Rusty bolts?

[Chadlington]

Hi,

whilst adjusting the chain on my Thorn Raven today I noticed that the bolts holding the cranks to the bottom bracket and each of the nuts holding the chainring / chainguard in place are showing some rust in the socket heads. Not especially worried about this but I would like to clean it up and prevent this from happening - any recommendations?

My initial thought was to use some wire wool to clean them, then to smear each of them with red grease.

Slightly surprised given the bike's only a few months old, but it's only cosmetic. But I like things to look good.

[spoon boy]

A very fine wire wool doused in wd40 should help.

Then lashings of grease.

Sometimes if the finish is cheap or poor it will show through but i suspect it's just surface

[jags]

what about a smear of copper grease or change bolt for stainless .

[stutho]

True stainless Chain ring bolts (that are also single ring) are very hard to get hold of.   I won't use Ali bolts - I snapped too many in the past.  On my bike these are the only non stainless fitting. I would much rather but up with a bit of rust on these bolts than switch to something unreliable.

   

[Chadlington]

Thanks all - great advice. Mike

[PH]

I find vasaline as good as grease and picks up slightly less muck.  I was very fussy for the first year... after all it is as you say only cosmetic.

[blazingsaddles]

I use a product called ACF50 on non stainless steel items. It is better than wd40 as it attacks the rust and has a creeping action. WD40 locks moisture in.  Its done wonders keeping my motorcycle rust free 2 winters. Its very popular with owners of small aircraft and I'm informed that the US navy use it on their aircraft on aircraft carriers. About £ 10.00 a can when I bought it a couple of years ago. Its best sprayed into a tub and applied with a rag. Lasts ages.

[robbarker]

Another wildly enthusiatic vote for ACF-50 here. It's magic stuff.

Robin!  Start stocking it!

[Chadlington]

Following the recommendations I'm awaiting delivery of the a "Winter Pack" of 2 ACF50 aerosols and 1 tube of Corrosion Block grease from www.nippynormans.com for £24+p&p
Sounds like just the stuff - will feedback when tested.

thanks
Mike

[StuntPilot]

After a recent tour round the North Sea Cycle Route (a salty route!) I noticed that the chain ring bolts on my Thorn Raven Tour have become very rusty despite using Copper Ease on the threads and cleaning a few times en route with oil.

I am concerned that they will continue to deteriorate so I'm looking to replace them with titanium/stainless steel/anodised ones. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Are the chain ring bolts a standard size?

I have also posted about other rusting bolts here http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=3312.msg47507#msg47507

Thanks for any input!

[Dave Whittle Thorn Workshop]

Hi,  We now have and use proper 316 Grade A4 stainless bolts and chainring bolts, see:

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/thorn-m8-crankset-bolts-stainless-steel-pack-of-2-prod27430/

and

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/thorn-m8-single-chainring-bolts-stainless-steel-pack-of-5-prod27429/

Hope this helps, Dave.

[StuntPilot]

Dave and Dan

Thanks for the replies!

Dave - the M7 stainless steel bolts look great and have been added to my parts list for ordering soon (together with the other bits to replace the other 'rusters'!).

Dan - thanks also. There are some good bits there. I have been looking at my trusty chainring and bolt arrangement that got me all that distance over the Summer.

Other than removing and replacing all bolts and spacers before the trip to clean, the arrangement is as I got the bike. I seem to have a lot of spacers! This might be a bit difficult to explain but here goes ...

- There are 10 male bolts in total.
- On the 'inside' nearest the bike there are 3 Stronglight bolts (2 rusting, so you are right Dan - not always stainless steel!) and 2 unmarked non-rusting bolts.
- On the 'outside' (chainring guard side) there are 5 unmarked bolts (1 rusting).
- Each arm of the crank has the two bolts screwed into a 10 mm tube holding it all together.

The order of assembly from 'inside' to 'outside' each of the five arms has ...

1 Male bolt screwed into the female 10 mm tube
2 spacers
Crank arm
Thorn 38T chainring
1 spacer
Chainring protector
1 spacer
1 Male bolt

This arrangement worked well for me and the chain is precisely aligned with the Rohloff 16T rear cog. Almost 6000 km with a £10 chain can't be bad!