Show me your chrome plated bike

[RustyGold]

A red ELF is a nice change of pace....

 

[Gravelgrinder59]

1960’s sears syder 20” muscle bike

 

[Gravelgrinder59]

1980’s flash bmx, current muscle bike

build off project

 

[Gravelgrinder59]

1960’s Sears Spaceliner, past build-changing direction, being reconfigured

 

[Gravelgrinder59]

1960’s Sears Spaceliner, past build-changing direction, being reconfiguredView attachment 177584

 

[user 35233]

I named this bike "Chrome Molly". I got the frame from a scrap heap about a year ago. Just a dent in the head tube. I think it's an 87 Nishiki, it was never used, just a bare frame:

View attachment 162371


View attachment 162369

Smooth! Is that a Shogun frame? Do you know if all types of chromoly frames are able to be buffed, for instance 70s vs 80s Schwinns? Did you happen to post the buffing process in here?

 

[Wildcat]

Is that a Shogun frame? Did you post the buffing process in here?

I'm just guessing it's an 87 Nishiki frame. It never was badged, and was for sale at the local bike shop for years before they threw it out. I was hoping the serial number would ID it.

What's a shogun frame?

The frame was just cleaned with dish soap and a plastic scrubber and a brass brush, then waxed with car paste wax 3 or 4 times. Here it is now:

 

[user 35233]

Ah, brass brushes will surely help with all my polishing. Thank you. Shoguns have that nice trim around the butting but I'd truly hate to strip one of these paint jobs. I know its silly but I appreciate the pin striping and two-tone neck.

Bridgestone has a similar butting at a lighter price point so I'm looking at those but I'm wondering if all cr-mo frames have the same ability to be polished or if there's a difference in chrome content-to-shine ratio

 

[Palepainter]

I picked this one up in the past few weeks, gave it some loving. Getting close to its final configuration.

 

[rickpaulos]

Ah, brass brushes will surely help with all my polishing. Thank you. Shoguns have that nice trim around the butting but I'd truly hate to strip one of these paint jobs. I know its silly but I appreciate the pin striping and two-tone neck.
View attachment 224375
Bridgestone has a similar butting at a lighter price point so I'm looking at those but I'm wondering if all cr-mo frames have the same ability to be polished or if there's a difference in chrome content-to-shine ratio

cro-mo frames have zero ability to be polished to a mirror finish. The bikes in this thread are chrome plated. Chromium mixed into the steel (cromo) is for strength vs chromium added to the surface for looks.

cromo or 4130 is a nickname for iron with specific ranges of certain elements added to the mix. Carbon, Chromium, Molybendum, etc. The exact elements and the percentages are usually trade secrets but there are charts on the www for what can be called 4130.
It starts with iron. Add carbon and you get steel. Add the other trace elements and you get much stronger steel. Like 4x to 5x stronger.

The Shogun pin strips are around the lugs, not the butting. Butted tubing normally thinner walls in the middle of the tubes and thicker at the end where the brass brazing was done. Butted tubing is lighter because it has less material where you don't need it. You can't see the butting in tubes as it is on the inside. Many old school frames were brass brazed with lugs (like the Shogun). Now, with modern high strength pre-heat treated steels, many are tig welded or in the case of cheap boxmart bikes, they are mig welded because welding is much faster and cheaper than brazing lugs.

IMO, if you are going to spend hundreds of hours striping paint and prepping it for chrome plating, only a cromo frame will do for the ride qualities and strength. Low carbon steel frames are too low quality to waste your time on.

There are some who go for the bare steel look. You usually need to clear coat those to keep the rust from showing up. In moist climates rust will start the same day.

Most companies making bikes that are intended to be chrome plated have to take care to not scratch or ding the tubes. Chrome plating tends to magnify any imperfections in the surface.

There are few 'stainless steel' bikes. Some of the tubing makers sell stainless steel. Stainless steel is a general description. There are many varieties and only a few are acceptable for bike frames. Stainless won't get as shiny as chrome plating but the surface won't chip and rust.

BTW, Shogun was a made up marketing name. Their bikes were actually made in already established Japanese bike factorys. In the 1970s there were some 20 Japanese bike factorys supplying bikes that were sold with 200+ brand names on them. Each marketing company (like Shogun) could get each model from a different factory.



tt

 

[user 35233]

cro-mo frames have zero ability to be polished to a mirror finish. The bikes in this thread are chrome plated. Chromium mixed into the steel (cromo) is for strength vs chromium added to the surface for looks.

cromo or 4130 is a nickname for iron with specific ranges of certain elements added to the mix. Carbon, Chromium, Molybendum, etc. The exact elements and the percentages are usually trade secrets but there are charts on the www for what can be called 4130.
It starts with iron. Add carbon and you get steel. Add the other trace elements and you get much stronger steel. Like 4x to 5x stronger.

The Shogun pin strips are around the lugs, not the butting. Butted tubing normally thinner walls in the middle of the tubes and thicker at the end where the brass brazing was done. Butted tubing is lighter because it has less material where you don't need it. You can't see the butting in tubes as it is on the inside. Many old school frames were brass brazed with lugs (like the Shogun). Now, with modern high strength pre-heat treated steels, many are tig welded or in the case of cheap boxmart bikes, they are mig welded because welding is much faster and cheaper than brazing lugs.

