i have a ratty old steel viscount frame ive just stripped, theres alot of these around here in cornwall for some reason.

it has some minor rust in places, and quite alot inside the head tube and the seat tube.

i was planning to just sand off the rust on the main tubes, but im concerned about the rust inside the tubes.



could the rust inside the tubes spread and should i bother treating it?

should i do anything over than sand off the rust?

On the frame I've just stripped, there's a fair amount of rust on the stays and inside the tubes. I sanded as much off as I could on the outside and I'm just gonna empty a can of WD40 inside the tubes. There should be a little hole where the tubes are joined together that you can spray the stuff in.

Hopefully it should prevent it spreading on the insides.

Ronseal

hammerite.. grab yourself a brush, protect against rust.. one coat is all you needoooo

embrace it!
ala sano:

Are Viscount frames prone to rusting, I am trying to get some answers about headsets and bearing sizes in another thread and have yet to strip down the 2 viscount aerospace sport bikes that I have found hanging in a garage. Is there anything I should be aware of with these bikes as I would like to know as much as possible before I start doing anything with them. Many thanks.

to be honest this is the only viscount ive come in close contact with, but i see them around all the time, they all tend to be old and a bit rusty with some dodgy chrome.

this could also be on account of the cornish enviroment and salty air, which is very humid pretty much all of the time.

the rust is superficial, nothing structural.

I will have to go and see what I salvage from the two frames I found. I plan on ditching everything except the frame really, forks and bars are going to go, wheels are going, I plan to replace the BB and cranks, headset and put some fixed/direct fork to bars on and some onone mongo bars. possibly spray the frame white with black fork, bars and cranks.

Any advice on headsets and bb bearings?

im pretty much doing the same, new everything except frame, alougth i havnt decided on the color just yet.

everything is standard fittings so pretty much any new hardware will fit okay.

i actually just saw a lovely yellow one with chrome forks/stays.

Aw thats really good about most things being a standard fit because I heard that the BB can be a pain depended on when it was made. Would I be able to fit a headset capable of taking a 1 1/8th fork?

I am either going with white frame with black fork, bars and cranks OR a blue tack blue with back, want it to look clean and simple.

it is technically possible to fit a 1 1/8" fork in a 1" frame by fiddling with a few headsets and bearing sizes. But I really wouldnt bother.

There is such an ample amount of 1inch road forks available there is really no need.


For the original posters rust issue:

It would be easiest to take it to a good powder coaters as they will be able to put it in a chemical bath and grit blast anything that is accessible including the inside of the seattube.

After you get is back, you can pour some waxoyl into the frame. Which is very good value rustproofer aimed at people who want to do the undersides of their cars. Its available in clear and black, you could even do the outside as a raw finish clear coat.

id love to have it done proffesionaly, but im poor and the frame is probably worth nothing so i dont want to go spending money on it, this is strictly a diy effort.

i started sanding it with a 240 grit paper today, but its not really corse enough, its taking me too long to sand down. im going to try somthing corser tomorow.

I just treated myself to a jar of crab paste for my birthday...I was casually perusing the ingredients when I noticed the colouring is "iron oxide"....weird.

If you find a good powder coaters its actually very cheap.

Mine is £15, including chemical strip, grit blast & powder coat.
I think the forums favourite armoutex prefers groups buys of the same colour though for best value.

If your trying to do it yourself avoid very rough sandpapers.

Use a wire brush & plenty of WD40 to begin with. (find one that fits in the seattube etc too)

Then go to a good hardware suppliers, the kind that supplies to small scale workshops & garages etc.

Ask for some emery paper to use on metal, they have this stuff which feels very smooth, but is EXTREMELY abrasive on metal. Its like magic, but I never learned its proper name.

After using the rough stuff, switch to wire wool soaked in WD40.

After youve finished, you need to decide what your plans are quickly as the bare metal will rust up again. If your planning to rattle can paint it you will need to clean off all the WD40, leave frame in warm place over night to become bone dry.

Then primer it.


and winston: Iron Oxide is used as a RED colouring in foods. There is actually a lot of Iron in many foods especially fortified cereals. If you mash up some rice crispies/cornflakes etc and use a magnet you can colect a little mound of raw iron.

If you really wanted, you could setup an electrolyte bath yourself to try and loosen up internal rust.

Thats great info about getting the rust of a frame, must have a look into that when I finally get my hands on my frame.

My LBS seems to have more 1 1/8 forks than 1inch adn the 1inch seem to be more expensive, this bike its going to be a beat about, can anyone recomment anywhere for cheap forks? or any parts for that mater of fact?

Many thanks.

ebay or here.

What, no one suggested an aluminium frame? :p

ive done alot of sanding, the main rust is off, as in the rough brown/copperish stuff, however the steel underneigth is darker and tarnsihed. but it is nice and smooth.

this stuff is incredably hard to sand off, is it ok to leave this on or will it lead to more rust?

The steel will always look dark and atarnished thats fine, you cant expect to get it to look like polished stainless!

Your aiming to get an even consistent surface with nothing thats likely to flake off, that is all.

Once its coated/painted no more air will get to the surface and therefore no more rust shall occur. However if there is any loose material it will eventually lead to your paint flaking off.

If your planning to paint it up yourself, you want it to be fairly smooth as the paint will be quite thin. The texture medium-fine wet & dry paper will leave you with is perfect.

Before applying the primer, clean the frame & dry it thoroughly. To primer only needs to be applied thinly, there after if you want a good job, do plenty of waiting (overnight ideal)between many thin coats.

so the tarnished material under the rust wont lead to more rust sprouting?

ive got to the point now where the only rust left is around the lugs in awkward corners i cant get to with sandpaper. im not really sure how im going to deal with this.

Like I said as their is no pontentially loos amteriall then all is well.

The hard to get at bits, I would spray genorously with wd40 and leave over night.

Then squirt some more on and loosen it up with a wire brush.