sk8brdkd

I started working on this boys bike I picked up. I'm working on these bikes just as a hobby to learn how to fix or restore bikes.

Yesterday I was able to get Most of the rust off the rims. I am using a rust remover with a Scotch brite pad and was getting decent results but in some areas, I saw scratches underneath the rust and on different parts of the rims and handlebars, there are scratches.

Is there a simple way for me to either remove those scratches or to smooth then out? As I was thinking of spray painting the wheels and handlebars gloss black.

Also, the only place I'm having a difficult time removing the rust, is around the area where the spokes meet the rim. I'm rubbing but the rust isn't budging. Any ideas?

Is there a simpler way for me to upload pics besides using a URL? I wanted to attach a few pics of the bike on here.

wschruba

Typically, for restoration level work, you need to disassemble the wheels into their component pieces, to easily remove corrosion.

That said, on a bike that doesn't warrant that level of work, you are better served by getting a small, stiff wire-brush (stainless or high-carbon) and going at the junction of the nipple/rim with that. An oil sprayed on the brush may help remove the rust.

For handlebars/numerous light, rusted scratches, you might try a progression of 3/1/000 steel wool, lubricated with a light oil (WD-40 works perfectly). The shallower the scratches, the finer the wool you want to use. You typically don't need the grades in between those on a bicycle, as if the rust is worse than the 3 can handle, it's probably shot, anyway. Finer than 000 is also not so much a waste, as it is so fine that is is useless for anything but putting a showroom shine on chrome fenders. A chrome polish, such as Chromax (personal favorite), loaded into 1/000 steel wool, will eat a good amount of rust without too much effort on your part. Final polishing should be done with a fine abrasive such as Blue Magic/Simichrome on a rag, as directed.

Scotchbrite, used un-judiciously, will cause more damage than it will remove. Depending on the grade (most people are referring to the 'green' Scotchbrite when they use the term), you will scratch the hell out of the surface of whatever you are cleaning just by using it. They do make various grades, but my general experience is that it is inferior to steel wool for bicycle uses. I'll use a fine pad for the final pass before priming a frame, but that's about the extent I will use them. Steel wool is simply cheaper, not that the synthetics don't have their benefits (painting, etc...).

dabac

Unless a true vintage bike, steel rims are rarely worth salvaging due to the poor braking they offer with rim brakes. Paint can't be used on a rim brake rim unless the brake track is masked off. Then all the spokes have to be masked off too. A bit of a task.
Scratches can be sanded out with a fine grit emery cloth. It'll ruin the surrounding surface treatment.
Rust is fairly tough. What you got around the spoke nipples might be reinforced by some reaction from the dissimilar metals. You might have to unlace the wheel to deal with it. And use something more abrasive. File, emery cloth etc.
Rust can be attacked chemically. Either by something like oxalic acid to be removed. Or by various "converters. But it takes a good-sized bath to do a wheel

fietsbob

No Easy way. Rust is part of steel/Iron combining with Oxygen.

coaster brakes you can paint over stuff , rim brakes ? buy new wheels with aluminum rims.

jefnvk

Regarding stopping, it all depends on what you are doing. My Le Tour keeps its original steel wheels, for the mostly flat trails and roads it rides, the braking is more than adequate.

To clean them up, I generally use fine steel wool and the liquid bar keeper's friend. It works well enough, although you're never going to get show quality from it.

fietsbob

A friend has an old english steel rim bike , once the chrome plating was gone the braking on the rusty steel improved.

johny24

hmmm