Steel - scratches/rusting

[Chicken Little]

I did one 20 mile ride on a steel bike last week. I will never throw my leg over anything else again. I will sell the house, the car, the computer, whatever it takes to ride steel. Take care of it and it will last your lifetime.

[ScaldedCat]

My steel (Reynolds 631) Bob Jackson that I built up myself I treated internally with Framesaver, the outside gets a coat of wax periodically, I keep the seatpost well greased and fill the groove at the back of the seat tube/clamp area with grease to help stop water getting in there.
The bottom bracket is a Cinelli spoiler so has cut-outs that allow water to drain that way.
The bike is stored in the house and I leather it off if I come back from a ride wet. It also has guards fitted of course, as much to keep the bike clean as to keep me clean.

Having said all that I don't know of anyone who has had a reasonably well cared for steel frame fail due to rust. It helps to cover any paint chips with something like clear nail polish. I love good carbon and alu frames but I would expect to get through several of either in the lifetime of the steel frame.

[uforgot]

The same sentence that Lisa quoted is the same one that jumped out at me. Of course Carbon dealers are going to tell you that...

Anyway, my lbs will never ever sell me something I don't need. I asked about steel and rusting and he told me that it would probably take something like 50 years for a frame to rust to where I couldn't ride it if I didn't take good care of it, and was I going to keep it that long? He didn't even recommend frame saver since he didn't think it would "save" something that didn't need saving, but that's him. It couldn't hurt.

Going on 3 years with my Surly, not a spec of rust anywhere.