auraslip said:
define fast
10 years is about the max i would need, so lets say 15 years. I have bike tubes that are 15 years and still have elasticity in them.
IF you're making the rubber bands out of wide enough strips of thick enough bike tubes, then they'd probably be ok for a while, but how long I don't know. You'd basically have to do it and see what happens.
I used to use tubes and sections of tubes to secure things on my bikes, but here in AZ the sun rots them pretty quick (months). If they are not exposed to direct sun then they last a couple years or more, but generally most of the tubes I used for the purpose were already several years old (at least) before I got tired enough of fixing patches on them that I used them for the tiedowns.
The problems I saw were usually slow tearing along the "seams" where ridges from mold lines were on the original tubes, or from where I had cut them (I usually used scissors--perhaps if I had used a single long cut from a very sharp razor blade it would have been better than scissors, leaving less weak points).
The narrower a section I used, the shorter they lasted. Less than an inch and sometimes they'd actually tear thru while I was putting them on, depending on how far I had to stretch them and what surface I was moving them over (and probably their age).
If you're using regular rubber bands, like from an office supply store, or the even better ones you get off bunches of celery, brocolli, onions, etc at the grocery store, well, those probably won't last months, and I wouldn't begin to expect years from them. For me, those things rot out within weeks to months depending on how thin they are and what I put them on, and what quality they were to start with.
I usually use them for holding bunches of unused cable ties together, or bundling up cords, wallwarts, etc., for storage; most of the time when I come back to use any of whatever they're on, i have to replace the ones on the other items that I'm not using yet. :/
I don't know how long bike tubes would last in your application, but certainly longer than regular rubber bands.
Personally, I'd still use pallet straps instead, just because I can adjust their tension and they tend to keep it. They can be had for free whenever shipments on pallets are received at various places, and many of them are reusable if they use the plastic or metal "spring" clips instead of being metal straps clamped together or plastic straps melted together. They just get shorter each time you cut the strap, but the springs are removable and can be put on other straps that had once been melted together instead, if you need longer ones.
YOu can alos buy the stuff in rolls, with the springs, though I've never looked into it so I don't know cost.
I use pallet straps to secure stuff to the bike fairly often, to move cargo around. I also have used them to hold heavy ammocan packs to the bike, and the trike, with no slippage and no mvoing around, even on bumpy roads, once I tension them enough (which is hard to do by hand for me, but someone stronger could do it easily enough, and there are also tools for the job or you could jury-rig one).
