Hello all,

I am restoring / updating my benotto bike and am struggling to make a decision regarding the chrome.

It is badly pitted on the fork but ok is on the seat and chain stays. I am having the frame powdercoated soon but am debating:

A - remove all chrome from frame and fork and powdercoat
B - restore all chrome and powder coat the rest
C - chrome the fork and the frame (expensive?)

Any thoughts. I am worried that the chrome will pit again and don't want to ruin the frame...

I am planning to get the chrome sorted at an industrial place in croydon (tomorrow 23/1/12) that have some experience with bicycles but are by no means specialists. I am not going to pay mega bucks to get the bike chromed as this will be a commuting bike not a trophy. Still unsure whether to get it done though.

Here is an image of the fork. If the chrome is removed do you think a powdercoat will cover up the horrible looking corrosion or will it need to polished as well.


Here is a picture of my work in progress. I have removed (most of) the paint.
_IGP1534.jpg

If I'm not mistaken s GOOD chromer will use a "filler" metal that will cover up the pitting, then chrome, but please wait for the experts here on the forum that have had this type work done many times.

in this case, get it painted vs powdercoat. clean up all the rust and fill in the pits yourself. keep as much chrome as possible for durability.

once it is ready to go, get it professionally painted or do it yourself.

hey, thanks, how would i fill in the pits?

also I am worried that the chrome would be a poor surface for the powder coat. It is actually peeling and won't think process continue?

they will blast off or severely rough up the chrome (i think). because chrome is so hard, they will probably have to use a hard media as well. i'm no expert.

you probably don't even need to fill the pits if you are painting. i've never used it, but you can probably use bondo for pits/dents if you want. you can probably get a smooth surface just by sanding.

paint primer is forgiving and will fill in a lot of the small pits. if you are getting it professionally done, they will probably prepare it well.

That rust looks like its more than just pitting, get it done profesionally, you'll prob regret it (and blow a lot of cash) if you don't.

way too expensive for chroming so just opted for shot blast followed by white gloss powder coat, yee haa

My powdercoater tells me that he can't blast off chrome. It has to be chemically removed and that's very expensive here (not to mention hazardous). I recently had a nice frame that was in poor shape blasted and coated. The chrome on the fork ends and dropouts was flaking. He removed as much chrome as he could and then powder coated the entire frame. It's not the prettiest result and with a lot of use I expect some flaking of the PC in those areas. But for $115 I stopped the rust and prolonged the life of the frame for many more years at least.

I have removed chrome from a peeling fork by filing and grinding. It was a lot of work!