Originally Posted by
ClydeClydeson
…. also, if a tube is known to be good (non-defective), and you get a puncture from road debris or a damaged rim tape, properly patching the puncture with a glue-and-patch patch kit (not 'glueless' or 'instant' patches, which are good for emergencies only imo) leaves you with the same known good tube.
Excellent advice, I've used patched "good" tubes for decades. The primary reason though was because they had short valve stems. The currently available long stem tubes look wacky on my vintage rims. In any case, if you use quality patches (like Rema TipTop) and apply them correctly, the tube is as good as new.