Project Mickstee: Episode III: Deep Clean

Rubbing of all the rust, dirt and grease was definitely the longest part. Bearings, races, cups and cones were soaked overnight in the MEC degreaser, which is very pleasant to work with - it cleans well, even old grease, has virtually no smell and is biodegradable. The toothbrush in the picture (big mystery why it was in my room in the first place!) turned out to be a very handy tool to clean inside the bearing retainers and the headset crowns (since I never managed to take it apart completely).

As for the rust, a bunch of things were discovered:

1. Steel wool works best to remove rust from irregularly shaped surfaces with sharp edges (chainring).
2. Sandpaper works best on harder parts (locknuts, washers, etc), if you are crazy enough to reuse them. Not like there is anything wrong with it, but it takes bloody long time to get them to the appropriate state!
3. To remove rust from flat or just large-surfaced chromed areas, the best way was crumbled aluminum foil soaked in Coca Cola (go, H3PO4, go!). The parts end up being more shiny than after the steel wool or sandpaper. The downside - they also end up sticky, so have to be washed with water and dried.

However, the most efficient use of Coca Cola is by far the cleaning of spokes: don't even need to rub them much! Out of sheer curiosity (by this point I already bought new spokes), I made a "tub" out of aluminum foil , put three most rusted spokes and nipples in it, and marinated them in Coke for 24 hours. The result exceeded all expectations! Spokes became smooth and completely rust free, including the threading; nipples ended up as shiny as new ones. All I had to do is wipe and rinse them.

The algorithm for particularly stubborn rust (e.g. inside the rims) was something like foil+Coke -> dry excess -> wool -> more Coke -> wash and dry. Repeat as many times as needed (some parts took 4-5 runs!)