Originally Posted by
Rocket-Sauce
High quality paint might be better than very low quality chrome, but high quality (or even medium quality) chrome is much more durable than even high quality paint. That is why so many chainstays are chromed.
+1 And, if the "making steel slightly weaker" issue had any signifigance in real world applications we would have stopped chrome plating parts of bike a long time ago. Get ye back with your interweb fairy stories, KonAaron!