Originally Posted by banerjek

This morning, I stopped to help an older woman with a flat. The bike had just been in the shop, was in excellent mechanical condition, and everything down to the chain was clean enough to eat off of. Among other things, it had new tires and wheels.

However, when I removed her tire, the tube was worn -- as in so worn that it failed on its own without the help of debris, snakebites, bad rim tape, etc. Especially given that her tires were the Schwalbe Marathon Plus, I couldn't imagine why they'd mount an old tube. For someone who does their own work and wants to save a few bucks, sure, but not for someone not equipped to fix their own flats (on an aside note, why is it that few urban riders -- at least here in PDX -- are capable of the most common and basic repairs).

Or is this an accepted practice?