Peter Kohler rote: "Raleigh chrome depends on when... pre 1965 Raleigh Industries machines had glorious, blue-tinged Rhodesian chrome. The finest in the world. After UDI in 1965 and sanctions, they switched to all manner of sources for chrome and there were severe chrome shortages as well. A lot of it was substandard and Raleighs were never quite the same."
Brian Perkins, who worked in the chroming shop at Raleighs in the 1960s and 70s, once told me that they applied just enough chrome to prevent the brightwork rusting before the bike was sold. His company, Prestige Electro Platers, is now kept very busy replating them properly.
Peter Brown. Lincolnshire, England