Originally Posted by
parkbrav
Can Vinegar hurt a bicycle frame if a very low amount gets sprayed onto it?
My dad's house has vinyl siding. part of the siding needed routine cleaning with water and vinegar. I brought my water sprayer normally used for the bicycle. I mixed some white vinegar in with the water in the sprayer and sprayed the siding. the siding is now clean. I forgot that the container now has a very small amount of vinegar when I sprayed down my bike. Did I do baaadddd?
No, it shouldn’t ld be a problem. The question to ask, however, just what do your think vinegar…assuming household vinegar… is going to do to clean the siding. White vinegar is 5% acetic acid in water. It’s mostly water. Adding more water makes it more mostly water. No matter what the Intertubz says, vinegar is a very poor cleaner. My favorite dumb Intertubz chemistry is to add vinegar to baking soda. It makes sodium acetate and some carbon dioxide. It cleans nothing.
Get a commercial surfactant based cleaner. It won’t hurt your bike either but will do a better job of cleaning.
Finally, why in Winter Cycling?