sailorbenjamin

Plumbers? I use a lot of that gray pipe insulation when I ship a bike and I have a pair of handlebars with nice original wrap that I'd like to put away while I ride around with Northroads bars and I'm about to wrap them up with pipe wrap, BUT, I'm wondering if I should be concerned with long term degradation or reactions with the tape.
I'm also wondering if it's ok to leave this stuff on a painted frame for a long time.
It's probably a dumb question but I've done just enough museum work to know the disappointment of taking some long stored gem out of it's box to find it wrecked by some well meaning but ill informed archivist.
Any plumbers dealt with this stuff long term?

Metzinger

Are they going to bounce around in the back of a pickup truck?
If not, I'd avoid using a material that can trap moisture against the object it's meant to protect.
Save it for your copper hot water pipes.

sailorbenjamin

Not necessarily in the back of a truck but I was thinking of putting all of the original parts in one box (freewheel, pedals, etc.)
You're right about the moisture issue. I used to see a lot of that spray foam in wooden boats. I guess the formulas have improved over the years but the old stuff would suck humidity out of the air and wick it right into the joint that they were trying to seal up. What looked like a nice sound hull would have a half an inch of rot behind and all the way around some difficult to fix place.

unworthy1

AFAIK this stuff is foamed polyethylene, so I doubt that it would react with normal bicycle paint, decals, or wax...but I've never done any long term storage to test that theory. The one time I've seen plastic react with paint involved nitro-cellulose lacquer (and it wasn't pretty) but I don't think the plastic was PE, either. If you have any significant temp and moisture fluctuation, it certainly might become a moisture trap if there's enough air gap for moist air to enter and condense, or if plain old water could get in and stay.

satbuilder 

One of the problems you will face with long term storage is the seasonal temperature fluctuation and the effect it will have on the frame. If I were doing it I would probably remove the seatpost and stem from the frame first. This will minimize the trapped air inside the frame, and hopefully limit the potential for corrosion due to condensation.

Next I would find some sort of non reactive dessicant and place a bunch of that inside of the frame box, but not touching the frame to avoid any sort of reaction between the dessicant and frame material. I suppose you could spray some sort of corrosion inhibitor down inside the frame but someday you'll have to get it out of there.

Finally I would try to keep the container in the most stable climate possible.

Back in the early '70's my father gave me a tour of the restoration facility for the Air and Space Museum. Some of the mothballing techniques, combined with hi-tech materials used in some of the aircraft back then caused more corrosion than they anticipated.

Predicador

Wouldn't cover with anything other than maybe a cloth draped to keep the dust off. Tried wrapping a harley fenderstrut set in plastic for storage after I cleaned it all up, couple of years later, a mess. Give the frame a good heavy coat of carwax, do not buff it off, cover it if you feel it is necessary, and let it be.
just an opinion from making mistakes in this realm.
Blessings

sailorbenjamin

Are you talking about the Garber Facility? I toured that place as a kid. What a fantasy land. I wanted to work there more than any kid ever wanted to be an astronaut.

unterhausen

I would never do this, who knows what kind of mess could result.