Originally Posted by Chombi1

Some time around the second half of the 80's chrome started to really dissappear from bikes. Supposedly because of the hazardous waste that the chroming process produces. There are a lot of nice bikes though from that hardly or did not have any chrome at all, like most of the American "artisanal" bikes, Masis, De Rosas...etc., which In many cases I prefer, because these chromeless bikes do not depend on the blinggy stuff to look beautiful. They are just built beautifully.