Best way to clean up gt rts1frame

[Peachy!]

Right…sorry…. Been arsing about all day on the trails at Dolby forest with the boy.. he’s been showing me how the combination of a 13yr old and a weight weenie can fly up hill, whilst I’ve shown him how fast a 51yr old on a steel bike can go down one !

Anyway… lets try to tidy this up…
“Raw” Aluminium frames tend to be finished in one of three ways, & I’m not sure what yours is. But there are;
1. Anodised (sometimes polished, sometimes satin)
2. Lacquered or clear powder coated.
3. Raw polished and waxed/treated
I wouldn’t go anywhere near anything with Autosol or Brasso, unless of course all I wanted to do was freshen it up and then flip it. Things have moved on in leaps and bounds with regard to polishing technology, so much so I can’t understand why those products are still around, except for perhaps they’re cheap?

Cleaning of the above 3 finishes can be done by so many different ways it really isn’t worth listing & unfortunately there isn’t any magic wand to get rid of worming to an anodised finish.
So, what can you do?
Well if you want to keep as much originality as possible;
Clean it with something like Bar Keepers Friend, and or petrol to remove road tar. Then coat it with a quality shinobi wax.
If you want to go restoration, you have two initial options;
1. Have the anodising stripped, then the frame polished (combo of machine and hand) then re-anodising.
This option is expensive, and you will have to make sure you remove any steel, these items (bearing surfaces etc) are often push fit so this can be very tricky.

2. Strip it yourself and polish to a high shine by first going through the wet & dry grades then polishing with a modern metal polish such as MAAS (other brands are available) these have anti-tarnish corrosion inhibitors in them that really do work.
If this is a bike you really want to look good but ride hard on the trails you may want to invest in a layer of clear powder coat. This will protect your new graphics and the polished finish from flying debris and the end of ride jet wash, although it will never be quite as dazzling.
Only powdercoat, never clear lacquer. PC is much more flexible and able to cope with the expansion and contraction of an aluminium frame.

Below are a few shots of my work using MAAS.... that was a year ago and my Lotuses still pop in the sunshine...

 

[ishaw]

Re:

An rts is not anodised or lacquered, well any of the usa built ones as far as I know. The frame in question appears to be an rts-2, I've no idea what finish that has, I had an early one which was painted a metallic light bronze sort of colour so no experience of looking after one without paint.

I'll never sell my team, intrigued to know more about the modern options for keeping it mint, can you share more info on the stuff you'd recommend to clean and keep it looking as good as new, I'd like to move on from autosol etc if there are better options. That said, mine still looks factory fresh and I've used these products for years but every day is a school day

 

[Peachy!]

Re: Re:

An rts is not anodised or lacquered, well any of the usa built ones as far as I know. The frame in question appears to be an rts-2, I've no idea what finish that has, I had an early one which was painted a metallic light bronze sort of colour so no experience of looking after one without paint.

I'll never sell my team, intrigued to know more about the modern options for keeping it mint, can you share more info on the stuff you'd recommend to clean and keep it looking as good as new, I'd like to move on from autosol etc if there are better options. That said, mine still looks factory fresh and I've used these products for years but every day is a school day

Morning....Just read through my post and I realise I’ve sounded a bit to dismissive of Autosol as it does have a place as a restorative polish, its high level of abrasives means it's ideal for making quick work of heavily corroded aluminium such as a set of 1950’s GB brake capilers.

As for newer products, my go-to are;
MAAS (by far my favorite) Although more of a top finish product
Chemical Guys Heavy Metal, A modern version of Autosol but with protective qualities

Both are expensive but I think MAAS is by far the best value for money, bizarrely I’ve just looked at their website and they are sold out! It is available on Amazon though. (& ebay but + US shipping)

 

[Magpiegifts]

Right…sorry…. Been arsing about all day on the trails at Dolby forest with the boy.. he’s been showing me how the combination of a 13yr old and a weight weenie can fly up hill, whilst I’ve shown him how fast a 51yr old on a steel bike can go down one !

