Quote:
Originally Posted by Superman
How expensive are these inner tubes?
Respectfully, I decide these matters as if tires are an important safety and performance part. That said, the tires on my 1978 Honda CB750 (spoke wheels) are a few years old and I'm not worried about them, but if/when I replace them, new inner tubes will be involved.
Similarly, when I replace a clutch disk, the release bearing also gets swapped out. In fact, with the 911, this procedure would likely also involve a new cable, release fork, guide tube, etc.
YMMV
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How do you know that the new Chinese inner tube is not inferior to the one from 10 years ago that you are trashing? I want to know what happens to the current tube to degrade it. If it was so old that it seemed stretched, thin in spots, showed any kind of wear from being inflated inside a confined space, I'd never be asking.
I've had this converstaion here about other parts. I buy more auto parts than probably anyone here who does not own a retail shop and it's a subject that I'm close to obsessed with. It is nothing less than a barometer of globalism and the death, (or at least seismic change), of manufacturing and the Industrial Age.
There was a member here a while back who was doing some maintenance on an old American car, maybe a Cadillac. He was saying that he was going to replace the brake MC and a bunch of other mechanical parts that were working fine with new parts from Rock Auto or something. I asked him why and got a lot of blowback from various people. "Better safe than sorry, etc..."
Removing a good part from any older car and replacing it with Autozone parts is like taking your Snap-on or old Craftsman tools and throwing them in the trash, then restocking your toolbox at Harbor Freight. I have a 1999 Ford F-250 that was made in Canada, fer chrissakes. Canada. Replacement parts from the dealer in 2020 are made by Borat's sister in Kakhistan. The original parts that are still on the truck are phenomenal, for the most part.
And that is since the beginning of the 21st century!
I'm not doubting that I could buy a decent new Continental tube right now that is made in one of their satellite factories in the third world. But the one in my tire from the early 2000s, (in a bike that has been sitting in a collection and not ridden), is almost certainly better. The tires, not so much. They are getting replaced.
I want to know what happened to the present one to degrade it.