Originally Posted by
lotek
Kurt, Not sure I agree when it comes to rear triangle. A chromed chainstay on
the drive side goes a long way to avoiding the inevitable chips in paint from chain slap etc.
marty
I agree and many marinonis from the 1980s are a testement to that. Chrome was an option, these bikes were all custom, which is actually seldom seen. However, many a marinoni has a chromed drive side chainstay and only that chainstay.
But I do agree that it was largely aesthetics of the time. Why on the higher end models? Because chroming is a time consuming and more expensive process, so logically it's going to be more expensive to buy a chrome bike. Forks get banged up a lot too so it makes sense to have full chrome forks IMO to keep the bike looking better, longer.
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1 Super Record bike, 1 Nuovo Record bike, 1 Pista, 1 Road, 1 Cyclocross/Allrounder, 1 MTB, 1 Touring, 1 Fixed gear