Anyway… lets try to tidy this up…
“Raw” Aluminium frames tend to be finished in one of three ways, & I’m not sure what yours is. But there are;
1. Anodised (sometimes polished, sometimes satin)
2. Lacquered or clear powder coated.
3. Raw polished and waxed/treated
I wouldn’t go anywhere near anything with Autosol or Brasso, unless of course all I wanted to do was freshen it up and then flip it. Things have moved on in leaps and bounds with regard to polishing technology, so much so I can’t understand why those products are still around, except for perhaps they’re cheap?

Cleaning of the above 3 finishes can be done by so many different ways it really isn’t worth listing & unfortunately there isn’t any magic wand to get rid of worming to an anodised finish.
So, what can you do?
Well if you want to keep as much originality as possible;
Clean it with something like Bar Keepers Friend, and or petrol to remove road tar. Then coat it with a quality shinobi wax.
If you want to go restoration, you have two initial options;
1. Have the anodising stripped, then the frame polished (combo of machine and hand) then re-anodising.
This option is expensive, and you will have to make sure you remove any steel, these items (bearing surfaces etc) are often push fit so this can be very tricky.

2. Strip it yourself and polish to a high shine by first going through the wet & dry grades then polishing with a modern metal polish such as MAAS (other brands are available) these have anti-tarnish corrosion inhibitors in them that really do work.
If this is a bike you really want to look good but ride hard on the trails you may want to invest in a layer of clear powder coat. This will protect your new graphics and the polished finish from flying debris and the end of ride jet wash, although it will never be quite as dazzling.
Only powdercoat, never clear lacquer. PC is much more flexible and able to cope with the expansion and contraction of an aluminium frame.

Below are a few shots of my work using MAAS.... that was a year ago and my Lotuses still pop in the sunshine...

Wow! Nice work...

I was checking out a thread you started about restoration/renovation etc and seen the rear end you had sparkling.

Thanks for the advice mate. Appreciated..

I don't intend to race it at all, just want to do it up, nice spec, set of Spins or similar,and just take it on the odd cruise around.

Think I'll order some MAAS at the weekend.

I want to keep it original as possible, so want to avoid stripping really.
I will post an update with pics once I've got it looking better.

I'd like to know same as Ishaw about modern techniques.

Really appreciate everyone taking time to help out.

And it's confirmed what i expected,that it was an rts2 instead.

What I'd really like to know,or best guess, is what model rts did the rear triangle come off? Which models/years had the canti brake rocker thingy

Cos I've got a purple rts3 which has a steel rear triangle with brake thingy too.

Thanks all

 

[Retro Spud]

if the south west wasn't such a big place and me being at the extreme top end of it, I'd pop round and burglar your gaff to liberate an RTS - Having two is showing off

looking forward to seeing what you do with them - please post pics of progress

 

[Double-E F]

How did you confirm it to be an RTS-2?

 

[Magpiegifts]

Haven't actually confirmed as such,more going on Ishaw and my own thoughts that its a 2.

Is there a way of looking up serial numbers and finding out for sure?

 

[ishaw]

Re:

Not sure, 2s and 3s were made in Taiwan and were probably the same frame, different spec kit. The rts-2 I had was a very early one, I got it before I went to uni which puts it at 91/2. It had a steel rear end and a roller rather than rocker for the rear brake. At some point later the rears were alloy, at the point the lts came out they did an rts badged frame as well, but that had the rounded end cap, not flat. I had one in a lovely ink blue at some point. Have had a lot of these frames over the years.

 

[BrushedAluminium]

wire wool, wet and dry sand paper and autosolve polish and polishing cloth/rags

also a dremmel type tool is ideal for the welds, I have cleaned and polished a handful of frames in my time

 

[Magpiegifts]

Big Thankyou to all who took the time to comment on this post, much appreciated guys.....

Decided I'm going to try for a better finish,so think I'm going to sand it down a bit then see how much of a good finish I can achieve. After seeing Peachy's handiwork it's got me craving a mirror finish!