Now that we have established that plating is a difficult job, I have a question:
Beyond the smooth finish, how do we get durability and longevity in chrome-plated parts?
Originally, there seem to have been vast differences: For example, chrome-plated Mafac bolts seem to rust much more easily than Campy's. Same with frames... some (especially cheap ones) rust like crazy, others only reluctantly.
I know that for cars, parts used to be triple-plated - copper, nickel, chrome. I read the nickel is impervious to water, while the chrome isn't. So with only chrome, moisture can seep through and the underlying steel can rust.
I also heard from a local plater that bicycle frames shouldn't be triple-plated, but not sure why.
In an interview, Lyli Herse said that their frames used to be triple-plated in the old days, but that by the 1980s, they couldn't find anybody to do it any longer.
I am sure somebody on the list can clear this up for me (and others).
BTW, I should state that I vastly prefer slightly (or even quite) rusty original bikes to restored ones. With René Herse bikes - with all respect to the professionals on this list - the hand lettering and lining is very hard to reproduce (it was a nightmare to get a straight, even, 5 feet long line onto the thin, tapered triangulation tubes of the tandem!). And even if you manage to get on a straight line and a decent letter: It's like restoring a painting - it can be made to look good, but to make it look exactly the same is a different matter. And of course, even if it were, it wouldn't be the same.
But sometimes, bikes have been "redone" already, or the original finish is almost entirely gone. (Or it's not a historically important bike, so you just want it shiny.)
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly seeks to present only bikes with original finish, as far as possible. Of course, with extremely rare (like one of the only 3 known Integrals in this world) or historically interesting (like a bike that "won" Paris-Brest-Paris) bikes, I will present a refinished bike. Obviously, the accompanying text will note that the bike has been restored. I feel it is important to document this, so nobody uses a restored finish as a reference years down the road.
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Jan Heine, Seattle
Editor/Publisher
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly
http://www.mindspring.com/