Originally Posted by irclean

So I pulled the trigger and bought myself a Norco Ceres. Thanks to everyone who responded to my "which bike should I buy?" threads over the past year. I plan to use the bike as my all-weather, all-purpose commuter and it will see winter duty. The City Fathers here like to use a lot of salt to combat the snow and ice and last year my trusty Schwinn developed a lot of surface rust on anything that wasn't aluminum, plastic, or rubber. The Schwinn's frame is aluminum but my new Norco has a Reynolds 525 frame and chromoly fork. I would like to preserve its integrity and good looks by whatever means necessary - except for keeping it in the garage during inclement weather.

I am looking for advice on how to protect my frame from the inevitable exposure to moisture, salt spray, and winter road grit. Would a can of Rust-Oleum serve my needs? I've even considered taking it to one of those car rustproofing shops to see if they could spray inside my frame tubes (assuming said tubes have the necessary drain holes).

And what about all the little steel fasteners and such; is there any sort of protectant that I could apply to them as well?

Thanks in advance for any input!