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Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (June 2025)

439 points david927 | 3 comments | 29 Jun 25 20:21 UTC | HN request time: 0.436s | source

What are you working on? Any new ideas which you're thinking about?
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jodrellblank ◴[30 Jun 25 20:37 UTC] No.44427592[source]▶
I'm cleaning up a 25-30 year old bicycle. First time I've stripped one almost right back to the frame.

Strongly recommend the rust remover described by Backyard Ballistics[0] on his second channel[1]; 1 liter water, 100g citric acid, 40g washing soda, generous squirt of dish soap. He claims the acid and alkali cancel out so there's nothing to attack the normal metal surface, but they leave citrate ions which dissolve rust by chelation, which makes it better than just citric acid, vinegar, or soda alone, which all pit and dissolve the clean metal surfaces, and easier/better than wire wool scratching. He also claims it's as effective as EvapoRust but much cheaper and can do more rust dissolving per litre than EvapoRust.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/@Backyard.Ballistics - restoration of old and very rusty guns

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVYZmeReKKY - "The Ultimate HOMEMADE Rust Remover (Better than EvapoRust)", Beyond Ballistics channel

replies(1): >>44429379 #
1. ineedtosleep ◴[01 Jul 25 00:26 UTC] No.44429379[source]▶
Very cool. I imagine you'll also need a heavy duty degreaser for the drivetrain and bottom bracket unless you're just going to chuck those into the bin anyway.
replies(2): >>44430149 #>>44438180 #
2. jaredhallen ◴[01 Jul 25 02:55 UTC] No.44430149[source]▶
Mineral spirits for the grease. Paper towels. Brake cleaner or starting fluid if you want to get it completely oil free for paint or whatnot.
3. jodrellblank ◴[01 Jul 25 21:31 UTC] No.44438180[source]▶
I have a bottle of degreaser and used it on the derailleur. I was planning to replace the chain (stretched), cassette (broken teeth) and maybe front sprockets (worn) but they are riveted to the crank arms so maybe not those. Bottom bracket is a Shimano sealed cartridge bearing one so that can stay (previous owner upgrade I guess; it has v-brakes instead of the original cantilever). Undecided about using a new chain and cassette with worn front sprockets or temporizing by cleaning the old cassette and chain.

Apart from that, tyres are too worn, front wheel rims are so pitted I couldn't smooth them with sandpaper and they don't brake well, bar grips are worn and torn, plastic pedals worn smooth - lots of replacements. And changing the handlebars for the fun of it. Lots of paint chips and dings on the fame being filled with car touchup paint which looks awful close up - but I had it and the colour match is close, so it's cheap and tidier. https://spray.bike/ is tempting ... but not this bike.

Inspirations: https://www.youtube.com/@bkefrmr - Bike Farmer, who is trying to be the 'Bob Ross' of tidying up 90s steel bikes and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4n2S7-SC4Q - Spindatt "So I restored the original paint on my vintage MTB" and his followup vid on the process.