Rusty frame? Is it ok?

Escher303
Escher303 Posts: 342
edited May 2012 in Workshop
I have an old Orange Clockwork chromoly frame that's been in the shed for ages. It has a lot of, I assume, surface rust on it. Since I've got back into cycling recently, and it has mounts for racks and guards, I'm considering making it into a road tourer for a project.

Is it okay to remove rust? Will it have affected the strength of the frame? Is there anything else I need to think about? I still have all the other bits, brakes, gears, chainset ( Deore lx 9 speed I think) and the original chromoly forks ( this was before front suspension). Cheers for your help.

Comments

  • rake
    rake Posts: 3,204
    nobody can say with any accuracy. it depends how deep the rust has eaten into the metal, both inside where you cant see and outside.
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    Plus, if it has the geometry of a rigid MTB, it might not be the best starting point for a road tourer. You might find a road chainring fouling the chainstay for instance.
  • Escher303
    Escher303 Posts: 342
    Thanks both, Iv'e had a good look and I don't think the rust is too bad. And I may just build it back into an MTB instead. Never built a bike before and would like to do it just for a project, to learn and for fun and to see what she rode like too. Thanks for your help.
  • desweller
    desweller Posts: 5,175
    If it's just surface rust you'll be OK.

    Rigid MTBs are a great choice for a tough multi-purpose tourer; they're strong and it's easier to get spares for the 26" wheels than for 700c. You're unlikely to want a big road chainring for anything but very lightweight touring (i.e. credit card + western european roads) so I wouldn't worry too much about that.
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  • andy_wrx
    andy_wrx Posts: 3,396
    DesWeller wrote:
    Rigid MTBs are a great choice for a tough multi-purpose tourer; they're strong and it's easier to get spares for the 26" wheels than for 700c. You're unlikely to want a big road chainring for anything but very lightweight touring (i.e. credit card + western european roads) so I wouldn't worry too much about that.
    Agreed - a 1990's decent quality hardtail MTB with rigid forks makes a brilliant expedition tourer and is well sought-after by people wanting to do across-Africa or similar long-distance poor-roads trips. The frame will be bombproof strong and take a lot of load with easyhandling geometry, has lots of clearance for bigger sizes of tyres like Schwalbe Marathons. Replacement 26" wheels and tyres are easy to come by, and if it runs thumbies rather than rapidfire shifters too then you can replace a damaged mech and switch over to friction mode dead easy.

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