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To Scrape Or Not To Scrape!

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Eddie Miller

Look Ma, No Hands!
That is the question!

I was taking the back wheel off my 1971 Schwinn so I could see what's wrong with it, and I noticed this flaky red build-up on the underside of the fender. and when I rubbed on it, it flaked off revealing shiny chrome underneath. Does that flaky stuff hold any significance, or is it okay for me to scrape it off?
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Pics are a little blurry so it's hard to tell what it is, but I've never heard of any factory coating on the underside of fenders.
If you want the bottom of you're fenders to be shiny, have at it.
But I probably wouldn't bother trying to remove it, if it were mine, unless it came off super easy.
My two cents.
 
Someone may have sprayed the inside with something to possibly protect them from rust. Whatever it is kept the chrome in nice shape.
 
Some people do prime and paint the under-side of their fenders. Or use spray-on undercoating, like they use on cars.
 
All kidding aside, all that road film will do is trap moisture and exacerbate a rust problem especially with chrome fenders. Unless there's a reason to leave it unmolested, like if the bike was previously owned by a celebrity like Steve McQueen, there's no good reason not to clean it off. I actually had the same decision to make when I recently refurbished my early Elgin but that bike is approaching 90 years old if not older and the fenders (mud guards) are covered in alligatored paint oozing patina. I left all the painted surfaces as they were.
If you decide to clean them up a cheap automotive wax will be good enough to protect them for years to come.
 
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