All about bicycles, electric-assisted bikes, technology and safety in the press

The most common safety risks that we come across in our daily work around bicycle safety, technology and operating instructions are also published by us in articles in the leading German special-interest magazines TOUR (Europe's road bike magazine no. 1), BIKE (Europe's mountain bike magazine no. 1), MYBIKE and EMTB in order to make this information, which is important for the industry, available to a wider public.

For many years now, the Eurobike Show Daily, trade fair magazine of the annual Eurobike Show, has also given us the opportunity to publish our view of major developments in the cycle industry in full-page articles.

We also speak regularly in independent expert presentations about all areas of bicycle technology and the bicycle market. In addition, we are quoted by further special-interest magazines of the industry and the trade as well as increasingly by radio and television in their media reports, which shows us that we are spot on with our advice. The section "News" informs you about the latest news from our specialist areas. The reports and publications of this section are listed chronologically or according to areas of interest.

News

TOUR 12/2015
Reading time 1:30 minutes

Corrosion due to sweat?

Reader’s question

After four years blisters have formed in the paint of my aluminium road bike, namely in the area of the top tube, in front of the seat post; in some areas the paint has already chipped off. Is it possible that the frame is corroded due to sweat and the aluminium affected to such an extent that it compromises the stability; and what about carbon frames?

Reply by Dirk Zedler, TOUR technology expert and bicycle expert

What you describe is not unusual. Not only aluminium frames, but steel frames as well are again and again affected by corrosions underneath the paint. It is seldom that painted surfaces are entirely closed, so that the pores and areas where the paint has chipped off are permeable to sweat and humidity. These corrosive agents infiltrate the paint. Depending on how aggressive the sweat is, the frame starts to flourish and blisters form under the paint. By the time the frame is likely to be affected by corrosion to such an extent that this will compromise the frame structure. We therefore recommend that you sand back this area, remove the corrosion and apply a new coat of paint. As an alternative you can also bring the frame in a specialist paint shop to have the paint removed from the frame and to apply a completely new coat of paint. There are paint shops specialized on wet painting and on powder coating.

Carbon as material, in contrast, is corrosion resistant. There are, however, some products the aluminium components of which, such as bearing cups, cable stops or front derailleur mounts, are affected by corrosion. Therefore, it is important in general to wash the road racing bike regularly with water to remove the harmful sweat. The use of chemical agents is less important, as the salt crystals on the sweat dissolve in water and are rinsed off.

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