Rust in the steel fork

My commuter-mobile has a steel fork. And there is RUST in the little drain holes of the fork, down by the axle. (skewer, hub, dropout, whatever you want to call that neighborhood... you get the idea)

RUST, I'm telling you! Horror!

Should I dump some handy Boeshield into the drain holes (bottle says can be used for "inside frame") or just leave it all alone? There's also surface rust on a few of the bits and pieces (like bolts) but I'm not worried about that. I can SEE that. Can't see what's going on inside the fork.

The rest of the frame is aluminum.

I dunno, since putting the fancy schmancy wheels on the $200.00 bike I notice the scapes and dings in the paint more.

I could do the whole patch it up by hand thing: clean the bike then use the finest steel wool and sand paper till every bit of rust is off, smooth that and get every speck of dust out, search for exact matching paint, apply with teeny tiny itsy bitsy paint brush, methodicly smooth that by hand....but I'd rather ride.

My LBS says he can have it powder coated localy for around $150-175.00. He wants me to go with a black fork and deep purple paint job, accessorised by Pedro under the seat bag to pick up just a hint of yellow on the Mavic logos. :) so I just may do that this winter.

Sorry to go OT and or controversial but this is yet another reason I like my LBS; these two very very straight men, the owner and his chief wrench, both lovingly and happily married with kids have more aesthetic sense than almost any Gay man I know (except garden designer Jim Dixon :) ), even their shop makeover was absolutely faaaabulous.

Why the black fork? My fork is black, too. (the rest of the bike is pale blue)

Is that to make it look like carbon?

Meanwhile.... there is RUST inside my black-painted faux-carbon Chro-Mo steel fork!

nope, I voted for all one color, but Chris says go for the black front fork. It's not to be fauxe carbon, the guy's just got a designers eye. I've learned not to question it, if he says "these two things are same price and functionality but this will just look better" he's always been right.

Get it painted and then post pics so we call all ooogle. I like ooogling. Half the fun of riding on the crazy-busy bike path is sitting on a bench watching all the pretty bikes go by.

Did I mention there is rust in my steel fork?

Yes you did.

And if you paint it yourself the key is prep. Rust is a living thing under the paint and just painting over it, it will keep growing. So I think you'll need to take the fork off and get all the rust off. Probably means chemical paint stripper which also will let you check for even more rust. Then once clean, rust free and thuroughly dry just repaint.

Steel's a lifetime bike but rust is its one mortal enemy.

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Originally Posted by KnottedYet

I like ooogling. Half the fun of riding on the crazy-busy bike path is sitting on a bench watching all the pretty bikes go by.

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And I thought I was the only one. I keep walking into people on the sidewalk while craning my neck to check out bikes locked up in front of office buildings downtown.

Trek - the rust is inside the tube. I can see rust around the drain-holes for the tubes.

did I mention that there is RUST in my PRECIOUS DARLING!?!?!?!

Maybe I'm too fragile and delicate natured to cope with a steel-framed bike. Even just a steel fork is exhausting. Imagine the panic, the utter hysteria, when I discovered the rust that lurks in bottom brackets! Oh, just the thought makes me feel like I need a lie-down with a cold compress on my fevered brow.

If I was half the butch I like to pretend I am (which would be about 1/4), I'd've called the LBS and asked them what to do already. It's more fun this way.... :D

KD - and some of those riders ain't too bad, either....:cool:

but mostly I look at bikes..

If it's surface rust, it's no big deal.

V.

"If I was half the butch I like to pretend I am (which would be about 1/4), I'd've called the LBS and asked them what to do already. It's more fun this way...."


No, if you were butch you wouldn't be able to ask for help. :D :p ;)

Quillfred "No, if you were butch you wouldn't be able to ask for help. :D :p ;)"

and let's face it, you probably would not ride this kinda bike :) :cool: :rolleyes:

How much has this bike been ridden in the rain? Are you its original owner? How old is it? Personally, I wouldn't be overly concerned about this little bit of rust unless your noticed water dripping out of that hole. If water is getting into the top of the fork and dripping out, then the entire inside of the fork may have alot of rust. Otherwise, I'd suspect that the rust if fairly localized and due to rain or humidity entering the little holes. There shouldn't be an opening for rain to enter anywhere else. You could remove the stem to look inside the steerer tube for signs of rust or water entry. But the fork blades are actually separate pieces of metal that shouldn't have a connection to the steerer tube. They should be sealed except for the little hole that allows air pressure to equalize. I assume that it couldn't hurt to dump some Boshield or other rust inhibitor in there, but don't try to seal the holes.

