Originally Posted by
Chombi1
Yes, they were all plated. I have like 8 sets of Retrofrictions bought used and NOS, and all of them had original mounting screws that are plated. As I noted, the plating flakes off really easy, so you will see a lot of them out there that looks like bare steel. I think some of them has such bad plating that they flaked off even just in storage and not in use.
As for button headed socket bolts, I use them on my Retrofrictions to ease taking them off and installing them for servicing/cleaning, plus, I think they look pretty good on the later version of the levers with the cutout, issued in the 80's when a lot of components were going over to allen socket headed fasteners
I still don't think mine were ever chrome plated.
Some of the later ones came with socket head screws. They suit the later style levers. Mine are the very early shifters with the little nub on the bottom.
I don't understand what you are saying about replacing the screw with the obsolete French 5mm x 1mm thread with a standard 5mm x .8mm screw. The threads don't even come close to matching. It would be like trying to put a coarse threaded nut on a fine threaded bolt.