I got a crmo 4130 steel frame and it has started to rust from the inside(paint is bubbling) after riding for less than a year. I am thinking of either powder coating or spray painting now, but I have not found a good shop yet... They are either cheap but lousy quality, severely overpriced but good quality or decent price/quality but they don't do the stripping of the current paint for me. I need the paint to last a few years. The frame costed me around $220 and I don't want to spend $50-100 every year to repainting it because of rusting... I ride the bike about 2 times a month on average for about 30km each time and the terrain I typically cycle on is the road cars drive on. I don't get how the frame is rusted, there are no scratches around the bubbling paint. There is a small scratch on my frame near the stem which has rusted but the paint hasn't bubbled. What kind of instructions should I give to the paint/powder coat guy when I bring my bike for repaint? Like are there any commercial products that can be applied before/after painting to prevent rust? What should I do after each ride to prevent rust? Thanks.

If the bike has rust to the point of rotting out the paint, it's most likely a lost cause to repaint, it will just keep coming back.

Sounds like you're storing your bike outside the majority of the time no matter the elements and perhaps you live near the ocean where the salty air compounded on the poor thing.

1st off you should store a steel bike indoors. And then apply this to the inside:

ok firstly, it IS stored indoors. I live in an apartment on the 11th storey. Several miles away from the sea(about 30mins walk). Is that bad?
Secondly, I've heard of this frame saver product before, but how does applying it on the INSIDE of the frame help prevent rust on the outside of the frame?

So I should leave it as it is...?

Do you have any pictures? And what make of bike is it?

Doesn't make a lot of sense to me mate, assuming she was a quality build to start with.

Hillbrick, who made my frame of the same name, recommend using an anti-rust product on the inside, something like the frame saver.
Looking after your bike helps, such as not leaving it out in the weather and not getting her full of water (sounds like you're doing that).
The outside of the frame is protected by the paint.

If you're getting bubbles of rust on the outside, I'd suggest the paint job was very poorly done. Hell, even elcheapo frames don't suffer that.

I'd suggest getting the frame very carefully bead blasted. NOT sand blasted, you need a very gentle procedure done by a professional with experience with bike frames because the steel in a good quality frame is about as thick as a sheet of paper, it's very easy to stuff up by someone used to sand blasting steel girders. After that, powder coating is a good option.

Realistically though, steel frames are not hard to look after. My Superlite, Ol' Rust, is a frame built (and painted) to a budget and looks like it's had all the loving care given to a feral dog, hence her nick-name. I've never done anything to my Europa apart from keep her clean and under cover. Neither are in trouble from rust, even Ol' Rusty's rust is surface rust from where the paint has been knocked off.

My Hillbrick is treated like the expensive princess she is and after three years, still looks like new.

(the only 2 areas affected)

The bike's brand is Airwalk(there is a airwalk shoe brand so search for airwalk fixed gear). I don't have any info on the frame except that it is 4130 crmo steel.


I don't think there is any shop in my area that does bead blasting AND powder coating . So I might have to get my frame bead blasted at one shop then bring it to a powder coating shop. I heard that steel frames begin to rust 15 minutes after being exposed to air and the time taken between the 2 shops will be longer than that.... What should I do?

And how do I maintain a frame nicely? Assuming I don't scratch/chip the paint, will the rust come back after the respraying/powder coating? I have never left my bike outside when it's raining but I do cycle on wet roads sometimes and water may get splashed on the frame. But the weird thing is that the frame that gets the wettest hasn't rusted.

I'm guessing the bike came with the gold components. Are you in love with the frame that it is worth the cost of stripping and repainting? I wouldn't worry at all about rusting between taking it between various shops. I would be surprised if it wasn't quite rusted on the inside of the tubes as well.

Airwalk bikes are notorious for not being very good and I don't advise pouring a bunch of money into it. Just ride the damn thing.

Yes I am. Well, actually it's a combination of the frame and the colour... The same frame only costs around $200 and I can afford it but I don't think I want to buy a new frame every year when I can just maintain it well(I don't know how tho).

So airwalk is actually quite a known brand? Anyway what brand would you recommend for a budget of around $500-600? I might consider just 'riding the damn thing' until it spoils if I can find a better quality bike at that price range.

I'm not recommending buying another instance of the same frame, especially from the same supplier. For all you know they could be storing their frames in a saltwater bath. Even if you had to paint another frame to get the color you like I would recommend looking for something else.

You may need to look up the word notorious.

well I did said known but I didn't say known for good bikes or bad bikes lol...

It's really hard to find fixies around here. The best brands are probably airwalk and purefix. I like purefix's bikes but their frames have the hold for installing a bottle holder which spoils the whole thing for me... I knew airwalk doesn't sell the best bikes but they are probably the only shop dedicated to fixies in my country. There are no shops that allow you to customize every single part other than airwalk and purefix. Ordering from the US may be an option but I'm pretty sure shipping would cost a bomb and I don't know what brands are good. Imagine me going through all the trouble and money to get a bike from the US only to find out the quality is bad.

I don't want you to think I'm making fun of you or your bike, because I'm not. It's your bike, you like it and it serves a purpose.

However, it wasn't made very well or it was made with sub-par materials and now it is rusting out so - if you truly enjoy riding bikes and don't want to deal with replacing your frame every year or so - it's time to buy something perhaps a little bit better and treat it with Frame Saver before putting it together and riding it. Learning things as you go is all part of the fun.

Would you then recommend me a good place to get fixies online? Like I said I really don't know what brands are good. Would be good if I can customise the colour of every part and of course they must ship internationally. How do I tell if the bike/frame is worth the money? This frame is made of 4130 CrMo and I read that it is a decent material so I thought it would be good but it ended up rusting so quickly...

Well excuse me you asked how to maintain a steel frame in the thread title.... and pretty much you left out a bunch of details about the environment you store the bike in so it was up to our imaginations up until now....

Not to mention pictures are worth more than words which you provided after the fact.

I just place it in my living room... What other details would you like to know?

Nope, other members already coaxed it our of you since the 2nd post to this thread.

ANYHOW, from the looks of the pictures and what you have posted, it seems the frame had some poor prep from the factory before paint. Such as left over surface rust which wasn't sanded/ blasted away and just painted over.

I still don't know what to do. I have thought of 2 options:

1) send my frame to a professional bike shop to get rid of all the rust and paint it over and maintain it very well
2) ride the bike till the rust eats through the steel and buy a new one


If I go with option 1, it will cost a lot but it will cost less than a new bike. Will be less troublesome at the start but as time passes I would have to do maintenance more often.
If I go with option 2, it would be less troublesome but unless if I buy steel bikes again the cycle would repeat and I have to spend more money...

if you can disassemble a bike and put it back together again, i'd just get an inexpensive SS aluminum frame and start over.

OTOH, i have a 29 and 35 year old crmo frames that i had powdercoated (stripped by the them) for about 100 each. both are still rust free. but then again i keep them inside and have a beater for wet days.

I wouldn't be too worried about surface rust, it'll take an eternity to eat through the tubing that is if you keep it indoors and wipe it down after being caught in wet weather.

You have more than enough time to make a decision or better yet, not worry about it and keep riding it as is, nothing is really subtracted besides aesthetics, until you want to upgrade.

I keep my bike inside too...