This is a continuation of the live commentary from the other day (→here).
As for why I did such a crazy thing as climbing Nabeyatoge Pass in the middle of a typhoon at night,
I created this kind of scrap metal art,
hung it from the saddle rail,
and rode in the rain to demonstrate the theory that
rainwater causes the anodized coating on rims to peel, as an alternative to KCS (→here).
Come to think of it, until this incident I'd never even heard the name of a shop called KCS,
but it turns out they operate multiple locations.
So initially I didn't know which KCS was responsible,
but I later identified which store it was by asking customers.
I will not mention anything about that in this article.
The strap is threaded through the valve.
The nipple was fixed with epoxy adhesive
protruding from the rim.
This is the entrance to the old road at Nabeyatoge Pass on September 20th.
The scrap metal art is hanging down.
I was careful not to touch it at all after mounting it until I removed it.
The light on the seatpost is a Knog light (flashlight),
but I rarely use it.
Normally I hang a Cat Eye light in a leather case
from the band that fastens a pouch to the saddle rail (→here), but it interfered with the scrap metal art,
so I switched to a seatpost-mount type rear light.
This is an image I've shared before,
showing the summit of Nabeyatoge Pass from the same time.
↑This is what the scrap metal art looked like
I commuted by bicycle.
There are clear traces of riding in the rain.
↑This is the state of the scrap metal art.
Up to this point, I hadn't touched it at all after mounting it.
I placed it in a stainless steel bat
and first tried rinsing it with water.
First, or rather before even using neutral detergent,
it came clean with just water,
and there's no sign of the anodizing discoloring at all!
Was my approach wrong or were the conditions too mild?
Since KCS claimed the anodizing discolored from rain,
I'd like to prove that more harsh conditions cause discoloration from rainwater.
So then, I decided to test with an alkaline liquid as the likely culprit.
In this matter, I received information and advice from various people
via comments or directly.
Some said "You knew all along and are just playing dumb,"
but I shouldn't say such uninteresting things.
In the image above, there are two types of bleach,
the liquid type on the right is easier to soak in,
and the foam spray type on the left has a property of
clinging to the sprayed surface more than liquid does.
The concentration of sodium hypochlorite at the time of shipment (←it gets diluted over time, apparently)
is the same at 6%, but the contents differ in form,
and if you fill a spray bottle with liquid bleach, it just comes out like a water gun
without becoming foam, so there's a warning not to do it.
By the way, regarding pH, recently it seems the reading has changed from "peehah" to "pee-etchi."
According to textbook notation, it's "pee-ay-chi."
I lightly sprayed the foam type,
left it to sit, and then rinsed it with water.
It feels like something is reacting.
Next, I filled a syringe with the liquid type
and dripped it from the nipple onto the rim side, leaving it to sit.
The reaction was particularly intense between the rim and nipple,
and permanent discoloration occurred on the rim side that didn't return to normal.
Next, I soaked it in liquid bleach.
The image shows the state after the reaction had progressed somewhat,
and this is what it looked like after leaving it until the condition stabilized.
Sodium (sodium chloride?) from the sodium hypochlorite that's the main component of bleach
has precipitated out and become crystalline,
the crystals formed like tempura batter on an egg,
and when I rinsed and scraped them off with water, the crystals actually seemed to have protected the anodizing.
It appears that prolonged contact with air is a necessary condition for discoloring,
so when I tried spraying foam bleach again and letting it drip and sit for a bit before
continuing to spray,
it discolored like crazy.
Even hydrochloric acid used for solder flux didn't cause clear discoloring,
so there's no doubt that the cause is an alkaline liquid.
However, it's unthinkable that KCS would spray foam bleach or soak something in liquid bleach.
But from comments and what I've heard directly from people,
the suspicion is that it was AZ (Eaze) chain degreaser.
The liquid comes in two colors, yellow and blue,
the blue one has higher pH (stronger alkalinity),
and I've heard stories of black aluminum rims actually discoloring from it.
The container apparently has a warning to rinse immediately with water afterward,
but if you're careless, even the anodizing on Shimano cranks can discolor.
As for the rear wheel in question, the aluminum spider arms on the sprocket and
the aluminum rear hub shell also had permanent discoloring,
and white staining was progressing into the space between the rim and tire,
suggesting that the rinsing after chain cleaning was inadequate and it was left sitting for a long time.
If I write this, KCS might try to destroy evidence or
claim "We never had such a degreaser in our shop!"
but I don't care.
"The customer's rim was absolutely not discolored before leaving it with KCS"—that fact alone is sufficient.
As for the hub shell and sprocket, never mind, but regarding the rim,
I've had no fault in this matter in terms of what I brought out,
and I've already handled the customer's compensation.
Finally.
In further discoloring experiments I conducted after this,
an inexplicable phenomenon occurred.
One side of the scrap metal art discolored so intensely
that I thought I'd try to keep the other side somewhat less severe,
so I just sprayed it normally with foam bleach, but
numbers appeared on the rim side like writing.
