The Instructables robot will now hunt you down.

[stuartonintstructables]

is there somthing wrong with using a rubberband? it seems to me that in most of these situations, a rubberband may be a little bit easier...

[Kactapuss]

 There is nothing WRONG with a rubber band.  However there is something RIGHT about turning one garbage inner-tube into 200 rubberbands.

[geekdude]

bike innertubes are stronger than normal rubberbands.

[Jur]

Excellent Instructable!
I suffer from the same OCD about those loose straps on by backpack and have for a very long time tried to come up with a solution, and this is by far the best one yet. The carabiner anti-slide solution is also totally awesome. I've also used bicycle tubing to suspend my external hard drive under a table (_much_ less noise). From now on I will always carry some extra bicycle tubing wherever I go.
Great work!

[seanrdz]

erm. not being funny, but what's this supposed to do? is it just a disguise to fool people into thinking its an inner tube?

[Kryptonite]

I think it's intended as a holder, but, I don't know.

[videophreak90]

if it fits snugly in the tube, you could cut a ring into the end of it and put it on a spring clip. Then attach it to a D ring on a back pack or a belt loop on your pants so it's handy, instead of packed away.

[geekdude]

you can use them to hold the sole to some kangoo boots if one of the clips break. I cut about 10 little rubberbands out of an innertube and streached them over the botom shell into the slot where the clip went. if it werent for this instructable i wouldnt have came up with such an elegant solution.

[xsmurf]

I sure would like to see that instructables. Seen and have been told a couple of how to's, but none seem to match the real thing. I'm just too cheap to buy a pair, specially since it sorts of require another set of wheels for city commuting... after a few days they've cleared all of the snow and the studs become a disadvantage. Mind you I'm sure it would have been great to get to work the next morning after one of the half dozen foot+ falls. Anyway, why stop at -20°C? We haven't really seen any lower this year here, but I did for a ride on one of those days just to test it out... it's not that bad.... you just don't wanna stop too much ;)

[xenobiologista]

The irony is, sometimes when it's super cold it's safer to ride because the ice on the ground is rock hard - as opposed to when the temp's right around zero C and you keep slipping on the melty bits.

[xsmurf]

So by now I'm in my second winter riding... Funny you mentioned that, we just had some freezing rain, so little you could barely see it on the road. I think it's the most slippery thing I've ever seen. Saw three cars miss their stops and one rear end a parked car on my way. And then I wiped out trying to avoid a ped that decided to cross (with his kid) from between two parked cars. Then met up with 3 other experienced cyclists. Out of us 4 only one hadn't wiped out, but he also came close. This year however we've seen constant < -20°C for a about a week or two. It can be a little intense when coupled with 30kmh winds (that's ~-35*C with windchill, not include your own "wind"). But really I see as many cyclists on the road as the day it started to snow. How winter treating you?