5 Things To Do With Your Spare Inner Tubes

23 Jun 5 Things To Do With Your Spare Inner Tubes

If you’re like me, you’ve gone through several dozens of bicycle inner tubes. I have them in all shapes and sizes with irreparable defects. Whether they have multiple patches or the failed valve stem, I have them sitting in a box awaiting a new life. Instead of trashing them and contributing to the landfill mess, I have found 5 ways to repurpose them for use on a bike tour.

1. Elastic Tie-Downs

One of the best uses of old inner tubes is to tie down your stuff on your racks. What you’ll need are a couple of plastic buckles and 1 inner tube. Thread the inner tube through the buckles and adjust per your need. Voila! You have a great tie down strap for a really cheap price of the buckles.

I have made 2 myself and use them extensively. Of course, you don’t need to have the buckles and just simply tie them in a knot. I actually like the buckles. It adds a really great touch to the straps, almost as if you had bought them from a store. Many people have complimented me on my straps.

2. Shims

Have you ever bought light or equipment mounts for your handlebar that were a tad too big? The really good gear will give you shims to make up for this issue, but when you are dealing with the not so great ones, you’re going to need to find your own solution. This is where inner tubes are great for. You simply add as much as you need to give you the thickness that you desire.

I had a set of rear lights that needed to mount in the rear of my Xtracycle FreeRadical in the past and this was how I got it to work. It worked like a charm and helped my light stay on without any fuss.

3. Rubber Ties

When you cut thin pieces of inner tubes, you get the equivalent of cheap rubber bands. You can use these rubber ties in various ways. It can provide a non-slip surface for your equipment, like lighters or GPS devices. It can help secure batteries on devices that have damaged battery doors. You can use it to keep lighting systems strapped to your handlebars.

My favorite use is to help indicate whether your batteries are fresh or not. Very useful when you are trying to figure out which batteries to charge with what. One strap means it’s good to go, 2 straps for when we need to recharge.

Photo Credit: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-keep-your-bike-seat-from-getting-stolen/

4. Seat / Lock

Do you have a nice seat and is always afraid of it being stolen? What you do is take an old bicycle chain. Clean it real well so there are no traces of grease anywhere. Make sure the chain is long enough to loop against your bike frame and under your seat guides. The chain should be straight so that you can slip it in an old inner tube. Cut the tube to the approximate size of the length of the chain. Loop the chain around the seat guide and your bike frame, attach the chain using your chain tool. A robust seat lock!

If you have large inner tubes, you can make our own bike lock by buying square reinforced chain from a hardware store. Slip that in the large inner tube and buy a nice padlock. There you have it, a cheap lock for your bicycles.

Photo Credit: http://www.instructables.com/id/10-of-1000-Uses-for-Old-Bicycle-Tubes/step11/Bike-Armour/

5. Tube Protection

Inner tubes make fantastic abrasion and weather protection for parts like your headset, suspension, seat posts, or chain guards. You either slip them on over the desired bike part while you disassemble and call it a day or you can cut it so that you can wrap and strap with zip ties on places like the chain stays.

I actually use one to cover my S&S couplers. This should help protect it from the elements like rain and moisture and keep it from being ruined. It will be the first time using something like this on my trans-European bike tour. Let’s see how it holds up.

Final Thoughts

I get a kick out of reusing something like inner tubes for some reason. I’m not the only one as a lot of my bike friends also share the same joy in reusing something that was once useful. This is recycling at its best, to completely turn something that was deemed useless in one form and repurpose it for something else is so awesome.

Do you have any other uses for inner tubes you’d like to share? I would love to hear about it in the comments below.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.