Some bicycles get rode into or through lots of deep water, other bicycles often get left out in the rain and foggy weather.
Any which way, bicycles can most definitely rust from the inside out, so are there any recommended ways to protect against the elements?
Frame Saver is one example of an anti-rust product you can spread inside your frame: https://velo-orange.com/pages/how-to-use-frame-saver. Though as j4k3 mentioned these products are not perfect.
In reality, the rust in a steel frame isn’t usually bad enough to make the frame unusable. The bigger problem is interfaces between parts. Seatposts love to get stuck in steel frames that have been left in the rain too long. Screws, too.
Aluminum, titanium, and carbon frames will not corrode significantly in wet weather. In rainy areas you will sometimes find people who have a winter bike in one of those materials, and save their steel bike for the drier months.
Meh, I hear ya. My frame has had 43 years to show its ass and rust the bottom of the seatpost tube all the way through from the inside out 😞
Luckily my seatpost itself is made of stainless, so the tube itself never got truly stuck, but the original seatpost clamp bolt was a different story. That was totally stuck, and I had to cut that with a Dremel and replace the bolt and nut with spare parts.
Kinda tricky dealing with an antique BMX flatland bike that was literally rode quite hard and put away wet for over 20 years.
There have been products that you can apply to the inside. I don’t recall by name, but I think they are related to the rust converters common to auto restoration type stuff. The real issue here is that you are unable to prep and clean the surface and there was likely lots of contamination in the fabrication of the frame simply from handling the tubes. This contamination was then cooked by welding/brazing for steel. For internal tube coatings, it is probably only mildly effective for the old highest end cromoly tubes like the Reynolds triple butted stuff. Protecting the center of that kind of tube is important because they are so thin.
In reality most steel bikes will fail with fatigue cracks around the bottom bracket. Those are usually fatal. Occasionally the seat stays will fail at the seat tube, or stays around the dropouts, but those are usually from latent manufacturing defects. Anything around the head tube is usually indicative of a crash or dropping of some sort, and the drive side chain stay and seat stay are very subjective to the types of damage as these are often damaged by a badly setup rear derailleur (not applicable here). This is how I asses all damaged frames at a glance and know if I should warranty something in a shop. I’m mostly from the post steel era in bike shops, but still know the basics. I’m also assuming that Mongoose was all steel.
If it was aluminum and you have cracks, that is game over without exception. Aluminum is a different set of issues entirely, but you are unlikely to ask about corrosion with aluminum.
Post some closeup pics of the damage some time and I’ll tell you what I see. I used to have a structural steel welding cert, owned a body shop twice, and spent years as a Buyer for a chain of high end bike shops. I might be able to tell ya a thing or two if I see the issue.
Bleh, not much point anymore, there’s not a lot that can be done anymore on my old bike. I was more or less asking for future knowledge and to bring the discussion to the bicycling community.
The additional problem with my old bike is the type of metal it’s made from. It’s 4130 chromoly aircraft steel, and although the steel is rather light and strong compared to typical bicycle steels, 4130 also has one serious drawback, which is that the heat from welding causes the metal to lose temper around the areas welded.
I already have a good idea what all would need to be done to try getting the frame more or less fixed, but it would still end up being a compromise of sorts. Not like old Silver’s frame is ever gonna be anywhere near as valuable as other SuperGoose frames in good condition though.
I’d basically have to have a handful of custom reinforcement brackets to have welded in key stress spots, plus deal with the bottom of the seatpost tube similarly.
Also, it would be neat if I could get a template for the bottom ‘spider’ bracket from the 1979 model that they dropped on the 1981 model.
I’ve already talked with a very skilled welding shop that I already fully trust with my frame, they want like $70 an hour, not counting materials and parts.
Plus I gotta figure out a way to remove my left rear peg, it’s totally stuck on there because the threads on the back axle were partly mangled when I put the pegs on, and now I can’t even remove the back rim because of the damn stuck peg, not even with a pipe wrench… 😞
Triflow works okay. When I worked in a machine shop, we used an acetylene torch and a rosebud tip to heat old bolts in engine blocks to a light cherry red. Then you dab on some paraffin wax. The wax will liquefy and quench the heat while filling the void from dissimilar heating. You will harden the fastener with the quenching and you need a place to target the fastener directly. However, this technique works so well that it is common to go from a rusty blob that looks like a parasitic ferric lifeform has merged with the host to something that can be unscrewed by hand after it has cooled. You just risk damaging finishes with this one.
