Touring - Can you get poison ivy from your bike?

Anybody ever catch poison ivy from their bike?

I took a fall off of a canal tow path this weekend (don’t ask!) that ended with me on my side, holding the bike, and skidding 4 or 5 ft down the dry side of the berm. There was no serious damage to me nor the bike, but we did a plow our way thru one of the most luxuriant patches of poison ivy ever grown.

I’m fortunate to be immune to poison ivy, but was wondering if the bike and panniers should be washed to ensure others who handle them don’t have problems.

I’m fortunate to be immune to poison ivy, but was wondering if the bike and panniers should be washed to ensure others who handle them don’t have problems.
Unfortunately I'm not immune, and am VERY sensitive to it.
Anything that come into contact with poison ivy can tansfer the urisol oil. The stuff clings to anything and doesn't wash off easy. Only thing that I have found to work is Tecnue, which will disolve the oil.

Usually get a rash 2 to 4 times a year. Already had it once this year.
I've gotten it from contact with mower blades, garden tools, gloves, shirts, jackets, shoes, edges of trashcans, other plants that had been in contact, even old, dead vines and fallen leaves.
I may have gotten it once from my bike tires.

You're lucky not to be sensitive. Thank you for thinking of the rest of us.

>>>but was wondering if the bike and panniers should be washed to ensure others who handle them don’t have problems

Well that's a mite intense, but yes I suppose there is a potential problem. It's the oils in the plant that trigger the rash in susceptible folks. If they handle the contaminated object they could get a dose of the oil. Personally, I'd find something else to worry about.

I'm susceptible and the WORST case I ever had was from having my arms licked by goats who had just gorged themselves on poison ivy.

>>> Can you get poison ivy from your bike?

So yes. . .not only that, you can get the clap from a tractor seat!

Worst case of Poison Ivy I ever saw was when a friend and I were clearing & burning Brush. I'd cut the brush (I am not sensitive to it hardly at all) he would burn with kerosene both dry and green stuff.. He caught it from the smoke and was in hosipital several days. Yep- Oils are what does it.

Yes.. burning poison ivy can cause a reaction in the nose mouth and down the esophagus - VERY nasty.

I read somewhere once that said if you break the plant open then no one is immune to poison ivy. I have not broken out unless the vine has been broken open and the sap or oil comes into direct contact with my skin. My friend only has to walk by it to break out.

Yes, wash evrything. The bike, the bags, and anything that touched them. The active oils can last a long time. What you are currently 'immune' to could hurt someone else. Two points. Someone who is 'immune' can(will) develope sensitivity if they keep pushing their luck. Poison ivy and poison oak are related to the cashew nut.

Worst case of Poison Ivy I ever saw was when a friend and I were clearing & burning Brush.
My dad always used to tell the story about how some idjit put poison ivy on the fire on a Boy Scout camping trip and he was swollen as all get out inside and out all over for I forget how many days. It sounded like a temporary trip to hell to me. :eek:

Yes, wash evrything. The bike, the bags, and anything that touched them. The active oils can last a long time. What you are currently 'immune' to could hurt someone else. Two points. Someone who is 'immune' can(will) develope sensitivity if they keep pushing their luck. Poison ivy and poison oak are related to the cashew nut.

This is a very good point. My father says he was immune for the first twenty years or so of his life, but is now (and has been as long as I've known him) one of the most sensitive people I know. I was never immune, but I wasn't too sensitive - until I caught a nasty case by mowing through a patch of the stuff when I was sixteen (I cannot understate how bad an idea this is. Don't do it!). Now I'm extremely sensitive to it, myself. Washing your bike might not be strictly necessary, but it would be a thoughtful thing to do, and smart for reducing your own exposure to the oils.

It's the same with other sensitizers people with imunity now gradually get worse if they don't pay attention. Plus once you gain sensitivity it can cross over into sensitivity to other stuff like epoxies or gasoline, at least I know a lot of people who claim this. W used to have a patch of poison ivy between the house and the lake, and we would run happily back and forth through it all summer. Then one year I got some poison Ivy or oak in another province and now I am suceptible to the stuff anywhere, though not dangerously so.

I'm not sure everyone is succeptible. The urushi industry in Japan, uses a highly sensitising oil as the "lacquer" component in the Japanese lacquer that can last mileniums. Some pieces of this lacquerwork have been found with only the exterior lacquer shell intact the wood all having been lost over time. The Urushi oil sensitizes 70% of the people who try to work with it. But the remaining 30% can work with it all their lives and not become sensitized. Getting the stuff on the lacquerware requires a lot of hands on work, it isn't a modern activity with gloves and respirators, not traditionally, and yet the 30% manage. So maybe you will get away with carelessness, but the based on the Japanese example you have only about a 30% chance of maintaining your resistence.

Cool thing about poison ivy rash, it's actually an autoimmune response. The oil induces a change in the shape of one of our skin component chemicals. At that point our immune system no longer identifies the component as "self" and attacks it as a "non-self" invader. Miserable rash. . .got a little spot on the forearm as I type this, and some chigger bites, and I'm pulling dog ticks off me at about three a day. It's a price ya' pay I guess for being an outdoors junkie. 'Course the G*****n deer tick showed up here several years back, so we all live with concern over Lime Disease.

Thanks for the tips everyone. I cleaned everything up to ensure family members don’t have problems from touching my gear. It’s been a week, and neither my wife nor I have come down with any symptoms.


I may have gotten it once from my bike tires.
Good point. I rinsed the tires on our bikes, too. We rode thru a *lot* of poison ivy leaves and branches that were blown down on the tow path in a bad storm that went thru the night before our ride.


I read somewhere once that said if you break the plant open then no one is immune to poison ivy.
My father was like that. He would break out from direct contact with the sap, but not from casual contact with the leaves, berries, or vines. I’m 64 and have never have had a poison ivy rash. I’ve never purposefully marched thru patches of it, nor went picking it, or silly stuff like that. But there have been times when I hiked in the footsteps of people who came down with pretty severe cases, and I came thru unscathed


Cool thing about poison ivy rash, it's actually an autoimmune response.
That’s got me curious as to why I’ve never had poison ivy in spite of having a chronic autoimmune disease for the last 20 years. Gonna ask my doc about that one.

Thanks for the tips everyone. I cleaned everything up to ensure family members don’t have problems from touching my gear. It’s been a week, and neither my wife nor I have come down with symptoms.



I may have gotten it once from my bike tires.
Good point. I rinsed the tires on our bikes, too. We rode thru a *lot* of poison ivy leaves and branches that were blown down on the tow path in a bad storm that went thru the night before our ride.



I read somewhere once that said if you break the plant open then no one is immune to poison ivy.
My father was like that. He would break out from direct contact with the sap, but not from casual contact with the leaves, berries, or vines. I’m 64 and have never have had a poison ivy rash. I’ve never purposefully marched thru patches of it, nor went picking it, or silly stuff like that. But there have been times when I hiked in the footsteps of people who came down with pretty severe cases, and I came thru unscathed.



Cool thing about poison ivy rash, it's actually an autoimmune response.
Interesting point. Makes me wonder if there is a link between that and an autoimmune problem I've hade for about 20 years now. Thanks.