Friday, April 15, 2011

Fixing up my sweet bike

Here's another random post coming at ya.  I noticed that my Trek was looking a little rusty when we hauled out the bikes this past Sunday.  It was an 80-degree day that gave way to freezing rain and general crappiness for the rest of this week, a classic Wisconsin move.  Anyway, I digress....the rust was on the metal parts, obviously:
I read somewhere that regular foil crumpled up (shiny side out) and dipped in water would remove the rust.  A tip was also given to rub the chrome with straight motions, not circular.
I decided to give it a shot. Please don't look at my grown-out highlights!!
When you start rubbing the metal with the foil, you will see this black 'bubbly' thing happen.  I think that means it's working.  Or, it's the foil breaking down.  Whatever. 
Here is that top piece after a good scrub, a rinse, and a wipe with an old t- shirt.  
Amazeballs!  It actually worked and it was FREE!
My bike looks brand new!  Too bad I forgot to take a full picture of it.  I had places to go, ya know? 

ps - with summer quickly approaching, I feel it necessary to warn all concerned parties that Mike's 'Harder' Lemonade has 400 ridiculous calories in ONE CAN.  I almost convulsed when I read that, mid-can.  You have been warned!  Drop the Mike's, pick up a Lite, and have some chips with it instead!

15 comments:

  1. Foil, really?? Nifty!

    400 calories? Aghh.

    You're teaching us so much! :)

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  2. neat trick, I'll have to use it on my ancient bike. And don't worry, I won't judge your hairdo while you're being all resourceful.

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  3. What a great tip!!! WOW! That aluminum foil is really an amazing invention! I already use it to get rid of the smell of onions on my hands after I get through cutting them up. Try it! Rub a ball of aluminum foil all over anywhere you touched with the onion...No Smell afterward! :-)

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  4. I can't wait for some bike weather. I'll be sure to use this tip before hand. Who knew!

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  5. Great tip! Okay, seriously, 400 calories??!!! OMG!!

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  6. Wow, who knew! (Well, you did, obviously.) That IS amazing. Oh, and thanks for the Mike's tip. I'll be sure to steer clear of it - that's crazy.

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  7. That really is CRAZY amazing. I've gotta try this on something. I am sure I can find something, right?

    And, your PSA at the bottom is much appreciated. 400 calories? Crazy.

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  8. OMG 400 calories?! WHAT? Definitely rather spend that on Doritos, kthx. This foil thing is awesome though! Thanks! I will probably try it on my bike after the snow melts! (Did you guys get the snow? We got 8" in Friday and it was headed east...)

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  9. Cool, i've noticed some rust spots on some of our stuff. i'll have to try it out. Huh, i won't be trying the mikes at 400 calories. geez - who knew?

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  10. "Ding dong!" <-that's my bike's bell saying hi to your bike!

    Looks su-weet!

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  11. I'll be trying the foil and the lemonade!

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  12. Tested this out on a bike we found for our son on the side of the road - worked really well. Thanks for the tip.

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Thanks so much for reading....your comments mean a lot to me!
Sara