Same deal here Mark.
I have been restoring 70's and 80's BMX's for a while and have had great results with Oxalic Acid on chrome, nickel and painted components. An interesting fact is that it will leave the factory decals in place and only eat the rust.

Awesome Damien! What do you have now as far as BMX bikes? I have the early Mongoose frame and most parts, as well as some mid-school frames, but not nearly as much as I used to have. I also have some old Tuf and Pro Necks that I've restored and polished for resale, but even that has waned as we're trying to fix up our house to sell so we can downsize. I'd love to get another early Robinson Scott Clark model (my first true BMX bike that was pretty trick for back in the day with a Euro BB, Torker stem, UKAI shiny sides, Maxy Cross cranks, and a center-pull rear brake that no one had seen back then), as well as a another early Sting as I have a soft spot in my heart for those.

Sounds like you have some cool stuff Mark!
I have only old school bikes and parts myself. I have currently a '78 Motomag, '78 Bmx Products Team Rampar, '80 Bmx Products Moto Trac, '82 Hustler Pro and a couple of lower end early 80's Australian bikes. I have a ton of Skyway Tuffs as well.
If you are a member on bmxmuseum you can my stuff in the link.

https://bmxmuseum.com/user/233608/bikes

Killer thread. Thanks to all who contributed. It's what makes this site awesome!

Tim

I have used apple cider vinegar with good results at 4.00 gallon. the only problem is it doesnt last real long

We use vinegar to clean out the inside of old engines which are running...
I use citric acid all the time... works great as a driveway cleaner too....

Thanks Jasok for the kind words. This post was very helpful. The citric acid idea certainly is something I would want to try- though I will use it one something with less critical tolerances than and engine block- just to be cautious.

Another member 69L78 Jeff txt me some pics he used the CA on and it was a huge difference. They were e-brake cables and it was very compelling.

Because of these two, and my own video I decided go try and learn. More. I found d another great video if you want to lightly understand the science of some of these rust removing options.

Keep sharing your experiences. Here is the helpful video I found.