Tube stows or rubber bands?

[webracer 0]

rubber bands, the only way to go. Cheap, easy to get, easy to replace.
I replace all my stows every weekend (approx 20 jumps).
This leads to less breakage, and better openings

Troy

I am now free to exercise my downward mobility.

[Shivon 0]

Quote

I tend to agree with what Relative Workshop recommends. They recommend tube stows for your locking stows and small rubber bands (for micro line) for the rest fo your stows. They have a neat video showing how the bag excellerates and why you want the locking stows to be tube stows, to prevent breakadge, but the rest of the bands to be regular rubberbands to promote breakage if need be.

That makes a lot of sense to me. Great post.

[skymedic 0]

Last bag lock I witnessed was with what else??? but RUBBER BANDS...they dont always break...it all comes down to good packing.

Marc
otherwise known as Mr.Fallinwoman....

[karlm 0]

you can ge the silicone ones at any decent store that c=sells office supplies, I dont think they are marketed as such, but if you take a few out the box you will see.

Better never to have met you in my dream than to wake and reach for hands that are not there.

[sundevil777 94]

Concerning price:

I make my own tube stows from the bulk silicone tubing you can find in the fishing/sporting goods section of any department store (really cheap per foot).

Use a pair of needlenose pliers to turn one end over about 5mm. Insert the closed pliers into the other end and open the pliers to expand the tubing. Now take a pair of hemostats (sp?) or similar instrument used for other purposes to grab the turned over end of the tubing and insert it into the opened end. Carefully slide the tubing off the pliers and you're done. No need to glue anything.

If using bands is so important to avoid baglocks, why don't reserve freebags use them anymore (besides some racers?)

I use tube stows for the middle 2 of my 4 locking stows. I find that they are not easy to use when they need to be really small, and so I use rubber bands for the rest

I'll take risk from the strength of a tube stow over the risk of the lack of strength of a band on the crucial locking stows anyday.

If you really stretch a rubber band for a locking stow, the amount of extra force required to break it may be quite small - this means bag dump is more likely in my opinion.

edited to fix my tube stow making instructions

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[D22369 0]

it all comes down to good packing.