Another take on ye lode rusty parts question.

I have a set of 27" Ukai tubular wheels from a late 70s Fuji. Last night I set to work on the coating of rust on the steel spokes with some lightly oiled steel wool. After a good amount of elbow grease my test spoke felt smoother but was still dark gray. (I assume this might have something to do with the quality/age of the steel.) My questions:

- Could the rust be removed (and the spokes made shiny again) using a different, more industrial strength method? (I understand oxalic acid is popular around here. I could likely do this, but I'd prefer not to.)

- Is it even worthwhile to refurbish these old wheels, or should I just replace 'em? Would they still potentially be structurally sound? I'd like to keep them as they are the original wheels from the bike, but it's looking like it's going to be a pain in the arse (and possibly expensive) to do so.

Thanks y'all.

Steel spokes are an indicator of very cheap parts. Replace them with SS spokes.

Basics .. after you drip penetrating oil in the nipple threads ,
are the spokes able to be re tensioned?, Or turning the nipple
just winds up the spoke? then they are frozen in place.

You might brighten them with steel wool, or an SOS pad. But that might be a mistake.

Carbon (non stainless steel) spokes are usually zinc plated or galvanized which protects them from the weather pretty effectively. If you clean and polish them you're removing their weather skin, and the rusting process will be accelerated.

You didn't say anything about the mechanical condition of the wheel. If it's OK, or if it's slightly out of true and can be aligned, forget the cosmetics, and ride these wheels until they give out. Then you'll be left with a difficult decision; replacing or rebuilding wheels is petty pricey amd may not be warranted on a bike like yours. The best option down the road might be to look for a yard sale bike of similar vintage, that has good wheels, and buy it for the wheels.

BTW- my oldest wheel still in use, is the rear wheel of my track bike, built with carbon spokes in 1968 or so, and ridden on the streets of NYC in all weather for years. The spokes show their age, and the weather damage, but the wheel is otherwise fine, and I'll keep using it until I can't any longer. I can't tell you haw often over the years people would comment, "you better rebuild the wheel ASAP. It'll rust through and collapse any day". So far "any day" has been decades in coming.

Thanks for the replies. Perhaps I should've been clearer. These (alloy rim) wheels belong to a rebuild project I'm just beginning. The bike isn't a cheapie and is worth rebuilding. (Despite the 27" wheels, but that's how they came in the 70s.) The wheels appear to be sound (the hubs need to be repacked, but I can do that) but before I go much further with them I'd like to know if anyone thinks the *steel* spokes can be made shiny again. If so, how? Aside from that I'm also wondering if anyone has any concerns about the structural integrity of (formerly) rusty 35 year old spokes? Again, I would make sure the wheels are in decent condition before putting them back on the bike, but if it's just a bad idea to ride on corroded old steel I won't do it.

As FBinNY suggested, you likely have zinc plating or chrome plating.

If zinc, light-gray to dark-gray IS the normal finish and color.

=8-)

+1, dont scrub away the Zinc. Galvanizing is Good Metal surface treatment.

They're Repainting the 101 bridge out here with a sacrificial Zinc content paint..
sea-salt rain/mist takes the Zn instead of the steel.

I thought your question was clear. You can clean and brighten the spokes with steel wool or an SOS pad, or even sandpaper. It'll be a pain at the crosses and near the hub, but it can be done. bare steel is darker than plated steel (sort of a dark battleship gray), and without the plating will rust anew fairly quickly. You can prevent that to an extent with sprays like LPS-1 or WD-40, but you'll have to keep after it, and it'll be a dust magnet.

Whether you clean them up or not the strength will be compromised to an amount dependent on the depth of the rust. In most cases it won't be dangerous, since spokes aren't likely to fail en mass. But if you do get breakage you won't have a choice about rebuilding or replacing the wheels.

You have not indicated at all whether you have checked all the spoke to make sure they turn freely.

If you want to keep using these wheels for a long time, why not rebuild them with good double-butted SS spokes and new spoke nipples while you've got the bike "open"? It's a good investment, and like the other posters commented, the plain steel ones will never be as shiny.

OK, so the spokes on my wheels are likely zinc plated and this zinc (and probably some of the underlying steel) have rusted. The best, cheapest policy is to ride them as is, rust and all. This will leave whatever protective coating they have on them as intact as possible. Otherwise I can take steel wool to them, but I'll be stripping away this protective layer as well as any rust. The color of the spokes now is largely rust with some gray spots showing through. When I'm done "shining" them they'll be the dark gray color of the underlying carbon (along with some even darker stained areas from the rust, so it appears).


So I think I've got it, thanks. My plan is to shine and ride these wheels until 1) I can find cheap replacements or 2) they give out and I decide to rebuild them, a feat I've never attempted before.

You basically got i, except that zinc doesn't rust. What you see is the steel itself rusting through, the same way is does through chrome on (old) car bumpers, and painted bridges.

Depending on the extent of the rust, you may be surprised at how long these wheels last. Before stainless steel became dominant for better spokes, spokes were all like yours - plated steel, and though they didn't age well cosmetically, they held up for decades.

Not necessarily on older gear.

If the rims and hubs aren't worn and come up nice, some DB SS spokes would make em sweet.

At the time that wheel was new, stainless spokes were actually less reliable than galvanized spokes. Stainless spokes were only used on garage queens and poseur wheels.

This is no longer the case, and modern stainless spokes are just as strong as galvanized spokes, but without the corrosion problems.

Fish oil, or a rust treatment based on it. Magic stuff. Can you get "Rustol"?