JimboMartin

Hello All:
I have a fork I want to have chromed. Can you suggest the best way to protect the brake bolt and nut holes as well as the inside surfaces of the dropouts? A buddy of mine had one chromed and the thickness of the chrome had to be filed and drilled away. What is the best way to prevent that?
Also, is there a specific chrome plate shop that specializes in bike frames/forks you would recommend? The two options around here are a shop that does mostly Harley stuff and a specialty metals shop that is insanely expensive.
Thanks,
Jim

Andrew R Stewart 

Know that chrome shops are going the way of retail bike shops... closing down. Business survivors are not always the best crafts people.


Nice chrome does add a bit of thickness to things but internal features typically end up with less. And a really good job isn't too thick. But like painting the trick is in the prep. The less the plater needs to do the better. A good frame guy and his plater know these things and tend to work better together than a solo customer and some plater do.


This was just talked about on another forum I keep up with and their opinion was to go through an experienced builder/painter who offers chrome finishes for their own stuff. Andy

dsaul

A friend recently insisted on having a frame, that I built for him, chrome plated. It was a pain for me, because the plater wanted all of the tubing to pre-polish before it was welded, but it resulted in a better end product. I did all of the facing and chasing before chrome and there were no issues with chrome build up on any of the interfaces or threads. I don't know your location, but this was plated by DGM plating in Philadelphia and I think it cost him less than $200.

Andrew R Stewart 

There's a few precautions one should consider before chroming. Venting all tubes really well as example, you really want to be able to rinse and dry out the insides (and apply a rust inhibitor) for long term protection. As dsaul said, all machining/prep steps need be done prior (meaning that a test fit up of some components might be a good step). The cleaning/etching solutions that can be part of chroming can eat at poor brazing and open up tiny points that are no issue with paint. Like paint it's in the prep that the foundation of great results starts with, chrome can bring out the best or the worst. Unless the plater has experience with lightweight bike frames I wouldn't let them do any more buffing then absolutely needed. Andy

unterhausen

I always thought it was a really bad idea. Someone had one of my frames chromed, but I have no idea how it turned out.

Now I wish I could find a decent chromer for racks and stems.

fietsbob

Italy used the quick just chrome on steel .. better that it's copper, nickel then chrome plated..

duanedr 

Do you think the same would be true of brazed frames? Just thinking that any pre-polishing would be destroyed when the frame was soaking in the tank.

I have a project in the queue for a 26" BMX bike cruiser type of thing. I was planning to have it chromed.

unterhausen

I pre-polish my rack tubing, and it goes through brazing just fine. Might have to touch it up a little

dsaul

I don't think that pre-polishing the tubes is the norm. The plater asked my friend if he could get the tubes first, so it would be easier to polish areas that would be hard to reach after the frame was welded. Soaking is not going to have an effect on the surface finish, a little polishing compound on a rag will take off any surface rust. Any finish work on the fillets will scratch the polished area and need to be re-polished.

unterhausen

that's a really nice looking bike. Are there any faint spots in the chrome?


I was always jealous of the Italian builders who apparently had a much easier time getting things chromed than we did here in the U.S. But like Bob says, their chrome isn't that robust, much like their paint.

dsaul

Yes. Between the chainstays on the bottom bracket and under the seatstay/seattube junction you can see the nickel plating. I think those tight intersections cause problems with the electrical field. Powder coaters have issues with them as well.

Thanks for the compliment on the frame. The chrome plating was against my better judgement.

unterhausen

I think that platers with a lot of experience with bikes can do them without that problem. At least there wasn't copper showing, I think I could live with nickle. I have thought about having a frame electroless nickle coated, but never checked the pricing.

I'm mostly interested in plating racks and stems. I suppose on a rack I can just make big fillets in places where the electric field might preclude good plating.