I'm not a paint expert, but paint if I understand correctly is not usually at its happiest when sitting over smooth chrome. It is more likely to chip off. Therefore on frames that sport full chrome under paint, the painted areas have sometimes I believe had the chrome "burnished" (is this the right word?) - which leaves faint swirl markes that gives the paint something better to grip onto. Therefore if one removes all the chrome, the surface is not finish-grade chrome.
One can still come out with something kinda cool - but it is kinda wrong and except for some kind of industrial urban chic look, is probably not what most of us are after.
Mike (hope this post is at least somewhat true) Kone in Boulder CO
> At 08:01 AM 03/11/2007 -0600, Tom Hayes wrote:
\r?\n> >Anyone ever strip the paint from an older frame that was completely chromed
\r?\n> >underneath in order to "create" a chrome bike? And if so, what did one use
\r?\n> >and were the results worth it? I guess one thing that I have wondered about
\r?\n> >in this process, never having seen one that I recall, is the chrome
\r?\n> >underneath as durable or of the same quality as the chrome that shows on the
\r?\n> >forks and chainstays on many of these bikes?
\r?\n>
\r?\n> My '78 Nishiki Landau came with chrome dropout surfaces. Being pretty much
\r?\n> a daily rider in the beginning, it got a lot of stone chips, which I first
\r?\n> noticed on the fork. When I had it apart for an overhaul one winter, I
\r?\n> started scraping more paint off the fork and discovered it was chromed all
\r?\n> the way, including the crown. I used paint and varnish stripper from the
\r?\n> hardware store with a little help from some fine steel wool. I also
\r?\n> stripped the rear triangle about 1/3 of the way and the drive side
\r?\n> chainstay almost all the way. I found that the chainstay only had chrome
\r?\n> half way and then nickel underneath. While the fork appears to have durable
\r?\n> chrome all over, the rear of the frame not so much. If you do this, it's
\r?\n> advisable to keep the chrome waxed for extra protection. I haven't ridden
\r?\n> that bike on over a decade and from just sitting in the basement, the
\r?\n> chrome looks a bit spotty.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> John Betmanis
\r?\n> Woodstock, Ontario
\r?\n> Canada