Out of pure curiosity....how are chrome lugs done (just saw pic of beautiful Paramont, violet with chrome lugs in C & V).

thanks

After the frame is brazed, the head tube lugs are carefully filed and polished, then the head tube, top tube, and down tube are chrome plated (a multi-stage process itself, which often consists of copper plating, then nickel plating, then chrome plating, and finally oven baking to relieve hydrogen embrittlement) to just past the lugs. That takes care of the lugs. The rest of the frame is then prepped and painted.

Chrome plated lugs look terrific.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7/k4drd/Bicycles/NervexLugssmall.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7/k4drd/Bicycles/HeadBadgesmall.jpg

One other option is to use stainless steel lugs. The lugs are polished before brazing and touched up afterward. Looks like chrome but not as much hassle if all you want is shinny lugs.

One other option is to use stainless steel lugs. The lugs are polished before brazing and touched up afterward. Looks like chrome but not as much hassle if all you want is shinny lugs.

+1 on the stainless. Plus, stainless steel will not rust from the inside out in high humidity/salty environments. (Don't worry too much though...it can take years for that to happen and is not incredibly common, but I have seen it)

One other option is to use stainless steel lugs. The lugs are polished before brazing and touched up afterward. Looks like chrome but not as much hassle if all you want is shinny lugs.
+2 :D

Richard Sachs has a line of stainless steel lugs that are very similar in appearance to the old Nervex "Professonal" lugs (see the Kool Lemon Paramount in the post above) and as a tribute to Nervex, Richie calls them "Newvex".

Here is the head tube of a bike with polished stainless steel Newvex lugs.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7/k4drd/Bicycles/Waterford%20B07014/CIMG3698crsm.jpg

i was under the impression that some frames are entirely chrome plated, then paint is applied to only the areas you want.. masking off the chrome. no?

i was under the impression that some frames are entirely chrome plated, then paint is applied to only the areas you want.. masking off the chrome. no?

True. Old Italian frames in particular. I think the reason is that it's easier to just chrome the whole frame in one shot compared to doing it in pieces or trying to mask off areas that don't need the chrome.