Spoke cleaning formulas
 

Anyone got a secret mix/formula for cleaning alloy spokes? on a few of my bikes saltwater has put some oxidation/crud on them. something that maybe shines them up too.

thanks

i use steel wool.

Hose them down with WD40, and work them over with eiter steel wool or a pot scrubber. Works very well.

Alloy spokes? Zinc plated steel or stainless steel?

alloy

that's not enough info...saying "alloy" is like saying "mixture"...of what? 90% of modern spokes are stainless steel, and they rarely oxidize even in SF Bay Area salt air, but when they do you just follow the advice given above. The rest of the spokes are common carbon steel with usually zinc or occasionally a nickel plating, when they oxidize you get both chalky white zinc oxide and good old rust...I like to use a mild phosphoric acid with scratchy pads/steel wool, and only on spokes that are really worth it cause it's a lot of elbow grease. If your alloy spokes are something else, please let us in on it.

OK, I back down...yet again...seems that Mavic makes "alloy" spokes that are, in fact, a special high-strength aluminum alloy call Zicral. If you have a MODERN (ain't C&V) Mavic wheel with straight-pull spokes they might be made of Zicral and you will probably know it. If these are corroding, treat them as you would treat any aluminum oxidation.

thanks for the info, the spoke aren't alloy, my bad. they are probably steel w/ zinc/nickel plating. the spoke have a somewhat chalky appearance, and i found a spot of surface rust.

That's what I thought. Frankly, you're screwed. The best I've been able to do with those type of spokes is clean them up with oily fine steel wool and just keep them oiled or waxed to prevent further rust. That's what I have on my old track bike. One of these days, when I have the time, I'll respoke the wheels with stainless steel.

Yeah, I was thinking he meant "aluminum alloy" and I was about to fire off all kinds of solutions to make his spokes look good. But as it stands I believe some #0000 steel wool and a good metal polish would be in order, something like 'Mothers' or 'Blue Magic'.