Rust- How to clean it up

Ottis said:

hey everyone
i have this old bike which wasn't taken care of too much. It's all rusty right now, like the chain and gears are totally dark-orange in colour. can anyone suggest how to clean it up real good? :o

thank you for your help

Easier just to replace the chain, and as for the gears some steel wool and elbow grease should work.

i had an old bike that had that same problem. I used a little metal brissled brush thingy that was in one of our tool box's. I just brushed and brushed and brushed.... for about an hour or so, then wiped it down with some moist rags and lubed it all up again. almost good as new.

thank you! i will try the brush thing and if it doesnt work then ... oh well 😉

is there any liquids to remove rust from it? :p

there are lots of de rusting cleaners. I havn't used one on a bike but i have on showerheads and sinks etc. The ones that come to mind are like lim-a-way or something like that... there are a bunch that you could probobly pick up at any hardware store.

Ottis said:

thank you! i will try the brush thing and if it doesnt work then ... oh well 😉

is there any liquids to remove rust from it? :p

I find that WD-40 does a good job of eating rust without damaging the parts.

Dad used to de-rust car parts with molassas of all things. Just dump the parts in a tub of it for a couple of weeks and wash the molassas off afterwards.

Didn't believe it myself until i saw it (and smelt it)

Ottis said:

hey everyone
i have this old bike which wasn't taken care of too much. It's all rusty right now, like the chain and gears are totally dark-orange in colour. can anyone suggest how to clean it up real good? :o

thank you for your help

Some solvent based de greaser and a tooth brush. Scrub away, wash off with water and lube immediately. Shouldn't do to bad a job, Or wd 40 and lots of it.😎

Good advice all around. I definitely agree with Eric's suggestion that you replace the chain; they aren't too expensive and, depending on the extent of the rust, it might just make sense.

As for the rest; a good de-ruster and some spare time will do the trick. Have fun.

If you do replace the chain you may need to replace the rear casette as they often wear together. That happened with my old bike.

If you can take the rusty parts of then an abrasive slurry is a good idea. Something like chrome polish (Autosol, Flitz) or a brass polsih would also work. But anytime there is rust and you take it off you leave pitting on the surface so it will rust much faster the next time. make sure to keep things well lubed to avoid that.

thanks again. i will buy a new chain, see what other stuff is rusty and try the above suggestions 🙂

The previous methods suggested certainly work however I would suggest reverse electrolysis if you have significant rust to remove. Outlined well in this link

myweb.tiscali.co.ukrust.htmOpen ↗

I have seen very large components done by using large plastic rubbish bins

As an archeaological conservator I can attest that most places have long since given up on electrolysis for removal of rust and corrosion. In this case I would suggest against. First off it is really only used on cast or wrought iron. Bike parts are alloys and you could end up wiith undesirable results. Also if done wrong you can end up plating the object with a dissimilar metal. Also the cost of the setup is worht more than the cost of a new part and the results are truely not that great. You will still end up with pitted metal just the same as using some sort of abrasive material, such as a metal polish.