but how the crap do you get rid of old grease? I’ve been trying to clean up a filthy old frame full of nasty grey sludge, and everything i do makes it worse
I’ve washed, wiped and kero’ed, and now i have a dirty greasy frame, smelly clothes and a headache - there has to be a better way,. so…
1: How do you remove old grease from a (component-free) frame?
2: Assuming you want to keep the paint, how do you cleanup an old frame for re-assembly fixed?
use a biodegradable degreaser (technically a “detergent”). I use Simple Green because it’s much cheaper than the citrus products sold by bike shops. It smells much better and doesn’t leave oil on things like oil-based products (kerosene, diesel etc). If you have lots of grease, remove most of it physically with paper towel before spraying anything on it.
I found using degreaser (buy liquid, not aerosol) and a heap of clean cotton rags works pretty well, terry cloth even better, especially for polishing.
Then to restore the paint, you’ll need some auto cutting compound and polish/wax. The cut will also remove grease that you couldn’t get rid of with degreaser.
If the paint is still in pretty good shape, you won’t need an aggressive cut, or any at all, just a cleaner/oxidation remover.
Once it’s polished up and shiny, you’ll notice every grease smudge, but at least they’ll clean off easily.
While you’re at supercheap, grab a can of Inox and spray it inside the tubes to prevent/halt any rusting. Oh, and some Autosol for the shiny metal bits.
my simple green comes from the hardware store/Big W etc. But ultimately I think it’s citrus-based, although it doesn’t smell like citrus. Smells great though!
Pine based I think it is ye olde green. Sometimes if you’re lucky they have it at the reject shop. I once bought 4 bottles for $8 I think its usually around $11 a bottle