Using a combination of triflow, hot/cold cycling, and janky leverage, are the ways it is done in a bike shop. GL
I have omnium frameset and it is coated out of the box. So as other suggested it exists. As for my usage, I decided to not worry about frame maintenance that much and just pay about 100€ for complete recoat in professional paint shop. I was bit surprised that it isn’t that expensive to get it coated, you have to disassemble it or pay 20€ more.
Some frames have small holes for drainage and air exchange so they can dry inside. I’ve also heard about some procedure where the inside gets waxed but I don’t remember if that was for bicycles or motorcycles
Actually, all metal bikes with welded tubes have various small holes inside, to relieve the heat pressure from the welding process. And even if the holes are placed favorably for any and all water to drain from a frame, given enough time the corrosion will still accumulate.
My bike is 43 years old, and aside from the various stress cracks I’ve mentioned in other posts, the very bottom of my seatpost tube has started rusting all the way through, there’s now a rust hole down there, and I had to rig it up with an extra seatpost clamp covering that spot to try to improve whatever structural integrity the old bike still has left.
I wish I had thought to have it treated somehow like 20 years ago, but hindsight is 20/20…
Steel is repairable. Not worth it unless the bike is special but you can weld a patch in. Of course you need to be a great welder to work with that steel without ruining it but it is possible.
This bike actually is special to me, it’s the best investment I ever purchased back in 1998, at age 15, for only $10. It’s a 1981 Mongoose SuperGoose, was originally a very valuable bike. For me, the value is in the thousands of miles I’ve put on it.
I didn’t buy it to put in a glass case though, I bought it to customize to my liking and ride the hell out of it and learn some BMX flatland! So yeah, between the rain and my BMX tricks, I’ve been pretty rough on it.
I more or less set it aside, semi-retired about 5 years ago, noting the wear and tear, rust and stress cracks catching up with time. I’m not in any rush to fix it right now, not high on my priorities list, but I’d like to know all my options before I ever try to tackle this project.
It might be best to hang it on a wall as is. You can repair it but every scratch is telling a story and that is lost if you do too much.
I hear you there too, but ultimately, if my age hasn’t caught up with me too damn much, I do wanna get back out and ride some more one of these
daysyears.If anything though, I do want to find a replacement matching solid stainless 43 tooth chainring with the oldschool Mongoose logo, I’ve worn the teeth and decal on mine almost completely out, and as a result it wears chains out pretty damn fast.
I’ll hang the old chainring on the wall, once I find one, but I don’t think I’ll be hanging the bike on the wall anytime soon. Currently, and for like the past 5 years, it sits safely next to our dining room table off to the side, so it’s safe from the weather, thieves, and apparently me for now…
Spray/pour ACF-50 in the frame prior to assembly. Drain, wipe, assemble. I did this to my Soma Double Cross. That would probably not make a frame weatherproof if left under the rain regularly. If you want to have a DGAF frame that can withstand any amount of water at any frequency, you need an aluminum frame.
Yep: Frame Saver!
What is your bike frame made of?
Chrome plated 4130 chromoly aircraft steel. Not like I’m terribly worried about the chrome plating, as any aftermarket welds are gonna ruin that in those areas. The stuff is rather strong and lightweight, and the tubing is only about half as thick compared to typical bike frame steel, but it has one major drawback.
The heat from welding the metal is well known to cause it to lose temper around the areas of the welds and basically reverts to about the strength of mild steel, which definitely sucks when the tubing is only half the thickness.
The frame indeed had proven very strong through most of its usable service life, but I really have to admit, I had been rather rough with it for over 20 years, and leaving it out in the rain regularly didn’t exactly help.
But yeah, almost any patch welds are gonna lose strength in those areas, meaning I’ll have to make custom brackets to reinforce any areas to be welded and try to spread any potential stresses out.
