Uses for an unpatchable tire tube

When you encounter a flat on tires containing tubes, you have a few environmentally-friendly options depending on what tools you have brought with you:

• (fastest) If you have a spare tube with you, use it, but save the punctured tube for patching later.
• If you do not have a spare tube but have a patch kit (pre-glued patches are faster than regular patches with rubber cement), patch the tube on-site right away and re-inflate the tire.

Of course if you do not have any of those things, you can always call AAA/CAA if you are in North America and you are a member (which offers roadside assistance for bikes as part of your membership if you have one) OR walk to your local bike shop or department store that has the parts you need (ex: tube (or patch kit), pump (or CO2 cartridge and inflator), tire lever).

The point I am trying to make here, is to NOT throw away the old tube, and patch it later so that it becomes your spare tube. But what if the tube is unpatchable (see below)?

Unpatchable tire tubes

You may encounter a tire tube that either has a large tear, damage to the valve stem itself, or (more rarely) a bubble at the valve stem.

Here are some ideas for reusing such an unpatchable tire tube rather than sending it to the landfill (Click on each image for a bigger picture):

	You can use a piece of tire tube to hold a multitool to your water bottle cage depending on the multitool's size.
	You can use a piece of tire tube to provide slip and/or scratch protection to anything (particularly metallic) you attach to your handlebars.
	Use as strong rubber bands of any width (you are only stuck with whatever diameter the tube is at).
	Use a piece of tire tube (or better yet, a piece of tire as pictured) for a grippier, softer surface when holding things in a workbench vise (or any other vise/clamp).
	Cut into rounded square or circle pieces for free tire patches (for which you will need to provide your own rubber cement and a tiny piece of sandpaper).
	Use a piece of tire tube (or several layers of those gray plastic shipping/mailing bags) to enclose items that would rub against each other inside a saddle bag such as a multitool in proximity to other objects (the picture here is a fancier, pouch-like example of what I had in mind). Ideally all objects inside a saddle bag should be wrapped to prevent exposure to the elements and to protect the objects from damaging each other due to vibrations when riding (especially on a mountain bike).

For other uses inside or outside of the bike world, use your favorite search engine to look for all the inner tube hacks for inspiration (for example, there are magazine racks and even small trampolines made from this stuff).