Posted by: Vikb
I've had a lot of steel frames including one I used for many months [over few trips] beach camping in the Baja and when home riding around Calgary in the winter [ie. road salt]. That steel bike developed some cosmetic surface rust because I was too lazy to rinse it off with fresh water after extensive salt exposure. The rust was minor and had no effect on the bike. I eventually re-powercoated that frame and sand blasted that rust off. It looked like new again.
For my steel frames that have seen "normal" use in Calgary and on Van Isle I have not had any rust issues at all. I don't do anything special to the bikes other than store them in a garage out of the elements and I don't hose them down. I do use a rear fender which avoids spraying water into the seattube....which I think helps.
If you are particularly worried about a steel frame you can treat the inside of the tubes with rustproofing spray and the outside with a protective spray. I don't bother.
Currently my oldest steel frame is 9 years old and gets used in the rain a fair bit. It has no rust issues and I expect it'll be going strong another couple decades.
Agree. Though I would add also if it is a steel frame be aware of where you live as some areas use brine on the roads in winter. And from what have been told it more then halves the lives of the trucks they use to spread it on roads before winter storms. If you live in an area that uses Brine and/or absolutely loves to use as much road salt as possible in winter. might want to spray the inside of the frame.
20 years of riding in Ontario where they love salt and most damage to date has been two rimes where it ate the eyelet and finally that spot failed. Only other thing to be wary of is increase the frequency of checking bolts and re-greasing them.
