On Oct 6, 2010, at 3:54 PM, Dlbracey wrote:
Hi all, I've been reading and enjoying the posts here for a long while, but I haven't done much posting up until this point. I just received my first Riv bike (used AHH, early Waterford frame) and I'm very excited, but I'm also a very fastidious person, perhaps to a fault. I stripped all the parts off the frame last night and thoroughly inspected/ cleaned the frame. Besides a couple of small paint chips, I noticed a couple of things that concerned me - there appears to be light surface rust inside the tubes, visible primarily from the bottom bracket and the threads of some of the rack braze ons show some rust. Should I be concerned with this? Is there anything to do to stop the rusting? My understanding is that framesaver won't help at this point. I've read about some rust converter options, but I'm not sure I want to go that route if it isn't necessary.
Good news, it's not like the bike is a goner. People have ridden many unprotected frames for decades without failures due to rust.
The key thing is to keep water out of the frame and give it a way out if it gets in. Grease the seatpost well (this is where most water gets in). Plug the brazing vent holes with beeswax. Drill a drain hole at the lowest point of the frame. Don't bring a cold frame into a warm, humid area.
Go ahead and Frame Saver or Boeshield it. The worst that can happen is no protection in which case you've still got 25 years or more with that frame. But what'll happen is that the light surface rust will be covered and oxygen will be kept away from the steel, so the rust won't worsen. Repeat every 5 years or so, if you feel the need.
Enjoy your ride! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
