Originally Posted by phidauex
You 'replace only' people are crazy! I thought bicycling was supposed to be better for the environment somehow... At your rates, you'll dispose of a car tire worth of rubber in less time than it takes to wear out a car tire.
And if you don't trust patches... Its because you aren't doing it right! I've got 4 patches on one of my tubes that I've been using for SEVEN YEARS. And it still holds air!
Some people carry a spare tube on the road, and if they flat, they just swap in the spare tube, and then take the time back at home to patch the tube right, which after a good testing run, turns it into another 'spare tube' for the road. That way you don't have to sit by the road for long, but you still don't waste a perfectly good tube.
peace,
sam
let's see.. your riding produced four flats that became four patches in seven years...
so if your repairs were altered you would have four tubes in seven years.. how does this equal the disposal of a car tire?
i rarely get flats when using quality kevlar tires, maybe every couple months... when i use cheap tires i get them weekly, so if we are to compare the environmental impacts of one that patches with cheap tires then i would speculate the impact could be much more compared to one that replaces a tube with each puncture given the rubber cement manufaturing and foil tube waste etc. that is entailed in the patching.
but really isn't this a hypercritical point?
i certainly don't think anyone is "crazy" for patching or replacing.. but then i replace so maybe i am indeed "crazy"
