Cleaning gum?

Josepi said:

I'm sure it happens to everyone, but it just happened to me. Just ran through a piece of gum somewhere, and am wondering the best way to get it off the various bike parts without inducing harm/etc.

Warm water hardly works, same goes with soapy warm water. Tempted to step up to a degreaser I have laying around that's used for pnumatic tools, but am concerned it may be too much of a chemical for the bike's finish.

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You don't say specifically where the gum is stuck, and I suppose it depends on how stuck it is.

Wait on the pneumatic degreaser.

I would start with vegetable or olive oil.
If that didn't work, I would next try WD-40.
And if that didn't work, I would carefully try Goof Off. It's a pretty strong solvent, but if you're careful, you should be OK.

If none of those work, go to your local auto parts store and check their finish section. They have all kinds of stuff that gently removes all kinds of other stuff without harming the paint (assuming the gum is stuck to your frame).

Both tires to some degree, rear spokes, rear brake pad (single side), cooked some to the wheel from the pad mad, under the BB, a little around both derailleurs, back cassette and...I think that's it.

The degreaser I have is for hand tools, claims safe to plastic finishes. Went ahead and used it on the rubber/metal portions of the wheels, worked pretty well actually. Will try something more sedate when it comes to the painted CF bits

Thanks for the advice, will pop off for a bit and see what happens!

Just bought the damned thing yesterday, that was the 2nd time I've ridden it.

'08 Specialized Tarmac (most likely the bottom rung, but hey, I can't floss the 3k+ bikes yet)

Josepi said:

I'm sure it happens to everyone, but it just happened to me. Just ran through a piece of gum somewhere, and am wondering the best way to get it off the various bike parts without inducing harm/etc.

Warm water hardly works, same goes with soapy warm water. Tempted to step up to a degreaser I have laying around that's used for pnumatic tools, but am concerned it may be too much of a chemical for the bike's finish.

Click to expand...

acetone (or nail polish remover) will work.

Ice it and it might chip off easily.

I second the ice thing... its worked on shoes or clothes. Just might take a little while to be able to get to it depending where its at.

#3 for ice. Hold the ice on it until it gets hard, then pry it off.

Simple Green and elbow grease.

Silica media blast at 100 psi at 12 cfm. Just kidding...don't do it.

I've used Flitz on my plastics or other soft metals to clean them up. It states it is non-abrasive and safe to for use on fiberglass/plastics. I figure CF is similar but I won't make a habit of rubbing it with any cleaner type chemical.

http://www.autogeek.net/flmepopare1o.html

Bestine?

http://papercement.com/bestine.html

Give Mineral Sprits or Mineral Oil a try....