Wildwood 

.....paint to present chrome panels on tubes?


Specifically, the headtube and downtube.
Bike is all original and not bad paint. Just a few paint scrapes.
I'll get closer pics of the areas in question on the Bottecchia, in a day.


Main concerns with removing paint are:
A sharp definition line on the edge of the paint.
Finish on the newly exposed chrome. (again, 72/73 Bottecchia GdItalia)
Will I like it's 'uniqueness'?




I'm leaning in one direction on this, but still asking for opinions.
Especially visual inspirations.


I don't have a chrome bike - and this is not the one to go full chrome, IMHO.
Is going chrome panels a poor substitute???
(sorta like a Speedo at the chrome nudist colony).

styggno1

Polishing metal to a finish that makes it worth to chrome it is labour intensive. Which means no one does it on parts of a frame that is not going to be visiable. If stripping a painted part of a chrome frame you will to 99% get to a unpolished part of it.

rhm

I haven't tried it but I kinda share the temptation. Or, don't strip the paint for panels, but rather bands or fine lines. Imagine box lining that's actually chrome... could be cool.

CrankyFranky

My '72 Atala has nicely chromed lugs, seat cluster and frame/fork ends, and paint on the rest. It seems that was what Italian factories in that era. The paint flakes and doesn't adhere very well - it appears that there's nickel plating on most of the frame underneath the chrome and up the tubes. I never cared enough to do anything other than patch with laquer. I ride it.
I know that chrome is very hard, not so sure about nickel. But I imagine that it would be hard to get a good paint shore line with either without some aggressive sandblasting.

Fahrenheit531 

For the sake of everybody's curiosity, I say do it.

Drillium Dude 

Chances are the chrome underneath the paint is not going to look very good, for the reasons noted in post #2. Anyway, that bike looks great just the way it is!

I vote no. Find something crappy and cheap at the Swap Meet to satisfy your curiosity

DD

fietsbob

Not so Simple, Do you understand how electroplating works?

frame prep for chroming involves polishing the base metal..

when a bike frame building company plans to have the rest of the frame painted the lugs are the only thing polished

the rest left as is or sand blasted to help the paint stick..

Electro plating is done by immersing the whole frame in an acidic solution mixed with Chromium* salts in solution,

and an electrical charge is applied taking chrome from an anode, and depositing it on the part , being the cathode in the circuit.



so first you have to strip it, entirely , you have any chrome on it, if its not polished there , the Plating company can remove the chrome ,

it becomes the anode and the chome is removed and deposited on a different cathode..
then you polish it and start over , apply new chrome, fresh paint.



reading material : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroplating






......

gugie 

I purchased a frame that had GREAT chrome socks, and was pretty sure it did not have original paint. There were a few small paint chips here and there, it was obviously fully chromed. I was hopeful that the chrome underneath the paint was in great shape as well.



I used some paint stripper on a few strategic areas, but although there was chrome underneath, it had been media blasted.

Charles Wahl

Because chrome left exposed to view requires extra polishing (because the "smooth" high finish is the substrate, not provided by the chroming process) what's been chromed but then painted will almost certainly look rougher. Also, paint needs some "tooth" for adhesion. So revealing chromed areas that were painted is a crapshoot, likely not to look as good as what was intended to be exposed. And painting chromed areas that were exposed requires blasting or other abrasion to provide adequate tooth for good paint adhesion. I'm not saying nobody's done this, but these are considerations.

Chroming done right is a 3-step process: first copper, then nickel, then chrome. To rechrome means removing the existing chrome, and then re-plating. The motorcycle obsessionists are familiar with this, as are the platers.

Wildwood 

Thanks all.
I just need to do some paint matching. Or accept some patina in a paint worn place.


I don't think I'd like the 'unique-ness' on my classic. Don't want to try to polish rough chrome.