Road Cycling - how can I prevent rusting bolts!

I have a new bike and I want to prevent the bolts from rusting. My last bike and my riding buddies all get rust inside the bolts. Any secrets to stop this from happening? :)

Use stainless steel bolts. Remove them, clean and spray with wax furniture polish. When you replace them, ensure the threads are lightly coated with grease or anti-seize

Keep the bike clean and waxed. Stainless isn't rustproof, only rust resistant. You gotta keep it clean. Also, wipe it off and wipe it dry if you get caught in the rain, or ride on wet roads. That grime gets everywhere, and it ain't clean water once it hits asphalt.

Could try to replace all the bolts with brass hardware ;) .. or titanium (ti won't rust will it? no, right?)... ti would be lighter than brass .. I think I'm thinking of brass... not copper... wake up mind, wake up! :mad:

pretty much what he ^ said.

stainless doesn't like salt water, so rinse your bike off after riding if they salt the roads where you live. you can also get coatings to put on steel to stop it rusting but i can't find links right now...

fssb
sparky

http://www.corrosionx.com/

We coat everything on our salt water jet ski's with this stuff. Works pretty damn well.

Ti will not rust..no...but its mad expensive

Don't Ti bolts need to be replaced every so often? I am sure that I read that they are subject to shear after a while. I know, all bolts are, I mean more so.

Please don't use brass. They are very weak! they also turn green.

I would vote for stainless and keeping it clean.

I was reading in another forum here about bike locks. Someone suggested pouring candle wax in hex type bolts so thiefs couldnt quickly unbolt parts. This seems like it would prevent rust as well in some places. Not a good idea if you are constantly tinkering though.

Titanium, despite typical belief....often has less strength and stiffness compared to steel for a given cross section of the material. This of course depends on the alloy but...it is lighter, and with different cross sections is great for frames....but yes...for a given size bolt it canbe slightly weaker than the steel ones....I think that they are only a problem if overtorqued or used in high stress areas....i wouldnt use them on a stem for examble....but many other applications would be ok. thats my .02

Put a dab of clear silicon caulk in the heads and smooth off. Will keep water out and easy to pop out when needed. You can actually reuse them if you don't lose 'em. Black silicon works too.

I have the same issues, since I commute all year round. The salt on the New England roads this time of year will rust your bolts if they're not protected. Stem bolts, for example, tend to be chromed. The chromed parts won't rust, but the chrome on the inside of the hex head tends to get worn away by tightening and loosening.

I've done a couple of things:


You can replace the bolts with stainless steel bolts. I find that the normal stainless bolts you can buy at the hardware store don't rust, despite what others have said. Mine have been coated in salt and spray for months and months with no traces of rust. But if you're really paranoid, you can get bolts made from 316 stainless (instead of the usual 18-8), which is what they tend to use on boats. If can hold up to ocean spray, I think it'll be fine on a bike.

Go to http://www.mcmaster.com/ and go to "socket head cap screws" under "fastening and sealing" if you want to buy these bolts. And keep in mind that most bolts on a bike are 5mm, otherwise known as M5. They have a link to a description of the different materials on the "socket head cap screws" page.

Coat your bolts with Boeshield: http://www.boeshield.com/. In some cases you can't find good replacement bolts. My stem bolts, for example, are 5mm, and have built-in washers that have the same diameter as the head. I've been unable to find stainless bolts that have the built-in washers, and all of the separate washers I've found are too big to fit in the bolt-hole on the stem. So I can't go stainless for those.

In these cases, I spray the bolts with Boeshield. Boeing invented Boeshield to protect planes from corrosion. It works really, really well -- and you can also use it as a chain lube! I find that it's not as smooth as other bike chain lubes, but it lasts a longer, stays cleaner, and protects against rust. It's probably very similar to the corrosionX product described above.


I guess you could also get Ti bolts, but they're damn expensive, and you have to use Ti-Prep to keep them from seizing. Don't go for brass on bolts where strength is important (like stem bolts), unless you like pain.

Why do stem bolts need to be so strong?
Ive had a rack bolt shear off. The shear stress when carrying a loaded pannier can be considerable, so only use steel. Other bolts only need to be strong in tension, they are not load carrying.

The reason stem bolts need to be strong is not because they necessarily are more likely to break, but because if they do break, the consequences could be grave -- literally.

How do you think painting the heads of the bolts with clear nail polish would work?

It is almost invisible on fingernails (granted it is somewhat shiny) and seems to hold up for a while on fingernails which are constantly touching things and getting wet. How weel would it hold to metal though?

I was wondering about nail polish too, but I wonder if the build-up would make it hard to adjust. Thanks evryone for your help.

I use Phil Wood's waterproof grease on all of my exposed steel parts on my bike. I don't "goop" it on but work a small amount in with my fingers. Works really well on exposed steel brake cables, stem bolts and water bottle bolts. Since I started using this I have no rust issues. The great thing about this is that there is no build up and you can clean and reapply simply by wiping down the areas with a de-greaser.