Bicycles were goth in the early 1940s, 40 years before it became a persona statement. World War II pushed the industry into dark, dull finishes both to reduce reflectivity and to preserve nickel and chromium supplies for the war effort.

Going back even further, to the early days of cycling, most of the velocipedes and hi-wheelers had components with painted black finish. Bright plated finishes didn't become common until after the commercialization of an economical nickel plating process, which roughly coincided with the introduction of safety bicycles. However, rims, when steel, continued to be painted black or colour matched to the frame. Plated steel rims didn't start becoming popular until the industry started moving to the new chrome plating in the 1930s. Even then, painted rims were a common cost concession on many coaster brake bicycles well into the 1950s and children's bicycles continue to use primarily painted rims to this day.

Edit: While there was a small movement towards black anodization of road components in the mid-1970s, there was a more significant move to black on ATB components in the early 1990s. The rationale was that black components looked better than silver, when dirty.