Re: [CR]Chrome plating company in NYC area?

(Example: Framebuilders:Rene Herse)

Date: Tue, 6 May 2008 20:33:21 -0700
From: "Kurt Sperry" <haxixe@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [CR]Chrome plating company in NYC area?
In-Reply-To: <20080507025958.AE54011581F@ws1-7.us4.outblaze.com>
References: <20080507025958.AE54011581F@ws1-7.us4.outblaze.com>
cc: Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org

I think many platers will seriously highball bike frame and parts chrome jobs because they don't want to hassle with it and bike enthusiasts are probably a pain to deal with compared to the usual customers. I can see people taking their high end bikes or parts in and pressing the plater on their polishing, plating and post-plating methods and sweating little waves and ripples or lost tiny details that most other types of customers probably wouldn't ever even notice or care about if they did. The chrome shop in the link sounds like the rare exception. When bike people find a chromer who does nice work at a reasonable price it seems they generally don't share it with others and often even guard it as a secret. In fact, good reasonably priced chromers don't even seem to have to solicit business as they can get all they can handle by word of mouth.

There's probably a great business opportunity for someone to specialize in doing plating catering specifically to bikies. Many people want to be frame builders, a few want to paint, but almost none aspire to be platers and the demand is apparently there and bikies have largely already been conditioned to pay top dollar and more. I'll bet most chromers who deal with bikies would tell you that sub-200 dollar plating job in the link on that frame would be "impossible" to do at anything close to that price point- even though it really obviously isn't.

Kurt Sperry Bellingham, Washington USA

On Tue, May 6, 2008 at 7:59 PM, Daniel Gonzalez <dannyg1@mail.com> wrote:
> Are you both certain that what you're positing is always true? I see
> here, a photo of an aftermarket nickel plate job, with a cost of $160
> done in 8/06, that loks remarkably lovely:
>
> http://www.bicyclefixation.com/50buckbike.html
>
>
> Danny Gonzalez
> Lenox Hill

> NY, NY

> USA