I bought this bike second hand a couple of months ago and have started using it frequently since about a month ago.
I washed it once trying to not get any water on the chain but a couple of days later the chain started to rust quite a lot.
Yesterday I noticed that there was some rust at the opening of the folds and took a look inside.
Should it be this way? Is it from me washing the bike a week ago? The bike was not folded at the time of washing but maybe water got in?
Anyway, is this normal? What should I do?
by AccomplishedFarm3740
9 Comments
I stopped washing my Brompton with a hose or water, I take a cloth put bicycle soap on it and wipe off the dirt.
If it bothers you that much, I’d :
Take the whole everything apart
Clean out the tubing with soap and water
Let it dry
Swab with linseed oil
Let it dry
Reassemble
Good luck!
Little bits of surface rust like that will be fine. Full size bikes have drain holes that water can get in and out from, I dread to think what my winter bike looks like inside. The difference is that you can’t see it.
If you want to sort it you could clean it out with a long brush and like the other comment says put oil inside, it may be easier to spray wd40 inside the tubes with the tubes held vertically, opening to the floor. I wouldn’t bother though
That’s normal and a hall mark of Brompton ownership. It’s nothing to worry about, I just spray it with a little WD40 inside the tube to prevent excessive rust
Surface rust, minor irritant, nothing to worry too much about and Bromptons are known to do this. Have you got the rusty bolts and nuts going on yet? Annoying but should be no problem.
Oil the chain with appropriate bone chain lube of some kind. You can get wet and dry versions but tbh are your really young to degrease the wet to replace with dry when it’s dry outside? I use wet lube all the time for my bike. Then clean the gunk off when it builds up. My rigid commuter I was bad at doing this and I’d be on my way home and it starts squealing badly due to needing lube. So much so that faster roadies overtaking me felt the need to tell me I needed oil on the chain. They do that so roadies, very arrogant round here.
Very normal on the inside for sure. As others mentioned, WD-40 or there are products designed to protect the inside of the bike like Frame Saver.
As for the chain, did you lube it after the wash? There are generally two types of lubes that people are using nowadays, a wax system (I’m switching to this) or some type of oil based lubricant. Either way, after a wash your bike, you should dry the chain off with a cloth and then reapply some lube to each link. This will help prevent the rust and keep your drive train running smoothly.
Me too. Not an issue
Guys WD-40 is not going to do much for rust prevention. You should be using something like Muc-Off HCB1or similar. These products last for usually 12 months plus and are designed specifically to both dissolve rust and prevent it coming back as well.
WD-40 makes rust prevention products, but the normal stuff is useless for that.
Things like ACF-50 or Lanoguard is probably better.