Those rust holes...

[Uncle Grumpy]

If that was mine and it was something I wanted to put back on the road and make it safe and give it more life, I would:

Strip the paint and carry out a visual assessment of the type of rust and the extent of the rust.
Anything surface can be treated and neutralised.
Anything more serious would require patching - that might mean drilling the rust hole until you hit metal and either plug welding it or patching it or having a frame builder replace the stay (I can MIG and TIG weld so there are things that I can DIY that others might not have the tools or the "torch time" to have a crack at).
Repaint, and use modern primers etc that might protect the metal better than what the factory did back in the day.

That hole isn't meant to be there. Poke at it, drill it out, go nuts. You want it gone. If you keep pulling rust out until there's no tube left then good, better you do it now than have it fail in use.

 

[critcritter]

Thank you all for the replies! You confirmed what I feared based on several other posts in this topic. I feel sorry for the frame but it is time to remove it from active duty on the road. If nothing else, this frame thought me to look for bubbles under the paint and to be very skeptical at the sign of rust.

I plan to source a replacement frame from the era. If possible, looking down the seat tube and inside the bottom bracket shell to have a better idea about the condition.

Would you recommend treating the insides of the replacement frame with WD-40 or similar to prevent/reduce corrosion?

 

[PanoIgano]

Thank you all for the replies! You confirmed what I feared based on several other posts in this topic. I feel sorry for the frame but it is time to remove it from active duty on the road. If nothing else, this frame thought me to look for bubbles under the paint and to be very skeptical at the sign of rust.

I plan to source a replacement frame from the era. If possible, looking down the seat tube and inside the bottom bracket shell to have a better idea about the condition.

Would you recommend treating the insides of the replacement frame with WD-40 or similar to prevent/reduce corrosion?

There are specific products for this job. One of the most famous is called Frame Saver I believe. Then you have alternative sprays that will leave a wax coating inside the tubes. You just spray once and its good for a long time.

Check out some YouTube videos that explain how to protect bike frames from internal rust. You will get many ideas.

 

[bikeworkshop]

There are loads of nice steel frames out there from this era.
Let's concentrate on saving good ones.

In this state, its only worth saving if it has emotional value.

It's always worth spraying something oily in a steel frame if you have it apart.

Nothing lasts forever, but there are plenty of ways to make stuff last a very long time.

 

[PhillB]

Yes, bubbling is not usually a good sign. I had a frame with some recently, but it was still surface, so I think I caught in time.

If this frame has sentimental value then get it repaired professionally.

Otherwise the are other Univega Apline frames out there - a couple on eBay atm. Which will probably cost less than the repair....

It's a cool looking frame though, albeit with a design fault - almost needs drains in the chain stays.

As others have said, there are loads of rust prevention products you can spray inside.

 

[legrandefromage]

I feel your pain... (Being repaired next Saturday))

 

[93hero]

Too late for this one but every new steel frame I buy gets a liberal spray of clear waxoyl in every hole before further assembly.

Invariably I’m not the one to benefit but there are plenty of old bikes out there that I’ve previously coated internally and are now being ridden rust free by grateful new owners.