Yeah, who knew?

My neighbor bought us a bunch of shower caps. They fit the seat great and they look way better than the bread bags I've been using.

Good idea. I imagine I can get them at Walgreens.

brake lever up-grade
 

noglider et al,

Sorry for confusing the issue about the north road bars. They are 22.2 mm and modern mountain bike-type (tektro) levers will work. The ends on my bars are a bit flared, so the typical mountain bike lever does not slide on smoothly; I should have measured before commenting. nick (still learning)

There are also now "shower caps" made of plastic wrap to cover a bowl of leftover food for the refrigerator, which might double as a rain cover for a saddle.

I have something called a BikeCap on the Raleigh. Got it at the Dutch Bike Co. in Seattle for around $15. It's a stretchy cover that hooks around the rails on your bike. You put it on when it rains, and tuck it under the saddle when you're riding. Very cute, and better than forgetting to bring a plastic bag. Picks on rideblog:

http://rideblog.files.wordpress.com/...011ride141.jpg

Tucked in and nearly invisible:
http://rideblog.files.wordpress.com/...92011ride2.jpg

I like it.

If you leave a plastic bag on too long, the leather will rot.

Ooh, good stuff. And thanks for the clarification, Nick.

By bags usually CVS, Walgreens, A&P....they're freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Not to worry Mike, the bag only goes on if I'm away from the bike for a prolonged period of time and there is a chance for rain. The bottom is not secure so it breathes a bit.

Shower caps are good, I get mine free from the hotels I stay in. Target bags are some the best ones out there, heavier than the average fare you get from other stores.

Aaron :)

Hi, Thanks for the information. I was wondering about the oxalic acid: can I use a heavy duty plastic container to do the soaking?
Thanks!

A Rubbermaid storage tub works well.

It's nice to get the larger/longer size so that the wheel fits into it without distorting the container and the entire handlebars fit in.

Don't let the hubs get into the dip.

Depending on the size of the container you can get the entire rim in about 3 turns of the wheel. A fender should fit inside as well with one dip if you bring the water level up a bit. The frame, if bad, can be dipped in in chunks as well. Usually the rust in limited to the headset, BB, top of seat tube, and rear triangle and the areas that are hard to dip in the middle are never very rusty and can be de-rusted by hand if there are any nicks or scratches that caused rust. Most of the time you can forgo frame dipping altogether.

I asked the same thing here: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...uick-questions

The short answer appears to be: yes

Although I saw a pic today on another thread of a bike frame being soaked in an actual bathtub.... is that safe??!?

Hi Amesja,
Thanks so much. Sorry for the stupid questions but I am new at this and do not want to mess it up. Does it have to be a rubbermaid brand or can it be any other brand of heavy duty storage tub? Also, the parts are soaked (24 hours?) or just dipped and then left to dry? Should all the metal parts be done or just those that have rust and corrosion? As for the wheels, that is the rims without the tires and tubes, just the spokes and hub?
Thanks again!

Hi, Thanks for the reply. This thread was also enlightening:
http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/in.../t-403522.html
Of course, there are those who say over doing it will destroy or damage the thin platting of chrome and then the bike will be down to the steel and brass. Is this a concern with soaking in Oxalic Acid and using extra fine steel wool? Does the same go for wd 40 and wadded up tin foil? Thanks again to all for patience with my ignorance.

Any plastic tub will be fine. You can usually find them cheap at the department store if you can't garbage pick anything.

Something like this.

If it has a top on it that is great to keep any critters from drinking out out of it or getting into it. As far as what kind of plastic, the ones that are more bendy flexible are good because they are less likely to crack and leak -especially if you are doing this outside in the cold, but inside not leaking is good too although I'd be concerned about large quantities of any liquid inside. 20-30 gallons of pure ordinary tap water is a huge mess on the floor inside. I do most of my soaking out back on the porch in the tubs. I've got an old half-gallon peanut-butter jar that I use for small parts inside and a cheap extra-long needle-nose pliers from Harbor freight that I use to fish them back out with.

Chrome can't be harmed with the OA. The stuff is strong. Some cheaper low-quality zinc coatings on old nuts/bolts/fasteners can be totally dissolved by the OA though if left in the dip for too long. What you end up is blackened metal that will polish right back up again if you use compound and/or a wheel although they won't have any future protection against rust/staining. Aluminum alloys are not a good idea in the dip (and there is no reason to dip them anyhow) But I've had decals and painted bits that are totally untouched by the OA.

I think she will love it. :) I have a 1979 Cameo and it is a wonderful commuter bike - I rode it daily and also took it on many a jaunt through Derbyshire:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4080/...9108a805fd.jpg

Oh, and with OA you won't even need the steel wool. OA will kill any of the brown rust dead. If it is black rust that is deep and pitted the OA will not get it all out but that is "converted rust" anyhow and isn't as cancerous as the brown rust oxide that holds moisture. The deep pitted stuff isn't going to respond to steel wool. About all you can do with that is grind with a dremel tool or hit with rust converter and fill with glazing putty and repaint over it.

My experience with OA is that it zaps brown rust nicely but you better dry off the parts well right after the OA soak. I made the mistake of letting them air dry, and a layer of superficial "flash rust" formed that then had to be steel wooled off.

This led me to conclude that OA is great for moderate to heavy brown rust, but not worth it for light rust since the post-OA flash rust ended up needing to be steel wooled off anyway.

This should really be in the "Where did you ride today?" thread, but I couldn't resist adding a "Redcoat n' Raleigh" shot here from today's Patriot's Day parade.

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/1...2011143245.jpg

Me and my Raleigh DL-1 from this weekend-

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...1/DSCI2326.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...1/DSCI2273.jpg

Recently replaced the original (44-year-old) Brooks B72 with a brand new one.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...1/DSCI2276.jpg

Sometimes you just gotta post them in both threads.

When I pull something out of OA I rinse it off. The OA will leave a film it it isn't washed and/or neutralized. This film is a strong acid because it is no longer diluted by the water that has evaporated away.

I rinse the part off in the sink or with a hose outside. If in the sink I use HOT water and get the part nice and hot and then towel dry. The warm metal will then cause whatever I miss with the towel to evaporate quickly before it rusts. I've found that polishing with mother's polish does a nice job of protecting a part from future rust as it has waxes in it. Sometimes I'll polish again with a heavy auto wax as well. Short of clear-coating the part there isn't much more one can do to keep a bike part from rusting again.

Pulling a part out of OA to just air-dry without neutralizing or washing off the acid isn't a good idea.

This information is outstanding. After all I've read about OA here on bikeforums, I wonder why I haven't read this until now!

+1 this is great info. I was neutrailizing with baking soda, rinsing with cool water, and air drying. Flash rust.

The key new info is hot water and towel dry.