As for why I did such a crazy thing as climbing Nabeyatoge Pass in the middle of a typhoon at night,
I created this kind of scrap metal art,
hung it from the saddle rail,
and rode in the rain to demonstrate the theory that
rainwater causes the anodized coating on rims to peel, as an alternative to KCS (→here).
Come to think of it, until this incident I'd never even heard the name of a shop called KCS,
but it turns out they operate multiple locations.
So initially I didn't know which KCS was responsible,
but I later identified which store it was by asking customers.
I will not mention anything about that in this article.
The strap is threaded through the valve.
The nipple was fixed with epoxy adhesive
protruding from the rim.
This is the entrance to the old road at Nabeyatoge Pass on September 20th.
The scrap metal art is hanging down.
I was careful not to touch it at all after mounting it until I removed it.
The light on the seatpost is a Knog light (flashlight),
but I rarely use it.
Normally I hang a Cat Eye light in a leather case
from the band that fastens a pouch to the saddle rail (→here), but it interfered with the scrap metal art,
so I switched to a seatpost-mount type rear light.
This is an image I've shared before,
showing the summit of Nabeyatoge Pass from the same time.
↑This is what the scrap metal art looked like
I commuted by bicycle.
There are clear traces of riding in the rain.
↑This is the state of the scrap metal art.
Up to this point, I hadn't touched it at all after mounting it.
I placed it in a stainless steel bat
and first tried rinsing it with water.
First, or rather before even using neutral detergent,
it came clean with just water,
and there's no sign of the anodizing discoloring at all!
Was my approach wrong or were the conditions too mild?
Since KCS claimed the anodizing discolored from rain,
I'd like to prove that more harsh conditions cause discoloration from rainwater.
So then, I decided to test with an alkaline liquid as the likely culprit.
In this matter, I received information and advice from various people
via comments or directly.
Some said "You knew all along and are just playing dumb,"
but I shouldn't say such uninteresting things.
In the image above, there are two types of bleach,
the liquid type on the right is easier to soak in,
and the foam spray type on the left has a property of
clinging to the sprayed surface more than liquid does.
The concentration of sodium hypochlorite at the time of shipment (←it gets diluted over time, apparently)
is the same at 6%, but the contents differ in form,
and if you fill a spray bottle with liquid bleach, it just comes out like a water gun
without becoming foam, so there's a warning not to do it.
By the way, regarding pH, recently it seems the reading has changed from "peehah" to "pee-etchi."
According to textbook notation, it's "pee-ay-chi."
I lightly sprayed the foam type,
left it to sit, and then rinsed it with water.
It feels like something is reacting.
Next, I filled a syringe with the liquid type
and dripped it from the nipple onto the rim side, leaving it to sit.
The reaction was particularly intense between the rim and nipple,
and permanent discoloration occurred on the rim side that didn't return to normal.
Next, I soaked it in liquid bleach.
The image shows the state after the reaction had progressed somewhat,
and this is what it looked like after leaving it until the condition stabilized.
Sodium (sodium chloride?) from the sodium hypochlorite that's the main component of bleach
has precipitated out and become crystalline,
the crystals formed like tempura batter on an egg,
and when I rinsed and scraped them off with water, the crystals actually seemed to have protected the anodizing.
It appears that prolonged contact with air is a necessary condition for discoloring,
so when I tried spraying foam bleach again and letting it drip and sit for a bit before
continuing to spray,
it discolored like crazy.
Even hydrochloric acid used for solder flux didn't cause clear discoloring,
so there's no doubt that the cause is an alkaline liquid.
However, it's unthinkable that KCS would spray foam bleach or soak something in liquid bleach.
But from comments and what I've heard directly from people,
the suspicion is that it was AZ (Eaze) chain degreaser.
The liquid comes in two colors, yellow and blue,
the blue one has higher pH (stronger alkalinity),
and I've heard stories of black aluminum rims actually discoloring from it.
The container apparently has a warning to rinse immediately with water afterward,
but if you're careless, even the anodizing on Shimano cranks can discolor.
As for the rear wheel in question, the aluminum spider arms on the sprocket and
the aluminum rear hub shell also had permanent discoloring,
and white staining was progressing into the space between the rim and tire,
suggesting that the rinsing after chain cleaning was inadequate and it was left sitting for a long time.
If I write this, KCS might try to destroy evidence or
claim "We never had such a degreaser in our shop!"
but I don't care.
"The customer's rim was absolutely not discolored before leaving it with KCS"—that fact alone is sufficient.
As for the hub shell and sprocket, never mind, but regarding the rim,
and I've already handled the customer's compensation.
Finally.
In further discoloring experiments I conducted after this,
an inexplicable phenomenon occurred.
One side of the scrap metal art discolored so intensely
that I thought I'd try to keep the other side somewhat less severe,
so I just sprayed it normally with foam bleach, but
numbers appeared on the rim side like writing.