Local re-fashions bicycle inner tubes into purses and more
The Lucas family has always had a large collection of rubber
bicycle inner tubes around their store Off the Chain Bikes. Brian
and Robin Lucas, who own the Tres Pinos Road bicycle shop, offer
repairs to riders who find themselves in a pinch in San Benito
County.
Local re-fashions bicycle inner tubes into purses and more
The Lucas family has always had a large collection of rubber bicycle inner tubes around their store Off the Chain Bikes. Brian and Robin Lucas, who own the Tres Pinos Road bicycle shop, offer repairs to riders who find themselves in a pinch in San Benito County.
For every flat tire they repair, the couple ends up with the leftover inner tubes. With the seemingly endless supply of damaged inner tubes, Robin decided to give the road-worn rubber a second life. For the last year, she has been experimenting with turning the tubes into backpacks and purses.
“I think Brian probably came up with it. He’s always thinking of stuff to make from bike parts,” she said. “My husband and son said we could make backpacks. But I wanted to make pretty purses.”
Her son Myles, a high school student, said they can get up to five repairs a day when certain weeds with thorns are growing around the county.
“We kind of hang on to them to reuse them for personal use, but eventually it gets to the point where you have to toss them out,” he said, of the family’s supply.
Robin held up a few samples of her handiwork that she planned to sell at the downtown Hollister Street Festival and Car Show last weekend. One had bits of rubber formed into the shape of flower petals while another had a clasp made out of a large, speckled bead.
“I started a year ago trying to figure out how to sew with rubber,” she said. “It’s been challenging.”
Robin started out sewing when she was a girl, making her own clothes and other items. But she put the hobby aside until recently. Sewing with rubber was a whole, new world.
The biggest challenge in making the hand-crafted handbags was getting a sewing machine that could handle the thick material and finding a way to keep it gliding under the needle. When she visited a friend in San Diego in January, she came across a heavy-duty sewing machine that now sits in a corner of her living room, by the back door. Her materials have taken over a desk just behind the sewing area, with strips of rubber in a drawer, grommets on top and a spindle of a black, satiny rope that she uses to make the straps for the purses.
Through talking with friends and looking at some books about working with rubber, she started using a little bottle of oil to help the rubber glide under the needle and to help the thread pierce through the material.
Brian brings the inner tubes home, where Robin cuts them open and scrubs them clean.
“I wash each one and then dry them outside and then they are ready to go,” she said.
Because the tires are rounded, the strips don’t lie flat. The shape of the strips helps make each bag unique.
“Each one is different,” she said. “I cannot put out something that is the exact same size. Rubber has its own personality. Even if I measure the width, for some strange reason it doesn’t come out a duplicate.”
While she sticks to handbags and backpacks, she has ventured out with some other projects. She made a raincoat for the family dog, which the pet wears during wet weather.
“I’m working on a tool belt,” she said, holding up the project.
And she said she is open to hearing from customers at the store if they have ideas for other items she can make from the sewed inner tubes.
She has approximately 10 handbags for sale in Off the Chain bikes, and she said each pieces takes a few hours to complete.
“My cousin saw it and said I should see if maybe people might buy them,” she said.
The items sell for about $19.99, less than Robin has seen them for at other bike shops.
“There are people out there that are doing this,” she said. “I know I’m not the first. It’s just really exciting and I’m really enjoying it.”
She tries to allot a few hours a day, between working at the store and household duties.
“I do make time,” she said. “I want to. I enjoy it a lot, but I’ve got to be in the mood. It takes full concentration.”
