Refurbishing vintage bikes

THATmanMANNY

Well-Known Member
My neighbor planning to move gave me these. I plan to refurb the cruiser for another neighbor who’s been asking me about what bike to buy but has never pulled the trigger yet. Something like this would be great for street and canal and her XS size. The redline i’m gonna refurb for myself for some pumping.

Any tips of getting aluminum and steel shiny again? Some parts look like burnt toast and the usual surface rust.

Brakes shot, shifters shot, hopefully it just needs some pulling apart and greasing and cables.
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clarkenstein

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
JORBA.ORG
I’ve done a few bikes now. I start off with WD-40 and a very fine steel wool. That will shine up a lot and take off patina. Just watch paint with the steel wool. But the metal stuff you don’t have to worry - chrome and steel will polish up well.
 

jklett

Well-Known Member
Mother's mag and aluminum polish works great on un-anodized aluminum. The chrome, wd and steel wool then follow up with turtle wax chrome polish. You can get both at any auto parts store.
 

Mountain Bike Mike

Well-Known Member
For bare metal surfaces, especially aluminum, I like Nevr-Dull Magic Wadding. You still want to use something like super-fine Scotch Brite to remove steel rust/corrosion (I perfer this to #000/#0000 steel wool), but Nevr-Dull will restore a polished shine, and a little goes along way.

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This was my go to for my polished aluminum wheels on my truck.. or anything polished aluminum
 
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