Hello cyberspace. Hope this thread 'ill be more successful then my last (if anyone wonder, I mixed up the words for buy and sell... Embarasing but I've recently learned english)

Anyway, the question is wether chromed forends is a indicator of how qualitative a bike is. Most high end-bikes you see over here are chromed and I wonder if there is any connection between chrome and quality.

Thanks!

Happy easter!

No simple relationship. Chromed fork ends and dropouts appeared on middle-range and high-end bikes, but many high-end bikes had no chrome at all. The issue was and is whether the chrome plating was done properly, with multiple types of plating and treatment to avoid hydrogen embrittlement of the steel. Chrome plating also runs into enviromental concerns.

But you could say that a lower-end bike don't (commonly) have chrome?

you could say that...but like any generalization, there will be exceptions. Chrome-plating adds to the cost of finishing, but there are plenty of cheap and really crappy bikes that have some chrome thrown on to appear to be worth more.
And then there's "fashion trends": there was a definite trend away from chrome on frames in a period of the '80s and towards a "Euro" style (that's what some marketers called it) of all paint and zero chrome. Some of that might have been driven by politics (there was a boycott of South African products and SA was a major source of chromium) as well as cost (the price of chromium fluctuated, like any commodity).
So here's MY generalization: The best way to assess the quality of a bike involves looking at everything with an educated eye, not just one detail.

Both lower-end and higher-end frames lacked chrome! Depends, too, on when it was made, and by whom. Until the mid-1980's, chrome-plated rear dropouts and fork ends were pretty common even on high-tensile steel frames not made from chrome-moly steel.

What's more important is to look at the ends themselves. If they have markings that indicate that they're made by Campagnolo or Shimano, they're forged and the frame is high-quality.

There are plenty of low end European frames with chrome, mostly city bike type frames. I can buy them locally for about 25 euro. Stamped drop-outs are a good indication of a cheap frame of this type.

Cromme? The god of steel?

It depends really. What do you consider lower-end? Here in the states in the 70's you could buy bicycles at a variety of price points. For around $75 or at the time you could buy a really awful quality bike at a department store or autoparts store. For around $100 you could buy a Schwin Varsity which was a nice solid, reliable bike but very heavy. For around $125 you could get an entry level European model from a bike shop. None of those bikes would have chrome. For around $145 you could buy a European model like a Peugeot UO8 that would have a chrome crown and fork ends. Then for $175 or so you could buy European bike, usually Italian, with chrome lugs, fork crown, fork ends, and rear dropouts and lower stays. All of those bikes would have straight gauge, high-tensile steel frames (or worse) and at best Simplex Prestige or Campagnolo Valentino derailleurs. Not "high-end" bikes for sure though perhaps you could call the $175 bike mid-range. Above $200 you could get into 531 or Columbus frames and better components. Those bikes usually had chrome. By the 80's there were changes in styling and chrome became far less common. Also there were new types of heat treated steel that could not be chromed so even some really high-end bikes did not have chrome.

So to make that long story short, I don't the presence or lack of chrome is a good indicator of quality one way or the other.

Chrome stays, forged chrome drop out, and forged chrome fork crown are all signs of a high quality bike.

Chrome wheels, chrome crankset, chrome handlebars, chrome seat post, are all signs of a bottom end bike. Stamped chrome dropouts or stamped chrome fork crowns are also signs of bottom end bike.

Thanks for all fast answers! I really apriciate it!
I should have said that my question regarded road-bikes but it seams that most of you have understood that.

Thanks for the many alternative tips (especially to lock at the fork-ends), I'll remember that! If you would like to you could post other quality-indicators. I know that best way would be to know everything about every label and model but I'm just a teenage-newbie who don't know that much.

Thx anyway!

The top of the line Raleigh Professional had no chrome, while cheaper models had had half chrome forks and stays. Some racers believed that chrome added significant weight.

