Sweat hurts frame?

[BTM]

I came across a comment in an albeit informed and thoughtful amazon review mentioning sweat being corrosive to your frame? Excuse my ignorance but I've never heard that before. Isn't that what paint is for? (Other than looking cool of course.) I keep my bike clean for the most part, but I'm not OCD about it.

I understand stuff will not last forever and corrode, but is sweat really that big of a deal?

[justkeepedaling]

It can be quite corrosive. I have heard stuff like this happening before.

[sungod]

it's salt water, so if it gets into a place where dissimilar metals are in contact, down tube adjuster bracket or cage mounts for instance, it could certainly cause corrosion

but the only time a lot of sweat getting on the bike is likely is on a turbo, on the road most evaporates or is blown away

[mattr]

Depends how corrosive your sweat is. I used to destroy shifters in 15-18 months. The guts of them just used to corrode and disintegrate! Even on my race bike (which very very rarely got used in anything other than good weather).

[boolinwall]

A few friends of mine have destroyed frames by sweating in them. It's terribly uncommon out on the road. It is, however, very common when the bike is being used on a trainer or roller. Every case I've seen has been on aluminum bikes, where steel inserts are attached. Cable bosses through the downtube for example, or fender eyelets on the seat stays. Steel and aluminum do not like being around each other, especially when water's involved.

[rijndael]

The cable stop on the top tube of my CAAD9 got pretty nasty from sweat. The metal cable end cap would really stick in there.

Once I noticed that it collected there, I made an extra effort to keep that area clean.

[boolinwall]

Coat those areas with copper slip (anti seize compound) and your cables won't stick.

[kbbpll]

On a trainer with the old quill stems could weld the stem to the fork tube. I've never heard of exterior frame damage though.

[prendrefeu]

If you sweat a lot, which many people do, just wipe down the frame & alloy bits after you're done riding.
If over the course of an actual ride you're finding that your sweat is causing damage to the frame, you've got a very high level of acidity in your sweat. Sweat is already acidic by nature, and your diet affects how acidic it actually is. This level of acidity also affects other aspects of your body.

So, I'm wondering why no one has stated the most obvious thing here:
If your sweat is that corrosive, you should really look into your diet and make some necessary changes.
The quality of the fluids leaving your body, sweat included, are direct indicators of your body's health and vitality.

Truly speaking: pay attention to what your body puts out (no, not just those power numbers). Take a look at your shit: it's a good indicator of your health... are you sick? Body not properly digesting something you ate? Internal ulcers?**
Smell your sweat odors: odor too pungeant? Maybe you need to kick back on some foods you've been eating.
Is your sweat corroding metals? Check your diet, especially your sodium intake.
Take a look at your piss: too yellow? too clear? Good indications of how much fluids you are taking in vs. how well your body is processing nutrients.
I won't talk about some other fluids, but your partner might have some say about how your diet affects things.

**Side note: one of my best friends and favorite riding partners had a father who was a Proctologist. It was a hilarious life-long joke, but he was serious: he asked his children, wife, and family, very openly: "How was your shit today? Was it good? Notice anything shitty?" with gems like "I love this house. I love this dog. I love this life. You gotta love it when it's all built on shit. Yes, shit."

[kbbpll]

Any recommendations on how to make my shit lighter?

[Zakalwe]

A few spoons of baking powder should froth that right up.

[thisisatest]

Someone mentioned once that blood type is an indicator of sweat acidity. I do not know if that is true, but I will be looking it up shortly.
My experience has been that a certain small percentage of people will absolutely disintegrate metal parts of almost any type.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[DRAGON60]

Well Mr Bike---I am your worst nightmare---I am the Disintegrator!!!!

Sorry---the bike just woke up in a cold sweat

[topflightpro]

When I played ice hockey, I frequently had to have the shoe lace hole eyelets on my skates replaced as my sweat would eat right through them.

But that's kind of an extreme example.

[Zakalwe]

There's plenty of pictures on the net of alloy bars dissolved by sweat, generally on the turbo bike.