This tip comes to us from RBR Review Crew member Brandon Bilyeu, who provides a couple of variations on the theme of what you can do with a piece of old innertube.
Brandon writes: The other day I was in the garage swapping wheels and needed to adjust the rim brake calipers as I was switching between new wide rims and old skinny rims (the barrel adjuster does not have enough stroke, so I had to adjust the cable connection at the brake arm).
Of course, I needed a third hand to make the adjustment properly, but didn’t want to ask the wife as she was already annoyed that I was working on bikes instead of hanging out with her. So after digging around a bit I found an old flatted tube and cut a length to wrap around the brake and tie off. This allowed me to adjust the cable anchor while the brake pads were held in the perfect position relative to the rim. The soft rubber won’t scratch anything, and a simple knot in an innertube holds well as the rubber grips itself if under tension.
I also use a section of old tube with my seat bag. The bag is held to the bike with velcro straps, but big bumps will often cause one of the straps to release and then the bag flops around like crazy. I solved this by tying the old tube section around the bag and through the seat rails to make a very secure and rattle free seat bag.
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