rubber bands, ranger bands, silicone bracelets...

OK...we all know that rubber bands get brittle and crumble.

we all know that ranger bands hold up...for a good while longer...but they are a little on the dirty side.

What of the little silicone remembrance and solidarity bracelets? Anyone know of a longevity issue?

This comes about as I recently purchased a bicycle inner tube to cut bands from. It's been a good while since I've done this. Apparently they now have some sort of ;liquid in them. I found out after it spewed out. So, I hung it to dry. Apparently there is a LOT of it in there. It's created a mess and is still caked inside. I'm thinking the silicone bands are less messy and may last longer...


...anyone?

Thanks for the info on the goop inside of bike tubes, I have one on my shopping list. Have to check them out before I buy.

And I don't have a clue as to the little bracelets, I don't have one. Might work tho...

There are a lot of people at my college who are still wearing the "live strong" bands. I'm pretty sure they haven't made those for a while, so I'd assume that the material must be holding up ok if people are still wearing them. However, I am not sure how stretchy they are or how well they will hold up to being stretched.

Not sure if this is what your looking for....they must be pretty tough to take 600 degree temps. I picked some up on clearance at Wally World a couple weeks ago, thought I could find some use for them.
Architec Silicone Stretch Cooking Bands

smitty

Has anyone tried the fabric covered elastic bands that women use to hold ponytails? They've got to be more durable than regular rubber bands. See the goodys website, accessories, ponytail holders at
http://goody.com/Products/Accessories/Ponytail_Holders/Ponytail_Holders.aspx
I'm going to ask my nieces how well they hold up.

The ones my daughter used to use were a real bear to remove from stuff unless you have fingernails. Mine are always broken off at the quick...

I recently found a green 'kiss me I'm Irish' band that i got from St. Patrick's Day about 3 years ago and it is just the same as it was when I recieved it. I would expect they'ed hold up well for a long while.

You must have bought a tube with some seal flat puncture sealant inside. That's not a regular tube. If you go to your local bike store they throw out tubes by the handful, you could just ask and they will probably have them in a lot of sizes.

Yea, you can get tubes with or without slime in them.


The nice thing about the ranger bands is they also burn, so they can be used to start fires. Silicone bands wont burn easily.

I'll 3rd this line of conversation!

The liquid you ran across is almost certainly a flat deterrent. Standard tubes should be very dry inside. They usually run about $4 per tube. But just ask the guys in the shop for some they’ve thrown away. I worked in a shop for a handful of years and the request is more common than you might think. When we changed tubes we would set the nicer ones aside for anyone who asked.

m

They don't hold up so well.

I tell people my hair length is religious and if I ever shave my head, it means that I'm on the warpath in every meaning of the term. I've been telling them that for ten years.

I've worn one of those silicone wrist bands for about 9 months and it's held up great. It's been abused fairly well, including sand, salt water and pool chlorine. The red faded a bit and the surface probably shows a little wear if you compared it to a brand new one, but otherwise it looks new. They don't stretch very far though, maybe 20-30% without really pushing their limits.

I've been wearing a yellow 'Livestrong' bracelet continuously for well over 4 years. It's still 'living strong'. BTW - the Lance Armstrong Foundation raises lots of money for cancer research by selling these. AFAIK they started the whole rubber bracelet 'craze'.

This is my first post although I've been lurking on this forum for several months. Great place to hang out. Thanks to all for the interesting reads and potentially life-saving tips.

- Ray

Welcome new guy!!!