Protecting the dropouts

Dreadful low level idiotic non-sequiter and online classic straw man argument.

Gold.

Oh lord sorry, i didn't know i was being graded on what i casually write on public forums. What ever could i do to improve the way i express my opinion in a form as articulately put as yours?, since after all you are so very much superior.

My interest came from what ever reasoning sing has behind wanting to preserve something that, no matter how hard he tries, will deteriorate over time from use. Its not like the frame is going to stay as pristine as it was when built so why try fending off the inevitable. There are countless others ways the frame could end up in bad condition so to be fussy about something so minuscule makes no sense to me.

Possibly the post that makes the point about this thread.

A: If you worry about how your bike looks you are a 'poser'.

B: If you don't worry about how your bike looks you are seen as a 'real man'.

Result, if you want to look cool, option B seems obvious.

Yeah you are trolling arent you.

I cannot believe no-one has mentioned fitting inverse dropout shims yet?

This forum, honestly.......

I'm going to propose wabi sabi as the answer.

How about wasabi?

If you put some in your eye, it'll probably make you forget all about them.

ok.

my dropouts are stainless steel. i win.

no

just take a smooth file to the dropout flats and remove the paint. job done

I won't do this. I've decided my frame's there to enjoy and if it gets scratched around the dropouts then no big deal.

But the whole polishing the dropouts down to a bare shine and regularly coating that bare metal in wd40/chain oil is an idea!

or this: Amazon.com: T-9 Rust Protectant, 12 Ounce Spray: Home Improvement

I wonder if you could polish a steel frame down to a shine completely then coat in this... Might get some of this to spray inside the entirety of the frame tubes to protect from corrosion.

that T9 would be good for the inside of tubing, especially seattube to protect against long term corroision there.
Sounds a bit like waxoyl in its definition, pointless for the outside of the frame though, unless you have many scabs in which case the damage is already done.

For the dropouts in serious'ness, either just be extremely careful when inserting & flipping the wheel, i.e. wind the bolts out far more than deemed necessary, but inside the dropouts where the axle sits its going to get chewed up regardless. A few bikes I've got have chromed dropouts which protects against this (unless you somehow crack the chrome off them with abuse), so the next best idea would be to mask off the stays and strip the paint from your dropouts, to bare metal then keep on top of the rust & marks. But if you do not do this very very tidyly it'll look shit.