Chip Seal or Oil?!?

[danmcdermott]

Riding through Idaho last week I came across a dirt road detour that looked wet with standing puddles. Everything else was dry so I figured it was recently watered because this seems to be WAY too much oil. Anyway later that day I noticed my breaks performing poorly and taking alot of input to affect deceleration. After reaching my destination for that day I noticed there was gunk everywhere on the lower bike and anything that gets hot like exhaust pipes had stalagmites accumulating on it.

The substance seems to be gritty black/grey oil that binds and accumulates. It has fouled my breaks, rusted the rotors and compromised the seals in my calipers. I have ridden on oiled roads and on fresh chip seal many times and never had this experience. After removing my front fender I excavated 4 cups of this stuff adhered to the inside, also another several cups from the rear fender.

I have ordered new pads, seals and o-rings for the rotors (spell check says oranges BTW) and will rebuild my calipers.....the rotors should be fine with brake fluid and a scotch brite pad. Exhaust pipes had to be scoured with a scotch brite pad and water as well as almost the entire underside of the bike. Even the kick stand is showing rust now. Researching on the internet suggests the best agent to remove accumulation is mineral spirits.

Have I been lucky to avoid this type of road application for so longwho knows what?

Antibus

 

[Speedy Coop]

Dirt road could have been treated with brine from gas wells, calcium or who knows what formulation of chemicals. If it was sprayed with thin downed chip seal oil or fogging oil, gas, diesel or most any solvent product will remove it. To the best of my knowledge I do not remember chip seal oil being corrosive.

 

[danmcdermott]

The latest. Spraying an anti corrosion oil has helped remove the hardened accumulation. After rebuilding the calipers I checked the rotors and found them to be under spec so ordered replacements. I have put more than 100k on this bike and rotors so hard to say that cruddy road in Idaho had anything to do with it. That crap is everywhere, challenging to remove and corrosive as evidenced by the rusting it is promoting.

 

[Bud]

What did you use?

 

[danmcdermott]

I used corrosionX which seems to loosen up the bits that adhered to the bike.

 

[rlievenski4555]

Riding through Idaho last week I came across a dirt road detour that looked wet with standing puddles. Everything else was dry so I figured it was recently watered because this seems to be WAY too much oil. Anyway later that day I noticed my breaks performing poorly and taking alot of input to affect deceleration. After reaching my destination for that day I noticed there was gunk everywhere on the lower bike and anything that gets hot like exhaust pipes had stalagmites accumulating on it.

The substance seems to be gritty black/grey oil that binds and accumulates. It has fouled my breaks, rusted the rotors and compromised the seals in my calipers. I have ridden on oiled roads and on fresh chip seal many times and never had this experience. After removing my front fender I excavated 4 cups of this stuff adhered to the inside, also another several cups from the rear fender.

I have ordered new pads, seals and o-rings for the rotors (spell check says oranges BTW) and will rebuild my calipers.....the rotors should be fine with brake fluid and a scotch brite pad. Exhaust pipes had to be scoured with a scotch brite pad and water as well as almost the entire underside of the bike. Even the kick stand is showing rust now. Researching on the internet suggests the best agent to remove accumulation is mineral spirits.

Have I been lucky to avoid this type of road application for so longwho knows what?

Antibus

Please total everything with your labor and send a bill to the Idaho DOT. Not likely that you will collect, but at least it informs of the idiotic practices employed. In Michigan, we have brainless jerks that think that spraying a coat of tar and dumping pebbles on it is road maintenance. Also thick coats of rubbery tar in road cracks. This creates huge risk for motorcyclists. All half hearted attempts at fixing roads should be stopped. Just build them right in the first place and enforce load restrictions on big trucks. Simple solutions.