Framebuilders - frok repair/chroming Philly area

Hello everyone. this thread has a few parts. I recently found a Bianchi MAX fork on ebay and I thought it would be a great 'spare' fork to have on hand. I would like to have the steerer lenghtened about 5 CM and then have the fork chromed.

is there someone in SoE Pa or So Jersey that will do the lengthening?

can I just take this to a motorcycle/hotrod shop to be chomed?

Lengthening a steerer is a pretty straightforward thing. I've done about a dozen or so in the last two or three years. You just have to be careful about where you place the internal sleeve so it won't interfere with the stem, given it's a threaded steerer. If it's threadless it's less of a problem. Any framebuilder who does repairs should be able to do it.

If you use a chrome shop that's not well versed with working with bicycle stuff, which is probably most of them, just be aware that the plating doesn't cover up any defects very well. Rough and uneven surfaces will be more noticeable after they're chromed. When I take anything to the chrome shop, I have it as clean as I can get it, and polished and buffed to the point of looking like a stainless steel kitchen knife. I try to leave as little up to the chrome shop as I can. That being said, even the best chrome shops can mess things up due to the variables in the process.

Good luck with it.

thanks David.