I sniped a lot here but basically the question was does chrome affect the longevity of a bicycle frame.
I think the thing to remember is that chrome plating done well will last a very long time. Done poorly, it will have an adverse affect on a bicycle frame. Chrome plating is so labor intensive that it just does not make financial sense to do to most modern steel frames. Tubing is also much thinner today and will not tolerate any corrosion from plating acids that are inadvertently left inside the tubes during the plating process.
Stainless is a good alternative for those wishing for the chrome look. It is much more environmentally friendly than plating processes, there is no chance of damage from plating or hydrogen enbritlement on thin tubes and one can hold a crisper lug edge because their is not built up layers of copper, nickel, chrome. Also, it is more corrosion resistant than most chrome jobs. The down side is that is can scratch more easily, it is not as hard. It is expensive material to work with and it still takes all that hand labor to polish. For a time there was a tube set made by Columbus called metax that was full stainless steel. This allowed a builder to polish an entire frame and paint selective parts giving that chrome stay, fork look. Great stuff but has been discontinued for a lack of demand.
David Bohm Bohemian Bicycles
snip<< Chrome is bad ... it destroys frames, and gets ugly real fast. If you want that look, use stainless steel lugs.>>
This is absolutely dreadful news. My beautiful full chrome 1983 Rene Herse
with camping racks. I must take action right away.