Originally Posted by
danallen
Last time I had the tape off the handlebar was a little more than a year ago. No sign of trouble then.
I live in Houston, sweat is for sure a factor here. I don't have a trainer.
I don’t think this happens
only on trainers but I’ve been seeing a lot of this kind of breakage on-line lately that is trainer related. Your location is kind of a triple whammy when it comes to corrosion. You have high humidity which allows sweat to accumulate rather than evaporate. The high humidity allows the salt that you deposit on the handlebars to keep working away when you
aren’t riding. And you live near the ocean where the salt concentration in the air is higher. All three work together to make a perfect aluminum corrosion mechanism.
You might want to consider a different handlebar material.
Titanium would never have a problem. It’s pricey but the cockroaches that take over when we are gone will appreciate them
Carbon might be something to consider as well.
By the way, I can tell you spend a lot of time on the hoods.
The handlebars appear to be original, the bike was made in 2009. I would emphasize, however, all the damage occurred over a period of about 15 months. When I had the tape off, installing new cables, the handlebars were pristine.
If you’ve been riding more because of the obvious, you might have put more salt on the bars then usual. The rate that corrosion of aluminum occurs can be rather fast given the right conditions.