Quick and easy cleanup for minor frame rust?
 

My '85 Raleigh's frame is in pretty good shape, but it does have some minor rust here and there. I don't mind the appearance of it, but obviously I'd rather it not spread.

It's worst along the top tube, especially near the brake cable guides, where the seat post inserts into the seat tube, and one one side of the rear fork.

I don't have any intention of stripping the thing down, and the paint and decals are on pretty good shape, so I don't want to sand and repaint or anything like that. Just clean up the worst of it and then try to keep it from spreading.

I'm guessing just hitting the thing with some Rust-o-leum clear-coat isn't the most advisable course of action here. Any "you probably already have all these items lying around the house" sort of de-rusting secrets that you folks could share?

Well...run a search and you will find many threads with advice on dealing with rust, from minor to complete strip down. The most likely candidate would be the localized use of Barkeeper's Friend. Its cheap and available in most stores that sell cleaning supplies - even the local grocery. Just run a thread search for it.....


Joe

I ran a search, but there were too *many* threads. I guess I needed to add more parameters but instead I chose the annoying lazy route. Please forgive me.

Barkeeper's Friend! Yes! I already have that stuff, thanks to the rather wonderful "Un**** Your Habitat" blog that I follow in hopes of one day having a home that looks like it is occupied by real adults. Didn't even occur to me that I could use it on the bike.

Danke!

Yup, make a paste with the BKF, glob in on, wrap in a damp paper towel, wrap plastic around it and tape it. Come back tomorrow, clean it with water with a little baking soda to deactivate the acid. Get some rust killer, little can in the paint dept at the hardwar store, and a small brush, just coat the rusty bits to finish killing. Add a little clearcoat spot on top....carefully.