My feeble experience has just been the opposite. On brands with superior paint: Fuji for example, I often find the chrome to be rusted, while the paint looks fresh. Part of it may due to the thin coating of chrome applied. I can't think of a single neglected bike I have picked up where the chrome was great, and the paint had issues. OK, now that I have said this, I figure the next bike I pick up will have crap/rusty paint, and pristine chrome....

That's just the point, Bill. The chrome is more durable. It resists dings and scratches miles better than paint. That's why it's so often used where it is.

I'm not arguing that chrome protects the steel tubing better than paint on a bike left out in the weather. That's abuse and neglect. Durability does not imply "weatherproof" or "waterproof".

People are more likely to leave a chrome frame outside than a painted one -thinking it is more weather-resistant.

Plus a lot of lower-end heavy pot metal got chromed as it was an easy way to cover it up. The "embrittlement" thing probably stems from this.

i doubt most people who leave bikes outside are even thinking about what the bike is made of, let alone if its painted or chromed.

I left my chrome Mt. Hood out under my porch deck for a couple of winters. It had a plastic "roof" under the deck that kept the rain off of it, but it still was technically outside -and got a bit surface rusty. I tore the bike down and rebuilt it and the chrome is nearly as good as new. There are a few places where it pitted but you'd be hard-pressed to find them.

Sorta. Look in an auto junkyard, and you can see the opposite in many cases...good bumpers and ruined paint.

I bought a rusty Schwinn Heavy Duty with the monster chrome fenders, mostly brown, as were the bars and wheels.
16 hours of scrubbing with rust remover, and the fenders were spotless, as were the bars. The wheels came out very well. The paint was yellow, and other than some spots of rust, cleaned up pretty well, too. The $20 bike, with $10 worth of steel wool, rust remover, and chrome polish, went for $285. The chrome sold the bike, hands down.
Quality and workmanship have their place.

I've often wondered if the Italians knew how bad their paint quality often was, and threw in some chrome lugs to distract me.

Well, it could be a chrome Huffy, but if you get it really clean and put Paramount decals on it, you can sell it on eBay for a zillion dollars.

I think chroming at least the dropouts and fork tips (why isn't there a word for both of these?) makes sense. Paint is sure to chip off, but chrome is not.

Yes, I should add that in my experience, chrome is definitely more durable in regards to chips and scratches. No comparison versus paint in that regard. Chrome fork legs and chrome stays are obvious examples, versus the painted versions. As to rust, other than the heavy Schwinns, I have found chrome much more susceptible to rust than paint. I have found this on bikes from several regions: Asia, USA, Italy and other European countries. Oversimplification, but the super low end bikes, notably entry level Schwinns, the chrome is near indestructible. I guess when the bike weighs 40 pounds, they laid it on really thick.

The other advantage to chrome is it is a quick sign of a good bike. 90% of the bikes with chrome stays and fork crowns are something good. There are exceptions of course.

And of course, IMHO, every C & V fan should own at least ONE chrome bike.

Not fom me. My BF search turned up quite a few of those. Aluminum foil worked well for me on an older Japanese Bianchi frame.

It makes sense that chrome forks and stays would be more durable. I was more curious about chrome plating under paint, rather than a pure chrome finish (ala Paramount.)

Guess it was just a fad, like many other "innovations" in cycling.

+1 and then add some!

I don't think we're really disagreeing much. I agree that DOs gain from being chromed and that chrome is more durable for that purpose. Where I don't agree is for a whole fork or frame...I've had the same experiences as Bill. I have more issues with chrome pitting and it's harder to address.

I think where the car analogy fails is in the thickness of the plating...in the real world of bike use, chrome is pretty thin and I'd argue, from experience, that poor, thin, chrome is the rule...not the exception.

At a guess, one of the differences derives from the kinds of bikes we like. I like 80s and 90s road bikes. The chrome is thin and light. Col likes heavier Schwinns with heavier, more durable, plating. I'd argue that the majority of chrome to bikes and forks is aesthetic.

Once upon a time, chrome plating was a lot less regulated, was cheaper, etc. Labor to do just parts of a frame vs. just dunking the whole thing favored doing the whole frame. The extra labor was directed to buffing and protecting what was visible after painting, like forks, lugs, rear triangle, etc.. Some frames were really nice everywhere, while others were pretty dull where the chrome was under paint.
It also helped that in the 70s and 80s, the automotive chrome business were found in nearly every medium size city and were short on customers since chrome on new cars was fading away.

+infinity.....

Ditto Colonel. A friend's 1972 Mondia Super is all-chrome and still looked like new when last viewed. OTOH, the paint on my beloved 1980s Ciocc chips if I look at it cross-eyed . . .

Chrome-plated frames - purpose?

Easy, to give me something to lust after. I lusted after Chrome Paramounts since the early 70's, and I am still a sucker for chrome lugs and stays.

It's funny this thread has come up. Just this past weekend, I bought a 1984 Raleigh Supercourse with full arabesque
for $25.00 ( couldn't resist ) But ....... big but ..... there was not one place on the painted part of the frame- inc decals,
that was not chipped or scraped up. The chrome on the stays and forks were beautiful. Sooooo... (hate to do it ) but
guess who is going to strip the blue paint off and have a full chrome frame. BTW, on the Raleigh, the chrome underneath the
frame is beautiful. Stay tuned for further details. *lol*

Johnnybee.

A supercourse for $25? Where do you live???

You can't buy a Free Spirit frame for $25 here in Chicago.

You may find yourself wanting to repaint that SC before too long. 99% of the time they were not fully polished in an attempt to make the paint stick better, making the chrome appear dull except for where it was meant to be seen. I really like Nickel plated bikes, although I have only ever seen a couple n person that weren't early Mongoose BMX frames. It has a nice golden luster that screams retro coolness.,,,,BD

Lots of opinions in this thread so I might as well chime in.

Chrome plating is not just a single thing. There are different types of chrome, including "hard chrome plating", such at that used on hydraulic shafts and the like. "Hard chrome" is very wear resistant. Most chrome on bicycles is not "hard chrome", but cosmetic chrome, and its primary purpose was to improve aesthetics, not make the head tube lugs, or stays, or fork blades or tubing, any stronger.

Of course, that last statement is my opinion.

Durability is a broad term. It can include things things like environmental exposure, chemical resistance, mechnical wear, impact resistance, etc. Often, a coating is good in one parameter but poor on another. For instance, paint stands up well to general enivironmental exposure, such as being left out in the rain, but does not stand up well to impacts, such as chain slap. Chrome on the other hand, stands up very well to the impacts, but does not do nearly as well with environmental exposure. So, when we say chrome is durable, we really have to qualify the durability with a specific type.

I followed that same path with this old Torpado. I even managed to preserve most of the original art...

I thought that the chromed was etched or crazed to allow better paint adhesion......yours looks perfect....????

Must have been French or Italian chrome. Notoriously bad chromers.

Thanks to this thread, I just discovered that my new 74 Fuji is fully chromed under the blue paint.

Did anyone use a trademark for paint-over-chrome finishes? I seem to remember a thread once where it was referred to as "chromalto"