Robert, you wrote:
> Many of the older European bikes were simply polished a bit and then
dipped
> in the chrome vat, given a cursory flushing and sent out. In this manner,
> the chrome offered a porous surface with little protection, leading to
> legendary rust battles. Ever see chrome on older Fiats?
I can't agree with you about either the older European bikes nor the older Fiats, unless you are speaking of the ones dating from the late 60's onward, which to my mind are all recent. First of all, Fiats are notoriously naked when it comes to chrome and have always been. I have owned a 1954 Fiat 500 C for 11 years now with all original chrome and there are no problems with any of it (it doesn't even have any rust-proofing to speak of.) The bumper chrome is better than that found on any North American vehicle that I have seen from the same era. Apart from the bumpers almost everything is either aluminum or stainless steel. The same can be said about the 1964 Fiat 1500 that I also used to own. Fiat did not have problems until they started to use the Russian steel that they received in barter exchange for their old production lines that went to the Lada factory. This steel ruined what was up until then a reputation for very high quality steel. You will see Italian cars from the mid-60's and before (i.e. pre-Russian steel) on ebay on a reasonably frequent basis and none of them have bad rust on their chromed parts (nor for that matter on their chassis steel.) One true problem for Fiats was that up until very recently, they had far inferior paint work (as has also been pointed out by most top bicycle frame-builders on this site) which exposed the steel to the elements far more. The same can be said about bicycle chrome. I am attaching some photos of a 1951 Bianchi that I used to own. You can see that the paint is completely faded and in very rough shape, but the chrome, all of which is original is still perfect, without any of the pitting so common on any American bike, car or motorcycle. I also have owned a number of 1930's Italian bikes, all with perfect chrome, whereas Schwinn's of the same era are disasters. With Fiat, as a company, now being 99 years old and bicycle companies like Bianchi older yet, any generalization about poor Italian chrome is not only unfair, it is incorrect. If you take away the two decades that began with the social unrest of the late 60's up until the reawakening of Italian industrial prowess in the late 80's-early 90's, you will see that Italy actually historically has some of the best plating anywhere in the world. Companies like Campagnolo even maintained high levels of plating quality during this rough period of the Italian economy. Have you ever observed the 70's Japanese derailleur plating?
In conclusion, I would like to support Brian and others who have stated that all depends on the quality of the polishing. For companies like Campagnolo and Bianchi with in-house polishing, and therefore a good understanding of the requirements, the chrome quality has been universally good. Furthermore, the $350-400 cost range for chroming of bikes as mentioned so far are unheard of in Italy.
Steven Maasland Moorestown, NJ
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