I have been reading alot of recommendations on this forum that a steel bike should be coated internally to prevent rust. Is this mostly a concern for the thin walled, lighter than air road or track bikes? My old steel Specialized mountain bike is pretty heavy duty. I'm guessing it would take a hundred years for rust to significantly weaken it. What do you think?

if it's thick walled then i wouldn't worry too much. but spraying in some FrameSaver wouldn't hurt.

what is this frame saver you speak of? will most LBS' have it?

If they don't I would run away.

JP Weigle's Frame Saver
Modern steel frames have thinner tubes and often develop internal rust problems. Left untreated, rust can rapidly degrade an expensive frame from the inside. Frame Saver is easy to apply and will protect your frame from internal rust. Simply spray into open tubes and let dry. Designed for steel or cro-moly bicycle frames but widely used for general rust inhibiting on road and marine equipment, yard machinery and household items. Quickly gets into enclosed areas and prevents rust from forming. Will not harm painted, clear coated, or bare metal finishes. A 4 ounce (132 ml) aerosol can provides 3 to 5 frame applications. Ideal for use on all old or new frames. Safe to apply over light rust. We recommend it as inexpensive insurance for all steel frames. Proudly made in the USA.

is this something that has to be reapplied every so often?

as often as you feel, i suppose.

According to a frequent poster on the mech forum, THIS PRODUCT "looks the same, applies the same, dries the same but costs less." than Frame Saver and is available at auto supply stores.

I have never used Frame Saver or Amsoil. I use the aerosol BOESHIELD T-9 instead and it works just fine. Any of these will protect your frame from rust for just a little money.

Dogbait

I went to six bike shops before I found one that carried it. The fifth had heard of it.

cool, thanks dogbait. i think i paid around $14 for a can of framesaver.

That is scary. I guess if they don't sell or deal in steel bikes then why would they sell it.

You can get Boeshield from Amazon..

Wow, any respectable bike shop that sells steel bikes should be applying this to every steel bike they build before it leaves the shop. Perhaps at some shops the mechs in the back are doing it but the sales folks up front have no idea...

I think it'd take no more than 15 to 60 winters in the midwest salt. Frames I've seen rust through:

- 1930s Schwinn "World"
- 1960s Schwinn "Racer"
- 1980s Schwinn 5sp crusier
- 1950s Western Flyer cruiser
- 1980s Mongoose MTB (one fork dropout rusted off!)


Usually I've seen stress-induced breaks at rusted joints. But you don't want those either.

Whenever I repaint one of the old steel frames, I spray Rustoleum primer into the tubing.

Thanks for your advice. I decided to go ahead and treat the inside of the frame since I already have the bike in my shop for repairs. There is some rust inside the seat tube at the very bottom and inside the BB housing. The upper part of the seat tube is shiny like new.

I went looking for Amsoil. I'm not going to pay extra for something relabelled for the bike industry. I found a Penzoil product in a similar spray can. It is for rustproofing internal parts of marine engines. I'm guessing it is the same thing as Framesaver. It was just over $3 for a 12 ounce can in the automotive department at Menards.