‘What lies Beneath’
Alloy handlebars suffering sweat corrosion
The salt from excessive sweating will corrode your headset bolts, bottle cage bolts, can corrode aluminum alloy in handlebars and can affect the paint on your frame. Riding outside on the road is less of an issue because sweat evaporates more easily and the force of the air rushing by keeps the sweat from settling easily. However, on a turbo trainer, everything just runs right down off of you and on the bike and floor below.
Sweat can build up on and under the bar tape if you let it and slowly eat away your alloy bars causing them to eventually fail when under load! (See picture of one I uncovered today from a Lincoln COBL owners Cannondale Super Six Evo, took a while to sand down and disinfect etc)
Replace the bar tape at least once a season, it will give you time to inspect the bars for any corrosion. It's most likely to happen where there are scratches in the anodized coating. In between rides, you can use a bit of water and tiny touch of dish soap to clean, be sure to rinse well
You can buy sweat guards which cover the headset and top tube to protect the other parts of your bike or you could just drape some towels over them when turbo riding.
Sounds weird but give the bars a sniff (in private) and if they stink - change the tape and clean!
