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What does it do to your bike?
Makes it a little more savoury than normal. Why do you ask?
🙂
Keep reading posts saying it's awful for your bike but no-one ever says exactly what it does.
Surely it can't be as bad as grit/mud etc?
eats aluminium. No really
😯 😯 😯
Causes corrosion. Just put grease/petrol jelly on exposed components.
you think it is bad on Aluminium, wait till you see what it does to magnesium castings, suspension forks for instance.
Was going to write this out myself but wikipedia puts it quite succintly:
[i]"[b]Chemical reactions associated with rusting[/b]
The rusting of iron is an electrochemical process that begins with the transfer of electrons from iron to oxygen.[3] The rate of corrosion is affected by water and accelerated by electrolytes, as illustrated by the effects of road salt on the corrosion of automobiles. The key reaction is the reduction of oxygen:
O2 + 4 e- + 2 H2O ? 4 OH-
Because it forms hydroxide ions, this process is strongly affected by the presence of acid. Indeed, the corrosion of most metals by oxygen is accelerated at low pH. Providing the electrons for the above reaction is the oxidation of iron that may be described as follows:
Fe ? Fe2+ + 2 e?
The following redox reaction also occurs in the presence of water and is crucial to the formation of rust:
4 Fe2+ + O2 ? 4 Fe3+ + 2 O2?
Additionally, the following multistep acid-base reactions affect the course of rust formation:
Fe2+ + 2 H2O ? Fe(OH)2 + 2 H+
Fe3+ + 3 H2O ? Fe(OH)3 + 3 H+
as do the following dehydration equilibria:
Fe(OH)2 ? FeO + H2O
Fe(OH)3 ? FeO(OH) + H2O
2 FeO(OH) ? Fe2O3 + H2O
From the above equations, it is also seen that the corrosion products are dictated by the availability of water and oxygen. With limited dissolved oxygen, iron(II)-containing materials are favoured, including FeO and black lodestone (Fe3O4). High oxygen concentrations favour ferric materials with the nominal formulae Fe(OH)3-xOx/2. The nature of rust changes with time, reflecting the slow rates of the reactions of solids.
Furthermore, these complex processes are affected by the presence of other ions, such as Ca2+, which both serve as an electrolyte, and thus accelerate rust formation, or combine with the hydroxides and oxides of iron to precipitate a variety of Ca-Fe-O-OH species."[/i]
its a catalyst to corrosion , galvanic corrosion
salty water robs electrons from the parent material or something like that and thus your alloy corrosion is accelerated. - this might be tosh im trying to recall lectures i had 3 years ago now ....
Is this some sort of graduate engineer baiting thread?
...And you dont even get away with it if you've got a Titanium frame either, While the Titanium may not be affected, due to the difference between the two metals on the Galvanic index, anything Aluminium pressed in or bolted to it will be attacked by the salt more vigorously.
I think the same is true of carbon too, but haven't yet risked finding out for sure with my own frames.
****s up brake calipers (and any other mag/alu alloy components). I know after driving back from wales in january with the bike on the towbar rack then leaving it uncleaned in the shed for a month. Wont do that again.
Did you not learn anything in science at school?