Originally Posted by
catgita
I also don't buy the idea that shop installed tubes don't have problems. I am far from the first to complain of tires coming unseated, bumps and dips, and flats by the time I got home. How would you know if the tube was defective or not? Pretesting outside of a tire is no guarantee. All those I suspected of defects were pretested.
So on another note. Of the thousand bikes assembled by my shop last year I don't think we replaced any tubes. It is extremely rare for new bikes to come with "defective" tubes. These tubes are installed at the factory and I am certain they are not replaced if "defective" because the bike is in the box within a couple minutes time between the tires being put on and the bike being boxed. I have been through 4 different bicycle factories. It is pretty cool the way everything goes together.
The real percentage of defective tubes is very very low.