I do have a custom manufactured Koga-Miyata FullPro-L. The FullPro-L were available as 'off the shelf' bike also. While the of the shelf frame came with a chromed tail and forks (under paint), my example has no chrome at all. I always wondered why, but weight sounds like a plausible explanation.

some of the cheapest '70s bike boom bikes had chrome ends.

dupe

I've got a bike boom French roadie, a "Paris Sport" that is pretty bottom barrel all the way through (Huret Svelto drivetrain, steel wheels, gas pipe for the frame, originally had cottered cranks, etc.). The fork is half chrome. Definitely wouldn't call it "high end" although it is a very nice and smooth rider after a couple minor upgrades (upgraded cranks, new seat post, saddle, tweaked here and there for fit). My fiancee now rides it, although she demanded I put on... safety levers. It didn't have 'em stock.

Yes. The extra expense of that type of process would generally keep it off of low-end bikes.

This one topic brought back memories! I remember, while still in collage, how much I valued chrome on bikes. Not the Murry dempartment store types, but LBS bikes. I was in a small town with only one bike shop. He carried Gitane and Motobecane amongst others. He had a Moto Le Champ which I lusted after but at $315, it was a bit much for me. A year later, after making respectible income logging, I found a used one in my size for sale. It didn't have any chomre, but the paint detail was unique with...

Oh that's beutiful!
More tips?

My Peugeot UO-8 has chromed fork ends. My Raleigh Professional doesn't. FYI.

I would say that a good majority of 70's and 80's chromework on many bikes (specially the French bikes) were just mostly thin, and rough. And even the supposedly high end bikes got bad chromework too. I still remember looking a Cioccs and some Guerciottis really close back in the 80's and seeing roughness of the chrome specially at the chrome/Paint transitions on many of their framesets. Some of these areas were so rough and thin that I thought I could see rusting steel poking through in little spots on brand new framesets.........never mind the QR paint that were always flaking off on these junctions. It wasn't long that I decided not to miss having no chrome on the rear triangle of my PSV. Only chrome I liked on bikes is on fully chromed forks like the one on mine. It seems like the QC problems were usually with partial chroming of the frame or fork. Maybe they figured that most of it was going to be covered with paint anyway, so there was a general lax in QC?....I dunno.....

Chombi

My '77 Schwinn Le Tour II has half-chromed hi-ten forks, and it was the bottom end of their "lightweight" range. So no, chrome finishes are not an indication of quality.

Yeah, while there is some, but far from perfect, correlation between chrome and quality, there are countless exceptions, as noted above, both ways (cheap chromed bikes, good unchromed ones). Better to look for the quality itself - forged dropouts w/integrated derailleur hangars (and who made the dropouts), what tube set, how good is the lug work, is it nicely filed, etc. And now, with information at your fingertips, you really don't even need to do all that - unless the bike is something particularly obscure or the labels are all gone, google is your reliable and speedy pal for finding out the goods on the vast majority of bikes you are going to run across.

On a good quality bike look for a tubeset label. It will be found on most bikes unless they have been repainted. Good frames will have labels such as Reynolds 520, 531 or higher numbers and the label will indicate that the tubes are butted. Columbus and True Temper are other good brands but quite a few other makers of good steel tubing produced seamless butted frame tubing too. Other things that may be on tubing labels are Chrome Moly or Manganese Moly material listings.

Cheap bikes may have tubing labels too but it will typically say High Carbon, High Tensile or have a number such as 10XX steel. Stamped sheet steel rear dropouts, without an integrated derailleur hanger, are a sign of cheap bikes as are the rear dropouts being installed by crimping and spot welding the frame tubes.

Look at quite a few bike frames and you will soon be able to see the differences between a good quality frame and a lower quality one. Look at the components fitted too as things like cranksets with non removable chainrings are definite signs of a low quality bike.

My recently acquired Koga Miyata Fullpro is completely chromed under the paint (1989). The paint was so badly damaged when I got it that I decided in the end just to remove it, and the chrome underneath is completely flawless! There is not a single spot of rust anywhere on the bike, even after the abuse served up by the previous owner.