Morning all. I’ve just given my old steel kona a bit of a service and have noticed a few orange spots/threads forming under the paint on the underside of the top tube. I renovated it a few years ago and got it powdercoated.

Has anyone got any tips on how to treat the rust? Scrape back the paint, remove rust and seal with nail varnish is one method I’ve heard of but don’t know how effective it will be.

This is the thread on retrobike which shows the renovation (finished article is on page 3).

1997 Kona Cindercone renovation

You don’t really “treat” rust, you just remove it and prevent more rust forming – so yes, scrape back to bare metal, clean it up, and coat with something to stop water getting to it.

a sharp stanley blade to scratch the paint and the corrosion away and then a dab of paint, it will always come back though

Dinitrol rust convertor

As above – if the rust has ‘pitted’ the surface, you should use something that neutralises the oxidation, i.e. reacts with the iron oxide forming it into a new compound. The finished result will look like hard black shiny paint, so you just need to paint primer on top.

Nail varnish doesn’t do anything to rust, apart from hide it.