Dawes-man

For size? That's a novel excuse...

I'm hoping the chemical approach will work. And yes, the TA rack is small and pretty useless but you can't beat the look

Dawes-man

On the rust, I would treat the frame with oxalic acid first. I wouldn't repaint it for the reason you are reluctant, that it would lose you that lovely, period box lining. On the other hand, a good painter should be able to reproduce it...

This is a Paris Tour de France I had painted by Argos in Bristol, UK. They did a great job of matching the original colour of the frame, too.

JaccoW

That's a very nice finish! I have no intention to repaint it as it will be too expensive for what the bike is worth around here (€200-300 restored)

Will the oxalic acid leave the paint untouched?

Dawes-man

Yes, and it will remove rust stains from the paint, too. There's been a lot of discussion here on oxalic acid so it would be worth doing a search. It works on chrome, too.

I used it on a friend's bike - here's a before photo:

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Before oxalic acid... by Dawes-man, on Flickr

And an after photo:
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After oxalic acid... by Dawes-man, on Flickr

If you click on a photo you can go to an album of before and after photos. Everything was cleaned up with oxalic acid and Autosol metal polish

JaccoW

You have some beautiful bikes @Dawes-man. I'll look into that oxalic acid next week and get those Sturmey Archer wheels going your way.

Millstone

Any updates?

JaccoW

None yet, but my schedule is finally starting to open up. Time to buy a proper hacksaw and get to work this weekend.

Dawes-man

What are you going to use the hacksaw on? Sounds scary

I've just seen your earlier message... Thanks for your kind comments about my bikes. I ride them all from time to time, each time working a little more on that machines particular problems. It's the turn of my Rotrax Super Course at the moment. I had a derailleur cage get caught in the spokes a couple of years ago - it mangled the derailleur and spread the rear drive side drop out. I finally got round to bending the drop out back to parallel and fitting another derailleur a couple of weeks ago and have been riding it since. I haven't got round to truing the back wheel yet and it needs new bar tape. It has a Simplex rod at the front and I'm thinking of fitting an old Cyclo bar end gear lever for the rear derailleur instead of the present down tube Simplex, which is the stiffest lever I've ever used. The Cycle might be just as stiff but it will be nice to not have to reach down for both front and back gears.

This photo was taken on Sunday. Since then I've serviced the BB and altered the angle of the handlebars...


I'm look forward to seeing how the Super Licht turns out.

JaccoW

Hacksaw didn't work so onto the chemicals. I got some caustic soda and left it to work (while refreshing the mixture a few times)



Not done yet, but it is working!

One big issue for what I have planned is the utter lack of 40H rims around here. (that are also available in 32H)
There just don't seem to be any available anymore. The only one that still seems to make them is the Grand Bois Papillon which are €60 a piece without accounting for shipping.

Maybe I'll have to source a 36H AW hub shell and transfer the hub into that.
Something to think about.

As for the paint, since the paint isn't great to begin with I am kind of tempted to used boiled linseed oil to give it a protective coat. Anyone used that on a frame before?

I'll have to take care of the rust first though and duo to enviromental concerns none of the local DIY stores stock rust remover anymore.
Perhaps it's time for the home-made options of white vinegar or lemon juice and baking soda.

JaccoW

6 hours later, we are getting there...

Protip for anyone who wants to do the same: boiling water. The hotter the water is you use the faster it goes.


This is how thick it was.

Millstone

Rust remover: oxaalzuur? Oxalic Acid? depends on the amount of rust though.

alexnagui

Yes, you can find OA (oxaalzuur) online in the Netherlands. I know that because I have ordered some for myself. Still have to try it on one frameset which is on my project list. From what I understood, OA is not dangerous anymore once mixed with baking soda after its usage. So you can even pour that mixture down the sink.

Btw, I have tried Rustyco (a local analog of Evaporust, I believe) products on some parts and I was satisfied with the results.

JaccoW

Yeah I've read and heard about oxalic acid here. Only available online as far as I've been able to see, but apparently HG Vlekweg 7 contains or is oxalic acid. At the very least it gives me a small amount to experiment with. I have another frame that has some rust spots.

JaccoW

FINALLY!

That steerer tube used to be red too so I guess it's wise to coat it with something. Anyone ever tried preserving a frame using boiled linseed oil?

JaccoW

Went out and bought some Rustyco gel to treat some of the tatty spots on the bike. It's basically phosphoric acid and creates a black protective layer. Fine by me.



The bottom bracket and chainstays were pretty much brown before but after slathering it in gel it looks a lot better. I'll spray it off tomorrow and we'll see what happens.

Rexnuktia

Looking forward to the "clean" pics, and thanks for the Oxalic acid trick.

JaccoW

In between pics:
The black parts are the converted rust. Everything is still a bit slimy but should look a bit better after cleaning everything with water.

alexnagui

Did you not mix it with water? It's pretty strong stuff as long as I remember. I suppose that paper towels soaked in such mixture and wrapped around rusty spots would do

JaccoW

The regular liquid version does need to be dilluted but this is the gel version. You can just apply it straight away with a brush. Less faffing about with paper towels and such.

JaccoW

No progress on this bike right now but I just wanted to share this from the Gazelle historic database.
They seem to have recently updated their website and uploaded everything they have on their historic models all the way back to 1906!

The 1964 Sport Superlicht. Lots of details shared with my bike and nice "Vederlicht" (featherlight) tyres.


And the 1964 Sport Licht model

JaccoW

Just a tiny update on this bike since I seem to be dating Gazelle bikes a lot lately, this one seems to be a firm 1969 model according to this list.
I reapplied to a Dutch forum for classic bikes like this one to hopefully get a bit more info out and perhaps even some original parts.

That is all. Super Licht going back into hibernation mode.