Rust in the steel fork

[DebW]

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!

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.

[Trek420]

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.

[DebW]

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.

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.

[Trek420]

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.

[DebW]

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

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.

[KnottedYet]

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.

[DebW]

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.

[betagirl]

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

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 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.