Chroming Question

[stu70]

I'm looking at buying a frame from a seller in the USA, it has been rechromed but has a couple of big flakes, one on the headtube and one on the seat mast, so would be looking to get it redone if I buy it. My question is this, can you damage or weaken a frame by putting it through a rechroming process again, do you get a poorer finish if you rechrome a frame for the second time? Any thoughts or help much appreciated.

[Gashead]

In my opinion it doesn't weaken it.

And if done properly will look perfect, however it's never as good as the original coat !

What frame is it, as sometimes it's not easy to get in tight angles. Originally the tubes were polished first, so the finish was always 1st class


Nick 

[brummie]

the old chrome will be electro plated off prior to polishing and then re chroming. its all in the polishing for the finish as this makes the nickel plate adhere better. the chrome plate goes over the top of the nickel

wont harm the frame as far as I know stu

[stu70]

In my opinion it doesn't weaken it.

And if done properly will look perfect, however it's never as good as the original coat !

What frame is it, as sometimes it's not easy to get in tight angles. Originally the tubes were polished first, so the finish was always 1st class


Nick 

It's a JMC Shadow.

[Gashead]

Then you should be fine 

[Rodgy1970]

There was something about this a while back, a frame builder in USA said chroming did weaken the metal and therefore the frame, I remember reading it and thinking that it wouldn't be to any significant degree so as you'd notice it.

Although I've seen a fair few cracked Hutch frames so maybe Hutch frames with their triple show chrome are weaker      

[Gashead]

Been a subject a thousand times on here too.

At the end of the day, are you gunna ride and thrash it ? Or is it gunna be a carpet queen ?


You don't know the lofe of these bikes, so who know ? Also frames snap and crack the day they come out the factory, so ya never know eh !


 

[john4130]

chrome does weaken it but not enough to worry about, i rode a chrome standard lengthy for 10 years before cracking the top and downtubes. the reason a lot of hutch bikes cracked was because they were crap.

[markyp]

youre in a good position if you are going to have it rechromed again as basically if there are any nasties such as pitting from lack of prep in any of the tight areas you will  be able to point this out to the chromer and ask them to give it a quick tickle before rechroming,so in theory the second rechrome should be awesome if it wasnt already

[animal]

I had a shadow rechromed and it looked brilliant after 

[PHIPPSIO]

I havent heard of the plating process having any detrimental effect on a frames strength and i have had quite a few plated over the last few years. Put your efforts into prepping it and then ask the plater to put it through the same prep they would if you hadnt already done it. This process has always worked for me. The main issues tend to be in the tight areas as already mentioned. The chrome sometimes doesnt "throw" well into gussets etc, as it may not be able to conduct onto a less smooth surface. If you do nothing else, prep the tight areas with a dremel and make sure you dont go crazy on the welds as you want to see that tigging clearly when its replated

For instance, early Haro frames were sent off site for plating and the dropouts tend to have been left fairly rough so you may find you end up with a superior finish to the original JMC Finish?  Heres a close up of my gen 1 dropout to illustrate the imperfections that didnt get polished out on the original frames.

[stu70]

Thanks for all the help, much appreciated