Felvarrom Inner Tube Belt

by Simon · 22/02/2013

Review

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Felvarrom Inner Tube Belt

February 2013

There’s more than just holding your trousers up to these clever Felvarrom Punctured 2 belts.

“But is it tech? And is it relevant?” These are the questions we had to ponder when we were sent a ‘Punctured 2’ inner tube belt from Budapest based Felvarrom. Naturally working on something that contains ‘tech review’ in the title, we are interested in anything and everything tech associated with bicycles, and as such we should, morally at least, also be interested in what happens to that stuff once it is no longer current or is damaged or broken. A technical item, made of recycled bike parts. It qualifies.

Felvarrom Punctured 2 Belt

That then made us ask, “Is it cool?” But given that cycling is so very cool nowadays there should be more value in the recycling of old bikes bits and the production of such cycling paraphernalia must also be cool by association. With high street shops and brands (think H&M and Levis for example) all now jumping on the band wagon and making cycling specific clothing, you know cycling has gone mainstream. Anyway, we think its cool even if we are biased.

Of course you then wonder if a belt made from old recycled inner tubes could be cooler than a normal belt because of its origins? At the very least the recycling part gives you a good ‘belt story’, and if whilst supping your bottled beer in a trendy bar, someone attractive asked you about your belt, having a good belt story may be exactly what you need for the perfect end to your evening…

Maybe just knowing the story of your recycled eco-belt is what’s important, not necessarily the transmitting of it to others, and with that knowledge would come the confidence that you make the effort to do the right thing. “No real leather for me; I cycle and I recycle.”

Inner tube belt – green, looks good as well as holding your pants up

Manufacturers, Felvarrom, are big on stressing the quality of their products, the target market they aim for and their green credentials. Naturally they target cyclists but nowadays recycled stuff is cool whether in Budapest, London or New York, so anyone is game really.

Their business model is sound. They collect worn out bicycle parts from local shops, reuse what they can – upcycling – and discard the rest in as environmentally friendly a way as is possible. They end up using about one in ten of the bits they collect and those are cleaned with biodegradable substances before the start of the equally green manufacturing process.

They can make you things to order from your own old cycling stuff; just send over old inner tubes, brake levers or whatever and in return you could have a belt, bracelet, badge, furniture and even one of a speciality line in little Robots crafted from old metal bike bits.

And the resultant quality of the product? Well the belt we have is superb. It was once an old 700c inner tube from the Czech Republic, though manufacturer’s name unknown. Tough nylon material has been stitched into each edge to give a bit of extra resilience – on ours it is in blue and orange which happens to be our team colours, so we think its very nice, but there’s a vast range of colours to choose from. There’s a similarly constructed belt poop and a heavyweight hinged buckle.

Felvarrom Punctured 2 Belt

Importantly, it all combines to hold your trousers up really well and so the fact that we also think it looks the business is a plus.

It also comes in a very useful ‘wallet’, which appears to have been made from an old Schwalbe inner tube, complete with puncture repair patches in places. We have discovered that this wallet is the perfect size to hold your mobile phone, keeping it safe and dry on long rides…two products for one; now that is recycling.