Hi Guys,

I've recently rescued a CBR125 from a friend, after it sat outside unloved, and generally left to die for around 3 years.
Surprisingly, its actually lasted rather well, after the initial fluid drops and inspections, however, there's quite a bit of surface rust on the swing arm, fork tops, clip ons, and on the lower mount of the rear shock.

I can sort out the fork tops with a polishing wheel, time and effort, however the swingarm and the rear shock are the most concerning to me.
Does anyone know a way of dissolving rust from components, without damaging the paint? I'd rather not go down the route of stripping paint, powder coating, paint matching etc, as by the time I'm finished it'll cost far more than the bike is actually worth.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

Here in the US, we have Evaporust, which works wonders.

 

Diet coke works well enough to get a mention. Soak a rag in it and wipe the rust away. Just make sure to chase it with soap and water to neutralize the acidic residue afterwards. Plus it tastes great

Don't even think about using Diet Pepsi though. It tastes horrible

 

I'm a fan of Oxolic Acid. It can be purchased inexpensively from ebay or even local stores. I've used it on handle bars, exhaust pipes, side stands from a 250 Rebel. Take a look at the photos from this bicycle forum. It has pictures and mixing instructions.
https://bmxmuseum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=77444