Dirk Smeets is our resident Dutch hard man here in Miami. He logs more miles in the saddle then anyone I know. He recently unwrapped the bar tape on one of his bikes and found that the sweat that had found its way under the wrap had completely corroded his alloy bars. There where several pin holes in the metal where it had been eaten away!
Dirk’s bike fitting/coaching service: SECS Multisport
Advertisements
yikes! talk about a ticking time bomb.
That is scary…
Great blog, by the way. Made my way here from weightweenies.
I use unshellacked cloth tape (love CateEye) and consequently redo my bars every year or so, sometimes more often. The fresh, uncoated tape is nicely absorbant and keeps anything coming off me off the bars. Have some 20-plus year old alloy bars that are near perfect. (Know they’re not for forever, but still….)