Had the bike for 3 months now. I'm the original owner. Rode in the rain maybe 5 times.

I'll dump some Boeshield in there, just to make me happy. Thanks DebW, you're a babe!

Trek - are you implying that my bike is NOT BUTCH!?!?!?! But, but, I can ride on dirt with it! I can ride on asphalt with it! So, I wear a skirt on it.... SO! (it is too butch! maybe 1/4...) (what is a butch bike, anyway?) (is a Brooks saddle with springs under the butt butch?)

Thanks for the "family" support, gals.;)

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Originally Posted by KnottedYet

Had the bike for 3 months now. I'm the original owner. Rode in the rain maybe 5 times.

I'll dump some Boeshield in there, just to make me happy. Thanks DebW, you're a babe!

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Hmmm, 3 months is a very short time to be showing signs of rust if the surface were properly finished. I'd suspect that either the paint/chrome/finish wasn't done properly around the hole or the fork was stored in a damp environment before it became your bike. You could go complain to the place you bought that bike from, or just watch it and use Boshield regularly.

Yeah, that was my thought. 3 months is not long. My commuter's about 10 years old, has some scrapes and dings in the paintjob but no rust. I check for that when I clean, so far so good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KnottedYet

Trek - the rust is inside the tube. I can see rust around the drain-holes for the tubes.

did I mention that there is RUST in my PRECIOUS DARLING!?!?!?!

Maybe I'm too fragile and delicate natured to cope with a steel-framed bike. Even just a steel fork is exhausting. Imagine the panic, the utter hysteria, when I discovered the rust that lurks in bottom brackets! Oh, just the thought makes me feel like I need a lie-down with a cold compress on my fevered brow.

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KotttedYet, you are confusing me. You said that this frame is Aluminum except for the steel fork. Then you say there is rust in the bottom bracket? Just in case this is a symmantics issue, let me clarify the names of some frame parts (if you want to be butch, you really should not be confusing these things):

fork tips - where the front wheel attaches to the frame
dropouts - where the back wheel attaches to the frame
bottom bracket - where the crank attaches to the frame

The bottom bracket is threaded and can be opened to check for rust and repack the bearings.

Q: aluminum does not rust, right? so only risk of rust would be the fork and any alloy parts.

and Debw, I've been calling parts by the wrong name! I've been addressing "fork tips" as "dropouts". Oh the shame of it all ;-) thought it was the same fore or aft.

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Originally Posted by Trek420

Q: aluminum does not rust, right? so only risk of rust would be the fork and any alloy parts.

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Aluminum does not rust per se, since rust is iron oxide. It does form aluminum oxide, but the oxide layer protects the aluminum underneath it and the metal doesn't suffer damage from moisture the way steel does. Rust always indicates steel or iron parts. Alloy bike parts generally do not rust. Just looked a Sheldon Browns site and found that "alloy" as applied to cranks, rims, etc, is really aluminum alloy.

No, sorry, I was speaking hypothetically of the Dream Bike i want someday. (full steel) If I go into these fabulous hysterics over the steel fork of my alum bike, imagine the hysterics if I found rust in the full steel bike of my dreams!

No, I've got it all right with the aluminum/steel fork.

I've noticed that not all steel forks have those drain holes. Of the 4 bikes in my garage, only one has drain holes, and it's a lower quality bike than the other three. I suspect that high quality fork blades are sealed with an inert gas (and therefore no water vapor) inside. So KnottedYet, I think you can safely buy a full steel frame without hysteria. Bottom brackets don't tend to rust given all the grease packed in there.

I was just coming on here to post about my Lemond rust and saw your thread. So thanks for putting it up first :D

The zurich is a combo steel/carbon frame and I have a rust spot on one side of the chainstay (which is steel obviously) toward the back dropout. Last year on the MS150 a friend rode into the back of me at a stop sign, on my Trek she'd borrowed to boot :D The Trek was fine, and I always had in my head about rust due to the paint chip but never did anything about it. It's not a huge area, about the size of an eraser head on a pencil, maybe a little smaller. But as others have said, that crap will just grow under the paint. Considering what a narrow part of the bike it's on, I'd like to fix it. So thanks for the info on the thread everyone. I think I'll drop by performance to see what they'll charge me to fix it before I do it myself.