Rusty chain - how to clean?

[lanternerouge]

Hi all

I am cleaning up a couple of bikes to sell at the moment. One has rust in the chain - wondering how best to clean this? Is it even possible?

Sorry for the noddy question - am slowly becoming less clueless but not by much!

 

[byegad]

First rule.
Don't let your chain get rusty.

Second rule.
If it does lube and wipe, lube and wipe , and lube.

 

[lanternerouge]

Ha! Thanks byegad. Shameful neglect I know.

 

[gbb]

I had one similar that was so rusty it was siezed solid...absolutely solid. Soak in WD, make sure its all freed up then oil, wipe, oil, wipe as byegad says.
You'll never get it clean or get it looking nice, but it'll be functional.

 

[Night Train]

Buy a cheap replacement chain from Asda (about £2.50) and fit it. Much easier then all that cleaning and probably cheaper then any cleaning and lubing agents you will need to use.

Also the bike will look better with a new chain on it then an oily rusty one.

 

[subaqua]

i gave the one on mrs subaquas bike a good soaking in GT85/wd40 whatever the favourite is this week, then left it to soak in old cooking oil. a quick brush down with the old spark plug brass brush and it was good as new.

then we went on holiday to the seaside she left it out in the rain for 2 weeks and it was rusted as bad as it was. I bought a new chain and have relegated the rusty one to emergency 4pm on a sunday and the chain is broken spare , in the ever growing box of bits for bikes

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Buy a new chain.

 

[Moodyman]

Buy a new chain.

Aye. A basic chain is cheap enough to avoid the painful restoration

 

[gbb]

Buying a new chain is the right thing to do if you're keeping it, but...
There's precious little money to be made selling a cheapo bike and its easy to spend a few quid here and a few quid there, and soon, you won't make anything on it at all. Just my POV.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

The bike in question isn't a BSO (based on nine-speed cassette and QR skewer, cassette suggests mtb/hybrid) so may command a decent price. The rusty chain may well skip on the test ride and lose the sale/reduce theprice by more than the cost of the sale...

even if just rusty and working fine, I, as a prospective buyer would use any signs of neglect, such as rust staining on the chain, to beat the seller up over price. "This bike has not been maintained properly so I'll offer you...."

 

[Night Train]

even if just rusty and working fine, I, as a prospective buyer would use any signs of neglect, such as rust staining on the chain, to beat the seller up over price. "This bike has not been maintained properly so I'll offer you...."

+1
This is my reasoning for spending a few quid on a cheap chain.



Also given the limited return the less effort the better unless you value your hour or so to clean and 'derust' the chain less then the few quid it cost to replace it.

If you have a number of bikes I would put the best of the old chains (with any bad links removed/replaced) on the cheapest bikes and then put new chains on the more expensive ones.

 

[gbb]

The bike in question isn't a BSO (based on nine-speed cassette and QR skewer, cassette suggests mtb/hybrid) so may command a decent price. The rusty chain may well skip on the test ride and lose the sale/reduce theprice by more than the cost of the sale...

even if just rusty and working fine, I, as a prospective buyer would use any signs of neglect, such as rust staining on the chain, to beat the seller up over price. "This bike has not been maintained properly so I'll offer you...."

Funny, i was just revisiting this post and noticed the photo and immediately thought...'this isnt a BSO', then saw your reply above....and quite agree.
A 5 or 6 speed BSO's one thing, but a (what looks like) 9 speed, no, i would replace the chain as well.