Yes, the chain is barely used but after being outside it accumulated some (sometimes a lot) rust.
What's a good way to restore the "shine"?
Leave it overnight in Coca-Cola?

Oil the chain and ride the bike.

Buying a new chain will make all of the rust disappear.

Couldn't have said it better. Don't be penny wise and pound foolish. Chains are cheap.


Tim

I agree with oil the chain and ride the bike. I sometimes get a little rust after riding in the rain. If you have any bad rust spots use a wire brush. As long as it's just surface rust should not be a problem in my opinion

Buying a new chain would be good.
But I try to follow the 3 R's.
Reuse is one of them

I had a few rust spots occur after I cleaned a new Shimano chain. I rubbed oil into the rust with a tooth brush ( I usually use Teflon Plus). Just as stated earlier, I rode the bike with that chain. I don't see any rust. By the way, Coca Cola and/or various acids attack steel. Unless you're passivating stainless steel pipe, I don't recommend it.

I had a pretty bad chain with rust and sticking links. As I am cheaper than most, I removed it from the bike and soaked it in hot water and dawn. Every half hour or so I worked on each link in the chain. After a couple hours, the chain moved freely and most of the gunk was gone. I sprayed WD40 on it and rode it for 10 minutes, then cleaned in a chain cleaner mechanism and lubed it with teflon. Works OK. You have to look close to see it is a decrepit old chain.

I agree in reuse... as well!
 

I had a rust chain on my mountain bike, and I wanted to restore it, no need to buy a new one.
So I found a rust cleaner that was pretty good. I used it and it worked pretty well if you still need it.

I found it while they were giving a free sample away when you order it...

Let me know if it helps.

Oh yeah, I think you can still get the free sample here for the rust remover

Are the two other R's "Rust Removal"? Then you could use all three R's at once!!

I have a salvaged x-mart bike that I turned into a winter rat as cheaply as possible. I, too, believe in minimize, reuse, recycle. The chain showed no wear other than surface rust. I took it off and soaked it in liquid wrench for a few days.

Options:
a) Clean it, lube it, run it, and forget about the rust.
b) Shelbrothane: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chainclean.html

What about a bath in oxalic acid? I think I have seen a few posts of people doing that it working pretty well. I agree that a new chain is the probably the best option, but I too have had the occasional x-mart bike that I was seeking to press back into service and an $8.00 chain would totally blow the budget on a project like that....

this is simple... BUY A NEW ONE. they are cheap and even though oiling a rusty chain can get it to move again, one link or plate that got too weak may snap the whole thing. i got an cruiser from a friend of mine who had it in his back yard. he decided to get on it, mash on the pedels just long enough for the chain to SNAP send him terra firma fastly. a week later, i bought it, repaired the same chain and oiled it (it was rusty but not uber rusted), got on it and after about 3 miles of riding, SNAP! luckily it only sent me flying to the ground where my face broke my fall.

new chain.

I like the original suggestion, three years ago, to soak the chain in Coke.

I've had chains rust up many a time, say after a 6 hour ride in the rain, and hanging my bike up wet, and not getting back to it for a couple of days...

I pretty much share scum1's sentiments from a few years ago.

Oil it and ride it and oil it and ride it again. A little wiping, as well...

Oh, and measuring....

If Sheldon said it, it is words to live by...no joke this man knew bikes!

BTW I live in Miami where if you leave the bike out for a couple days even under cover, rust finds your bike. One easy thing to do after a ride is buy some spray chain lube and give it a quick squirt to coat it until your next ride, after some time of doing this you will need to do a major cleaning because it will get all gunked up. Or buy a very good quality chain, like an XTR Dura Ace chain, they tend to endure better.

I also live by White Lightning lube.

I have an ounce left in my White Lightning. I'd guess 1997 Vintage!!!! I hated the stuff. I REALLY wanted to love it. Seemed to crust up my cogs and pulleys way more than other lube.

Is there a vintage lube section?
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/16/91...fb769527_o.jpg

I'd be willing to wager that after 3 yrs the OP has solved the problem.

hmmm... good point. maybe someone with the same problem will read this and it will help them.