FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU... Rust on Dropouts... what to do??
 

I live in the New Brunswick, NJ area, and on Friday, I attempted to ride through Johnson Park, which I soon learned was half submerged after a massive rainstorm. I know, stipid me... Today, As I was pumping my tires, I discovered rust on my dropouts, as well on some of the nuts and bolts on the wheels and brakes :eek: :eek:. First, would a LBS (Kim's Bike Shop, if you know it) have any kind of rust thingy, or, if I have to go to a hardware store, what should I be looking for? Also, how can I prevent this on a steel frame (I know, don't ride in water, but are there any precautions I could take beforehand, because sometimes I have to ride through water and/or rain to get somewhere) Thanks in advance...

what kind of bike? if it just got a little surface from that one trip chances are a good cleaning and polishing will take care of it.

It's a Bikes Direct steel frame single speed that I use for everything... what should I clean it with?

Are you sure that the rust wasn't there before you went submarining?

I usually rub the surface rust away with brass wool. You can use naval jelly if that doesn't remove it. As for preventing it, good luck. You might put some WD-40 on it regularly.

You ride in the wet on a steel bike, you will get surface rust, don't worry about it, it will take years to do any damage.

It you want, clean it off with scotch brite or steel wool, and re-paint, with a zinc oxide primer before the top coat.

It may be worth coating the inside of the frame with ACF-50, Motorbike shops should sell this.

For your bolts, the only way to stop rust is to replace with Stainless Steel

If the DOs are chromed, the rust will clean off easily by just rubbing crumpled aluminum foil over the rust spots. You can spray WD40 on the areas you are rubbing with the foil to make it come off even quicker.

Chombi

Minor surface rust on steel dropouts is normal. It's about as important as rust on railroad tracks meaning zero. Rust elsewhere such as on bits of steel hardware is of more concern, not because it'll rust through, but because rust can freeze the hardware making service difficult.

You can't unrust steel, but you can slow the process and prevent future rust with a film of oil or wax on all steel parts. I use LPS-1 on my bikes, and there are a number of comparable products. The key is prevention, not cure.

"Rust Never Sleeps".. Neil Young :lol:
http://hyperrust.org/

Put a coat of Ospho on it and then paint it.

I second ACF-50. I use it both inside and outside, but strengthen its action by adding a protective wax, in particular LPS 3. LPS 1 is too light for the application in my experience. You can generally keep bolts rust-free this way too, but you will save work by replacing them with stainless, as already mentioned.