Hi,

I have an old rossin track bike, and it has rust in the seat tube I can see from taking out the seat. Quite a lot actually. Is this a problem? I assume there is rust elsewhere, as well. Is it easy to fix? I assume if I fix it, it's as easy as preventing as getting frame saver. Any tips on this matter?

Thanks

look for peeling paint or bubbling paint on the outside...if there is, sand away to look at the damage....if not, just take framesaver and do it with the bike totally disassembled. You should be fine. If anyone disagrees, let me know, this is just from personal experiences.

There are also some rust spots on the outside. There is bubbled paint that I had already sanded, and I knew it was rust. I can sand quite a bit, and the edge of what I sand keeps looking brownish like rust. I find it hard to believe the whole outside is rusted even under smooth paint though... So it seems to have a fair amount of rust on the outside, but quite a bit more on the inside Will framesaver really prevent it from further rusting on the inside? Is rust bad on the inside?

Pick at the bubbled paint with an ice pick or similar instrument, if you can get throught the tube wall, I would say the frame is toast, or at least be very careful when you ride it.

If its structurally sound, I would flush all the insides of the tubes of the bike with phosphoric acid, its available under different names, for marine applications its called Ospho-cote, I believe. Auto body supply stores also have it. Phosphoric acid stops rust by converting iron oxide to an inert compound.

There is a product used for motorcycle tanks that is a two step process: the first step removes rust and etches the metal and the second step imparts a hard greay coating to the steel. I wonder if this would work?

Err I find it hard to believe the rust is that bad... It is a light bike, so the tubes are thin, but it's just bubbled next to a tiny chip is all... I don't want to risk dinging the tube though.

Okay, that's different from major bubbling. If you see bubbling in a place where there aren't any dings in the surface nearby, you really need to explore those. The most common places for frame-destroying rust are around the bottom bracket shell, especially where the chainstays connect with the shell. That's a critical area.