IMO, if you are going to spend hundreds of hours striping paint and prepping it for chrome plating, only a cromo frame will do for the ride qualities and strength. Low carbon steel frames are too low quality to waste your time on.

There are some who go for the bare steel look. You usually need to clear coat those to keep the rust from showing up. In moist climates rust will start the same day.

Most companies making bikes that are intended to be chrome plated have to take care to not scratch or ding the tubes. Chrome plating tends to magnify any imperfections in the surface.

There are few 'stainless steel' bikes. Some of the tubing makers sell stainless steel. Stainless steel is a general description. There are many varieties and only a few are acceptable for bike frames. Stainless won't get as shiny as chrome plating but the surface won't chip and rust.

BTW, Shogun was a made up marketing name. Their bikes were actually made in already established Japanese bike factorys. In the 1970s there were some 20 Japanese bike factorys supplying bikes that were sold with 200+ brand names on them. Each marketing company (like Shogun) could get each model from a different factory.



tt

Super helpful @rickpaulos. Thanks for saving me hours. You wouldn't perchance have electroplating experience, would you? I've been a little stuck on the difference between brush-on and pen solutions as they all come with generic labeling. I can't afford to have someone plate things for me.

 

[JA331]

This is my restomod Shogun. Bought new in 89, sold it early 2000’s and got it back as a wreck 10 years ago. I’m pretty sure 89 was the first year they moved production to Taiwan. Not lugged, but double butted chromoly.

 

[user 35233]

So now that @rickpaulos has helped me understand these bikes are plated rather than polished (for the most part?) is anyone brush plating for themselves? I've been trying to find advice for electroplating gold parts. Dips seem spottier than brushing. Pens are for detail but they all seem to use the same (looking) liquid with generic, barely informative labels that vary wildly in price from US to China, where it assuredly originates. In fact, while trying to source gold plated parts from china I was told the cost to plate was so low it was irrelevant, whether 50 or 5000 pieces, which lends me to believe I should buy the insanely low priced liquid directly from Ali-B. But brush on chrome plating requires the base functionality, correct? So I'm hoping maybe someone who's plated these (fly rides) can help me with their experience plating chrome, and particularly the brush on method, gels or liquids. With all these bikes surely someone has at least done some parts by hand, ya?

 

[rickpaulos]

Eastwood sells diy electroplating kits. Most plating is done with electricity and a tub of water with additives (some are acids). I've used my car battery charger (safe low voltage level) to electrically remove rust with Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda powder in the water to aid the transfer. I'd say it's un-plating but the concept is the same as plating. Transfers the rusty steel molecules to a sacrificial chunk of steel with the polarity reversed.

 

[user 35233]

Eastwood sells diy electroplating kits. Most plating is done with electricity and a tub of water with additives (some are acids). I've used my car battery charger (safe low voltage level) to electrically remove rust with Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda powder in the water to aid the transfer. I'd say it's un-plating but the concept is the same as plating. Transfers the rusty steel molecules to a sacrificial chunk of steel with the polarity reversed.

Quite helpful. Electro-rust removal is new to me and seems a less expensive introduction to working with the same tools. At that point I would imagine needing to know the metal compositions that make up my parts? I'm most concerned with aluminum as it is reportedly problematic to plate, like the aluminum looking rims and bearing cups. My older brake calipers and levers also look aluminum so I'm wondering if newer brakes aren't more/less conductive... or if I'm guessing incorrectly as to what my metal pieces are. Old fenders look steel and the cap on the fork seems too thin to be steel but I wouldn't know. How can you tell? (is there a metals test kit? Do I need one?)
These are the items I'm hoping to plate. Is anyone familiar with the metals that comprise these types of parts? I say types here because I would need to switch out the parts that can't be plated at home so knowledge of more conducive replacements would be appreciated.

 

[Ulu]

If a magnet sticks it is ferrous (iron based) and plating should be easy. “Aluminum” parts can be any variety of zinc/aluminum alloy. They will be as magnetic as pinewood.

Except for plating metals and plastic, that’s it.

 

[user 35233]

If a magnet sticks it is ferrous (iron based) and plating should be easy. “Aluminum” parts can be any variety of zinc/aluminum alloy. They will be as magnetic as pinewood.

Except for plating metals and plastic, that’s it.

Well that was simple. Thanks for the elegant solution! I still need to prep each piece with different chemicals according to their combination of metals and finishes, correct?

 

[Ulu]

PREP is the magic key.

The plating is magic, but over poor surfaces it looks bad. Polishing is 99% of plating. Then you can loaf, while the magic pixies dance.

But that polishing is nasty work and long.

Edit: I never plated on aluminum. We did anodizing, which is a controlled “rusting” of aluminum. You first rinse aluminum in hot solvent, then boiling hot water. It degreases and seals the pores. Aluminum has big pores. Easy to polish though.

 

[Dave munsch]

I take aluminum bikes and buff them into a chrome finish

 

[Ulu]

I have a limit as to how much I can and will polish. That’s why all of my bikes have a little bit of rat rod somewhere