Wipe sweat off bike after each use on trainer

My solution is an old bike as a permenant trainer bike - I don’t sweat the sweat! :grinning:

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I’m going to put plastic wrap on my bike… just kidding.

I’m a salty sweat-er… so I put a towel over the front end of my bike.

My husband’s a professional race mechanic, so he keeps an eye on things… I’m hoping to learn more about bike maintenance, as it’s turned into a learned helplessness situation when he goes away for work.

‘Lemon Pledge’ was old school approach for steel frames. Use 'Pedro’s Bike Lust ’ ( doesn’t leave oily film} today or water. Need to get salt off bike every time, toxic!
jjones

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I give mine a 10 second spray with the hosepipe. Job done.

I used to…and I have a sweat guard.
Now I’ve got two very large fans that blow like crazy right at me…I don’t drip sweat anymore because the sweat evaporates so quickly with huge amounts of wind coming past me.

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I bought 1/2 dozen cheap hand towels from Ikea and I use them as workout towels. When I’m done riding I rinse one of them and give the bike a wipe down after every ride.
This works way better than baby wipes.

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I regularly wipe down my bike after every ride but have not re-wrapped my handlebars in a long time. This bike has been on the trainer exclusively for three+ years. The tape hasn’t been changed in two years but it still looks very good. When I went to change it today I discovered that the handlebars have been destroyed from the constant perspiration. Luckily I had an old set of handlebars sitting in my box of parts. Don’t let this happen to you!
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i always drape a towel over my bars (so i am gripping my bars with a towel) and top tube during a workout.

after i finish, a quick wipe of the top tube and it stays clean

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+1 for hand towels. I drape one over the handlebars & stem and keep another one top of it to wipe my face. My local bike mechanic gave me the tip to wipe down your bike with “Windex”, he said the ammonia will help break down the salt making it easier to wipe off. Sounded like good logic, so I put it into practice after super intense workouts

Another example of tape salt. The bars cleaned up ok and I didn’t find pitting through the finish into the AL, but still makes me nervous. I try and keep the majority of sweat off the bike.

Same here, towel on the bars.

Just a quick wipe down with the chamois from the shorts!!
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Seriously though, good fan, stole a few makeup headbands from my wife and sweat is rarely too much of an issue. I do a fairly regular clean with baby wipes too.

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I usually put on an Elite sweat guard thing on my bars, and do regular washes once a week. Seems to keep the bike in fairly good shape. You could also throw on a thin layer of car wax or spray detail to protect the paint between cleanings.

This! There is tons of good advice on this thread but this indeed works wonders.

I use a big towel that I drape over my bars and frame…usually nothing makes it onto my bike.

Found the same when I re-taped after changing the brifters last week. This is on a dedicated trainer bike that has been sitting down in the basement for a number of years.

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I had a steel bike on the trainer for years, no fan, no sweat guard. I have corrosion everywhere - on the frame as well as on the (aluminum) cranks. The combo of a sweat guard, a fan and a towel besides me that I use every 5-10 minutes have solved the problem. I did a complete overhaul of the dedicated trainer bike last week, and apart from the salt mine hiding under the bar tape, it was all good.

I think the thing to remember for the most part is to avoid getting tons of sweat in the headset area, this can do a lot of damage to the headset parts and possibly the frame and fork where they connect. One good way to avoid this and prolong the life of your bars is draping a towel over your bars, stem, headset area.

If you sweat a lot near your lower torso or back , it might be wise to clean around the seat tube and the bottom bracket area for drips onto metal components.

james

I was shocked when the tape came off :scream:

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I have a chromed steel bike on my trainer. No great loss if it dies, but it seems to be doing fine. I spray it down with camellia (tea seed) oil occasionally. I also keep an old t shirt on the handlebars to wipe sweat.