De-Rusting with Citric Acid

I acquired a nice pair of Catos adjustable alloy toe clips for my Baines cycle a while back but they were slightly too crusty to fit straight off. As is the way of things I've only just gotten round to sorting them out to fit.

The main body of the toe clips are alloy and were fine but the part that fits to the pedals and carries the adjustment was what needed attention. I could have just set to work with a wire brush but decided to give citric acid de-rusting a go.

Above are the offending parts pre-treatment

First procure your citric acid. The beauty of it is that it isn't particularly polluting, is very cheap and is easily available at your local Asian supermarket.

Measure out the solution. 30 parts warm water to 1 part citric acid is a good benchmark.

This is immediately after submerging the parts in a plastic container. The citric acid starts to work quickly.

I gave the clips a couple of hours. After taking parts out they need a light scrubbing with something non-abrasive, an old tooth brush is pretty ideal. Tip the citric acid solution down the drain, wash your the cleaned parts with fresh water and then allow to dry.

This is the finished product. Quite a satisfying finish I think. The advantage of using citric acid is that is quite mild but effective for removing light rust and at the same time will not attack paint or plating.

And here are the clips on the Baines.