Help preserve my steel tubes!

[tbushnel]

I am putting together a track bike with a steel frame that I bought used. I tried to post a pic but it would not upload. The BB has 3 parallel slots cut in it. It seems like it would both allow drainage of any moisture from the tubes, but also allow moisture in especially when I ride in the rain which I inevitably will. Any thoughts about internal tube treatment? I was thinking of "Framsaver" or perhaps linseed oil though I'm not too sure how to apply that correctly.

Any help is appreciated. I have to make this frame last for awhile.

Cheers,
Ted. :banana:

[dave thompson]

FrameSaver works exceedingly well. The slots in your bottom bracket will drain more water than they will let in.

Also having your bike in a warm dry environment helps moisture control. In the living room by the fireplace would be nice I think. :D

[tbushnel]

Thanks dave. I just realized I should have bothered to search the forum. I immediately found all the info I could ever need about this topic.
Doh!
Ted.

[Frank]

I put the frame in the bike stand and, for example, start with the top tube.
I have the bike level and put a rag in one end of the top tube (headtube end
first for example). I then spray into the top tube from the seattube end.
Then I take the rag out and put it into the seattube end of the top tube. I
then spray into the top tube from the headtube end. I then put a rag in each
end of the top tube, take the frame out of the stand, and "roll" the frame
around as if I was trying to coat the entire inside of the top tube...which
I am!

After that, I put the frame back in the stand and I stuff a rag in each end
of the top tube, in the bottom bracket shell, and at the bottom of the
headtube. I then spray the seat tube and head tube and down tube and let the bike sit til the spray is not running anymore.

I then tilt the bike with the rear of the bike pointing down. I spray into
the chainstays and into the seat stays if I can, plus the downtube. I spray
the fork steerer while I am waiting for this to dry some (rag in bottom of
fork crown).

Finally, I put a rag on one side of the bb shell and spray the bb shell
inside from the other side.

It is more art than science...the Weigle is a bit messy and smelly and you
need to make sure to put something down to catch the drips, although they
have cleaned up ok for me off the garage floor. Don't need too much...a can
is supposed to do 4 or 5 bikes as I remember. If it runs out on the floor
you are wasting it. I now use Boeshield T9 instead of Weigle because it isn't as messy and has seemed to work well for many others, but either would be fine.

I think the main source of rust is some water getting in during a ride and
not being able to exit the bottom bracket if there is no drain hole. Even on
bikes without it I now drill a small hole at the lowest point of the bb
shell to let water drain out.

Frank