Doing Battle with Rust

Two facts:

1. My wife may not know it, but her Battle brand bicycle is also a brake rod roadster. Sure, with it's welded frame maybe it's not a traditional roadster, but it is a roadster nonetheless. It's got the same old reliable brake rods.

2. When acid rain falls on 30% of the country, you will experience rust and pitted chrome parts, no matter how well you care for your bike.

But how to counter that rust? It is simple: Use steel wool, WD-40, and a cloth. Really you should use copper or bronze wool if you've got it, but I don't, so I am using stainless steel wool. Also, you can use any kind of oil. I am also trying cooking spray.

So how do you use these tools to counter rust. I will use my wife's bike as an example.

Step 1. Spray oil on rust.

Step 2. Rub it down with the steel wool.

Step 3. Wipe the rust off with the cloth.

Step 4. Repeat if necessary. Works like a charm and leaves you with a very nice finish which while not exactly new chrome new, is shiny, clean and shows a nice patina.

As a final note, the cooking spray worked well, but is tougher to wipe off than the WD-40. It tends to smear a bit.

Also, leaving a little WD40 on the chrome surfaces will help repel water, and therefore rust, in the future.

Comments

[Larry]

OK... so you don't have access to bronze wool. Steel wool will bit into the chrome a wee bit as I'm sure you know.

An alternative? You bet. Aluminium foil and WD-40. Crumple it up... apply the WD-40 pursuant to your written procudure and use the foil to buff the rust out. Might be a little bit more tedious.... depending on the severity of the rust.... but it WORKS!

Cheers!

Larry "Boneman" Bone - rust never sleeps....

[Larry]

BTW... for bonus points.... "WD" actually stands for "Water Displacing".... and it took them 40 formulas before they got it right. ;-)

Later!

Larry "Boneman" Bone - whatever became of the beta testers for preparations A through G?

[KG]

No, I did not know that my Battle Time & Space was actually in the "roadster" category at all. I just know that it's now shiny & rust free.

[John Timbes]

A preservation technique I have used in the past and have forgotten about. Thank you for reminding me. A little rust on the handlebars of mine and my wife's cheap Wal-Mart cruisers was O.K., but now that we have a his/hers set of Raleigh roadsters, a little more polishing and scrutiny is in order.
WD-40, duct tape, and zip ties are among the items no mechanic should be without, but I had not considered aluminum foil.
John