Originally Posted by
davester
I just threw out a couple of tubes that had a rather embarrassing number of patches on them (about five each).
Ha ha. That's about two too many for me. I call it done at three.
The nice thing about flipping a few bikes each year is I can move stuff like a 3-patched tube over to those bikes heading out the door. So, on my own bikes, there isn't more than a patch on any. Most are free of any.
But this effort makes it a little difficult to remember ... "ok, which of you has a patch and which doesn't? Which of you was my last flat?"
my mother taught me to never waste anything (she grew up during rationing in WWII England)...
Same, pretty much. Mom's folks went through the great depression, owned a pharmacy, and they never threw out anything.
And a cult classic film, called
The Gods Must Be Crazy, made a big impression on me. In it, a tribe finds a Coca-Cola glass bottle that falls from the sky (an airplane) and use it for all kinds of activities to better their lives. One of those things we toss everyday could be used as a valuable resource somewhere else...
That said, I always toss dork disks, reflectors, and kickstands. I can't do anything with 'em...