Had my bike on the rack on the way to a race. A dump truck was spewing crushed lime dust and now my bike is absolutely coated with it. It isn’t wiping off, and is all over the drivetrain, tires, rotors, EVERYTHING! Anyone have experience with how to clean a bike coated in crushed lime dust?
Ugh. Sorry man!! It depends on what exactly the truck was caring, but if it was my bike I would NOT wipe it off. The dust is super abbrasive and will wreck the finish. Instead, first hose it off thoroughly. Then use a good quality auto soap and carefully wash the whole bike.
Hope this helps.
I’ve heard some folks suggest a diluted water/vinegar solution. This makes sense a lot of folks use vinegar solutions to remove lime build up on shower heads and other such things.
Curious to know how this turned out. Were you able to clean up your bike?
I’s use a 5% solution of citric acid. You will need to rinse it off any plain steel parts fairly quickly but it won’t harm aluminium, paint or rubber. More effective that vinegar due to lower pKa. FWIW this is the main ingredient in most dishwasher cleaners and coffee machine descalers.
BTW lime itself is corrosive to aluminium because aluminium is amphoteric so get it (the lime) off any aluminum parts first.
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