It's a matter of finding the right business to do the work. I have a friend who does vintage auto restoration and asked him about getting some old parts re-chromed and he suggested a shop about 50 miles from where I live. I called them up and talked to one of the owners about plating and mentioned I had a bike frame I was thinking about having plated. One thing led to another and I made the drive with frame and fork in hand. I'm having an 83 Trek 400 with Mangalloy tubing copper plated and it should be done in three weeks or so and will post some pics of it when it's back home.

The price for frame and fork--we had a thorough discussion about protecting the threads in the bottom bracket, der hanger, fork eyelets and not touching the fork crown race--with matte finish copper plating and a high-gloss powder-coat clear to protect the plating is $165; chrome plating would have been $200 and polished copper $280. Considering what a good professional paint job costs not a bad price by any stretch.

I also took along a set of original Dura-Ace cranks that a previous owner had spilled some corrosive liquid on and it had eaten away the surface on the anodizing; the cost for having the cranks stripped and re-anodized in a polished satin clear was $30 and I'll be able to post some pics of that work next week.