I ride my bike to work at least 3 or 4 days a week, and the facility I'm at is about 7 blocks from the Pacific Ocean.
Does ocean air, fog, or marine layer pose any sort of threat to my bike? I'm concerned about the salt content in the moisture collecting on the paint and metal, even the electronics, considering it is sitting out in the open for up to 12 hours.
Thanks
The first thing you will notice is the finish corroding off of the cheap stock hardware.
Easily replaceable with stainless (or Ti $$)
No doubt that any metal will corrode faster when used near a body of saltwater.
There are a lot of factors to think about, but probably the most significant is where the bike will sit in reference to the strongest wind that will blow off the water.
I'm not much further from the water, it's like 10% humidity today. 8)
i grew up on the tx gulf coast so i know plenty about rust. :(
pretty much anything not stored in a garage will show some corrosion faster than if it wasnt garage kept.
i have noticed that moto's and 4 wheelers dont seem to rust as bad (usually kept out) if you just keep them as dry as possible. dont ride in the rain and if you wash them just make sure everything is dry when finished(use a leaf blower) the corrosion and salt air really cant take hold as well if the surface is relatively dry.
i live in nyc and ride year round rain or shine. if you want your bike to be like kopjagers, dont ride it at all. otherwise work extra hard to clean it or be like me and clean it whenever the moon is blue.
there is defintely some extra corrosion...but thats due to road grime and rain more than anything else. corroded bolts is a big thing.
i would also be concerned about the inside of the trellis frame tubes
definitely spray the inside with oil weekly i would say
Quote from: ute on November 03, 2009, 01:38:35 PM
i would also be concerned about the inside of the trellis frame tubes
definitely spray the inside with oil weekly i would say
Seriously?
I would say you worry a bit too much if you are.
Quote from: ute on November 03, 2009, 01:38:35 PM
i would also be concerned about the inside of the trellis frame tubes
definitely spray the inside with oil weekly i would say
they do make wax/oil coatings for that purpose
Google
LPS
or 3M inner panel coating
As far as salt, with regular washes/wipe downs salt in the air and it's effects should be kept at bay.
From what I've seen on customer's bikes...
The closer to the ocean they live, the more corrosion they have.
If they live in a garage, they do alright.
Not as good as inland, but OK.
If they live outdoors, it's pretty severe.
Thanks guys. I'll just try to give it a wash fairly often to get any salt collection off, and it's really only this short time of year here in SoCal that the "rainy season" is present. The rest of the year it's very dry. I guess there would be more cause for concern if it was chromed out. At home I keep it in a garage with the cover on.
all our bikes have been in the salt air..they get here from Italy by boat!
I live at the beach here is Australia , my bike is in a semi enclosed carport , using a bike cover after a year the only thing that has shown corrosion are the zink plated bolts.
I have been replacing them all with high grade stainless with a lick of lithium grease on each one before
they get turned in. They look very nice too.
I would suggest buying a bike cover for your bike to keep the salt air off also stops prying eyes and people who want to sit on or touch your bike.
They are cheap and you could put a simple little combination lock on it to stop someone borrowing it.
Quote from: NoisyDante on November 03, 2009, 11:16:44 AM
Does ocean air, fog, or marine layer pose any sort of threat to my bike?
Bare metal will corrode more readily......electrical contacts can get corrosion on them....rubber and plastics can dry out (salinity draws out moisture).....and I believe salt with water can create a mild acid that can etch your paint (similar to acid rain spots).
If you keep the bike clean, waxed, use armor all, and lubricate any bare metals, you should be ok.
The "ocean air corrodes vehicles faster because of the salt" myth just won't go away, and likely persists due to a quirk of geography.
When the water evaporates from the ocean, the salt does not go with it. This is simple chemistry and something you can test at home by dissolving salt in water and then allowing the water to evaporate. The water which evaporates is relatively pure and is not chemically different than the water which evaporates from a freshwater lake.
It may seem that the salt is causing corrosion simply because the place in the nation which has the most ocean water nearby (Florida) also has the highest humidity and most rain. It's all of this water, rather than "salty ocean air" (which doesn't even exist), which promotes corrosion when combined with air, certain pollutants, and other things picked up from the dirt found on all of our nation's roads.
A bike cover will keep the rain off, but won't do anything for humidity.
The best thing you can do is simply keep it clean and perhaps protect electrical contacts with silicone dielectric grease.
that explanation makes sense you just gave.
only thing i'm curious about is why when youa re near the beach do you get the whole "ocean air smell"?
As stated above, the biggest problem are electrical contacts corroding. Always remember to check your brake/tail light and if you ever find it not working, it's probably a corroded contact. If you have problems starting, check the ground bolt for the battery or the bolt on the starter.
If you've got a steel tank, the sea air can also cause the tank to rust, causing you problems.
Other than those, it's mostly cosmetic (rusted frame, rusted bolts).
Water that has evaporated from the ocean may not be salty, but sea spray is. So here in Victoria, BC, where we get high winds in the fall, it could be a problem depending on how close you are.
I had a problem with the temperature sensor contact on my bike. Cleaning up the contacts and applying dielectric grease has prevented the problem from returning.
At the time of the problem, the bike was stored outside near the ocean under a cover for about 18 months. Now it's in a nice dry garage. I love my garage...
Quote from: ian48th on November 06, 2009, 07:47:45 AM
Water that has evaporated from the ocean may not be salty, but sea spray is.
Is is generally why, as you go further inland, vehicles have less and less corrosion on them.
If a person were to go strictly by humidity levels, it may be difficult to explain why Atlanta has almost the same annual relative humidity as Charleston, SC but a car will rust away much faster in Charleston. The annual evening relative humidity is 56% for both and Altanta is 1% lower at 82% compared to Charleston's 83% for the morning humidity. I used these two examples because neither town sees salt thrown around in the winter like northern cities do.
Here in Greenville, SC (82% am and 54% pm humidity) cars usually only have rust on them if they come from the north or from the beach. You couldn't imagine the number of cars sitting in back yards and in fields that have been there for more than twenty years and don't have any rust.....the paint and interior is faded, but they have little to no rust.
Here's a cool table for humidity - http://www.cityrating.com/relativehumidity.asp (http://www.cityrating.com/relativehumidity.asp)
ok so what is causing the cars in charleston to corrode so much faster than other land locked cities if charleston is a landlocked city too and the humidity level is within 1-2% of the other non rusting cities?
Quote from: sbrguy on November 09, 2009, 07:18:45 AM
ok so what is causing the cars in charleston to corrode so much faster than other land locked cities if charleston is a landlocked city too and the humidity level is within 1-2% of the other non rusting cities?
That's just it. Charleston is not landlocked as it is a coastal city and rusting cars would be from ocean salt.....probably from the ocean spray that can be carried for miles, as ian48th stated. I was showing that, despite equal hunmidity levels, one area has more of a rust problem than another area, so rust is being caused by something other than just the humidity, and that high humidity does not necessarily cause rust, as all the older vehicles sitting out in the open around here would show.
Quote from: Scotzman on November 03, 2009, 04:44:39 PM
As far as salt, with regular washes/wipe downs salt in the air and it's effects should be kept at bay.
At bay? I can't believe you harbor such puns. [laugh]
Quote from: NorDog on November 09, 2009, 12:17:00 PM
At bay? I can't believe you harbor such puns. [laugh]
I was on the fence, but that's it for me! I'm going back to TOB!!!
;D