Originally Posted by
unworthy1
I'm repeating hearsay, but I read somewhere that the "black chrome" used on the A-D Vent Noir was actually a "hard chrome" finish, similar to that kind of plating done to motorcycle fork sliders, etc. Don't know why that kind of chrome plating would be used to provide or permit the darker color, but that's what I was told. Other versions of the Vent Noir came with a matte black painted finish, not nearly as attractive, IMHO.
SheldonBrown's site has this info:
"The company also introduced the Vent Noir. A step below the Team frameset, it had a very unique feature. The frame went through a "secret process" which made it impervious to scratches. It was not painted. From what we could tell, it was hard-chromed (the type of chrome you use on engine crankshaft journals, not the kind for hubcaps), and then some sort of anodizing on top. You could take a knife or a file, and you couldn't scratch it. The factory never did tell us what they did. But it worked!"
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/vrbn-a-f...austro-daimler