tsmith41094

Planning on keeping my Canyon Aeroad at my parent's place down in Florida. Only thing is I will likely have to keep it in their garage where as I have typically always kept the bike indoors.

I don't know if I need to worry about the humidity and salt in the air (they live near the water). Are there any precautions I should take, or best practices to store the bike while I'm not there (e.g., covering it up, etc.)?

Thanks for the help.

bpcyclist

Water as in salt water, or water as in Everglades/lakes/inland stuff?

I live 70 miles from the beach, so I am of no help to you. Be interested to see what people suggest.

pdlamb

Only thing I might do is touch up any scratches or rubs with clear fingernail polish.

tsmith41094

Salt water. They live on an island so it's surrounding us from all sides. Just don't know if that will harm the components.

rydabent

No doubt salt air will rust and corrode the components.

Maelochs

Seal the bag in multiple industrial-sized trash bags with lots of those silica-gel moisture-absorbing pouches?

Salt air will eat through anything with a trace of iron, corrode the snot out of aluminum, and probably hurt everything else on your bike (tires particularly.) Everything will want to chemically weld together if it doesn't rot. If they live on an island, the air will always be damp and salty ...

if I had what is essentially a beach-bike .... i would buy it from walmart because I know it would wear out in a few seasons no matter how good a bike I started with.

I have no idea what damp salt air does to carbon fiber, but it sure eats through everything else ....

drlogik 

I lived on Sullivan's Island in Charleston, SC for a couple of years. Folks on the island used WD-40 for bikes, lawn mowers, garden tools, etc.

It's an old tried and true rust prevention method. Wash the bike at every opportunity then repeat. WD-40 is not the answer to everything, but for rust prevention it's pretty darn good and easy to deal with. Avoid getting in on paint, plastic or rubber parts. It won't kill those pasts but it can be a pain to clean it off.

Put a canvas tarp (not plastic) over the bike when not in use, provided it's not sitting outside in the elements. Canvas lets the bike breath in high humidity and also keeps the bike clean of dust. A plastic tarp will trap excess moisture under the tarp and lead to rusting.

jpescatore

Check your spokes - a friend who is a snowbird had his spokes all rust up after leaving his carbon bike down in their FL home over the summer, even though no other problems.

hockey

Put the bike in a bedroom in the home. Trust me, you do not want to leave your carbon bike in a non air conditioned garage. Experience proves otherwise!

Maelochs

if there is room .... this is by far the best option. Try an elevated wall rack or hanging the bike from the ceiling to keep it out of the way.

tagaproject6

The bike will be relieved just to get away from Ohio.

Secret Squirrel

• Run a lock to the bike from a permanent fixture. Maybe run a bolt into the concrete
• Should not be visible when the garage door is open. Maybe hang it from the ceiling above the garage door view line when opened.
• If the garage door has windows, install bathroom frosted window tinting.
• don't let anyone see you go in and out of the garage when you are "on bike".
• Install a web cam in the garage pointed at your bike with motion detection and recording
• check that their home owners insurance covers your bike for replacement value.
• Keep tools that could cut your lock out of view

tsmith41094

Thanks everyone for the great insights!

I was trying to to make it as easy as possible for my parents since they are willing to let me keep a bike down there, but I definitely don't want to risk it. Think I'm going to try to get creative with inside storage solutions (maybe break it down to get it in a closet or something). Then worst-case, do the best I can with the canvas tarp in the garage.

Jicafold

Which does absolutely nothing to protect it from the humidity and salt.

rosefarts

I lived in Bermuda for a while. My scooter rusted and broke in half. Tools that were indoors in the toolbox rusted. My aluminum bike was fine but the chain and every bolt rusted

tsmith41094

Just came across this interesting option from VeloSock in case anyone was interested (think its relatively new). Seems like it could make the garage situation a bit better.

velosock.com/collections/bike-cover-for-indoor-storage-and-transportation/products/full-bike-cover-for-road-bike-ray

(won't let me paste actual URLs until I post more)

Jrasero

Should be perfectly fine. As long as the top coat and the carbon strands haven't been compromised there is nothing to worry about. The bike would need to be submerged in water really to cause serious de-lamination. I would worry more about the sun, but even then resin has gotten so advanced and paint helps protect the carbon. It is possible if you left your bike in a place that got into the hundreds of degrees (like an oven) it would be compromised

TLDR NO don't worry

ramzilla

Living the dream in Fernandina Beach Florida. The beach bikes get hosed down with fresh water before returning to the garage. I hose off all my fishing rods & reels with fresh water too. The road bikes get hosed off whenever the sand residue starts to build up on the bottom. My house faces South. It's so damn hot in the garage my bikes dry off immediately. I also have this whole dropper bottle thing I do with diesel fuel. I hang the bike on the ceiling or flip it upside down. Using a plastic drop dispenser bottle I place drops of diesel on cables, pivots, spokes, chain, fasteners, etc. It's time consuming. But, I've never had any significant rust problems. WD40 works the same way & smells better than diesel fuel. But, I don't recommend using aerosol spray cans of oil because it gets all over everything & can screw up the brakes. The important thing is to spend the necessary time & effort to take care of your equipment.

berner

You will be interested to know that many very expensive custom yachts are built in aluminum. Some of them are decades old and are doing fine. Aluminum near a salt air environment lasts just fine. A serious problem arises if the aluminum is in contact with a material that is a better conductor such as carbon, brass or bronze by bedding on a base of micarta. On yachts, aluminum is insulated from such conductors. DrLogic's suggestion in post #7 sounds good; spray everything down with WD40. Remove the handle bar, stem, and wheels and anything else in contact with carbon. When you get back to the bike, write an informative post on the results.

Sy Reene

Isn't a spray like Boeshield T9 (?) supposed to be a protectant in these cases..? eg. spray it on all exposed metal surfaces before leaving it stored for (how long?) in the garage.
https://boeshield.com/bike/

ramzilla

You can definitely use aerosol spray. Just need to take a couple extra steps first. Remove the wheels. Wrap some plastic baggies around the brake shoes, seat, grips. Spread some newspaper or cardboard out on the floor. Get your ventilation fan running. Then, go for it.

Bassmanbob

Jensen Beach, FL here. I live about 2 miles from the ocean as the crow flies, so I'm a bit protected from the salt. I've had my CF bike in the garage for 6 years without a problem. I do wash and lube it about once every other month.

Thinking outside of the box, have you considered a folding bike? It would facilitate travelling to any destination with your bike. I purchased a Bike Friday Pocket Rocket because I travel to visit family in Long Island and for business. It's nice to fold up the bike in the Samsonite suitcase and go. The performance is not as good as my CF bike, but it is a well made bike that I've enjoyed a number of metric centuries on and one century so far. I've brought it to other parts of Florida, Tennessee, New York and I was planning to bring it to Washington DC tomorrow until my meeting was cancelled. I plan to ride the Crate Lake Century on it in August.

Just a thought.

tsmith41094

Thanks for the reply, Bassmanbob . Good to hear your experience with the garage storage. I'd likely be storing the bike a couple months at a time without use, so I'm starting to feel a little better about it.

Interesting though on the folding bike. My situation is a bit different though because I just bought a new bike, so I'm considering the options for what to do with my current bike. Guess its not a terrible problem to have.

Bassmanbob

Let me be clear. Living at or near the beach is different than living 2 miles from the ocean. The salt content in the air is far less where I live than on the barrier islands, but I have not had problems with the heat and humidity in southeast Florida.

terrafirma

I personally wouldnt worry about it, even with a vintage steel frame. Our road salt/brine/mag chloride is much more of a concern around here.