Classic & Vintage - Forks,,to chrome or not

Im getting ready to paint my 79 colnago the chrome on the forks needs to be rechromed has anyone opted to just paint them or would I be doing the bike unjust? It's a pretty long trip to the chrome shop and I think the painted forks would look nice but I don't want to ruin the bike. We're painted forks an option for these or we're they all chrome

Chrome went with all colors, so chrome was standard, Ernesto knew how to save effort and "increase" appeal.

I am hesitant to rechrome, if there is a vent hole there needs to be 2 per leg, what goes in needs to drain out. and the lower hole may not be low enough and or the fork was not tilted to drain it fully and rinse between tanks. Cross contamination of tanks is a platers nightmare.

I want to know all that was a chemical has been rinsed out and its dry in there. This includes the original plating job.

It can be done. Remember that dechroming the stuff on there has to happen first, and guess what there is chrome in the metal that makes up the blades, so they have to stop BEFORE they eat into the tubing. Hopefully there is nickel below the chrome, and if you are really lucky copper below that. Many of the Italian chrome jobs I have seen don't have copper and only a flash of nickel.

the chrome isnt that bad, its just since im putting a new paint job on it i wanted the forks to look new also.

..." the chrome on the forks needs to be rechromed"...
"the chrome isnt that bad"

Which one is it then?

Another concern with chroming bicycles, especially forks, is hydrogen embrittlement, which could lead to fork failure. They need to be properly baked after the chroming for relief. Depending on the type of chroming your shop does, their process may not be adequate for something such as a bicycle fork.

The chrome is not show quality but it could pass. Just thought since I'm reprinting I could do something with the forks