Old bikes & Frame Saver

[cmbicycles]

I had a coworker give me an older lugged steel Tomasso frameset built w/ columbus SLX tubing. It seems in decent shape aside from the expected scratches and small spots of surface rust along cable guides and connection points, I looked into the seat tube and there is some speckling of rust mostly in the bottom half, kind of looks a little like random pitting marks. It doesn't appear to be much, but I was wondering if it is something I should attempt to clean up first and then Frame Saver it, or if the frame saver should do the trick by iteself.

I don't have a lot of experience with steel frames. Is this a decent frame to put some time/resources into? I would guess it is about 15-25 years old. It has a campy triple crank(mismatched 167.5/170 arms) with old first generation look spd pedals (frozen). I don't plan on using the cranks/pedals, but if someone needs em for anything, PM me.

[Peter P.]

You'll spend too much effort trying to scrub the inside of the tubes clean. Coating the tubes with Framesaver should be good enough. I'm thinking once you coat the tubes, no oxygen can reach the steel and therefore the rust can't progress any further. That, from a non-engineer.

[AngryScientist]

if you can get a round wire brush into the tube to knock down any of the loose surface rust, do that, otherwise, just frame saver it.

what's fairly important is to get the frame nice and dry inside, pull all of the parts off, BB, seatpost, let the frame air out well and dry out completely inside, then apply the corrosion inhibitor.

let's see some pictures!

[Fixed]

Frame saver yes like a.s. and Peter said
I used to ride in the rain about everyday this time of year ,this is what I did everyday
After evey ride I used to wipe my bike down with an oily rag
then take the seat post out and hang upside down on hooks overnight , the bike was good to go the next morning .
My bikes lasted better than me
Cheers :)

[thwart]

My bikes lasted better than me

Quote of the day.

We're all happy that you're here, Fixed... and hope getting back on the bike is in the cards sometime soon.

[cmbicycles]

I finally got the BB out, which was pretty well frozen, and the pitting inside is much less than I thought. I'll post pictures as soon as I am able, but there is some other rust on the external seattube and top tube that bother me.
The seat tube area is about 1/4" diameter, after trying to lightly sand the rust it seems to spread a little under the paint. I ran out of time to pursue it further today. Likewise on the top tube by the cable brazed top cable guide there is some bubbling of the paint and some rust near the brazing point about 1/2"-3/4" diameter area. Any advice on how to guage the depth of the rust? Am I just paranoid? I was trying to sand/dremel the rust and touch up the paint on a couple spots to protect the frame, but just not sure if it is worth it. I'm in richmond, VA but don't know of any reputable builders/shops who would be able to assist. (PM if you know of one)
Anyone with metalurgy advice w/o having seen it? I can't find a magic 8 ball or my crystal ball, so I hope someone here might have one.
Thanks