The Runwell: Day 7

I finally finished scrubbing the rust off the handlebars today, and found a chrome situation not to be envied. Well, it's not that bad, and it looks better in the picture, but there are definitely some spots where the chrome is gone, and the spots under the grips (not shown here) are quite badly rusted. I used fine steel wool and rubbing compound, followed by buffing with Brasso and a soft cloth. I think I've decided not to have everything re-chromed and re-painted just now. I really want to get the bicycle back together and try it out before investing that kind of money on it.

Next, I think I'm going to tackle the chain. A lot of people just chuck an old rusty chain without a second thought, but I've always had good luck cleaning them up and re-using them. I think this one is actually fairly new, too, and just looks like hell because it was stored outside. Well, I'll at least make a go at it, and see what it looks like under all that surface rust. EDIT: Never mind, I got to looking at it, and decided it's just not worth it to clean up the old chain, and that's saying something for a cheapskate like me.