I have a few frames that were fully and partially chromed. Here is a fully chromed one:
http://www.ece.ubc.ca/
If you look closely at this 1967 Carlton Flyer fork, you will see that the chrome is de-laminating all the up the fork, peeling off as a sheet. This fork may be a goner. This bike sat on a rusty pile of bikes in Florida for a decade before I got it in 2005.
Fork delamination happened to another bike of mine, a Raleigh International 1974, which Brian Baylis is just finishing for me right now. On that bike, the rear triangle (about 12"), front headtube (to 5" from the lugs), and the full fork were triple-chromed.
On that bike, the delamination and pitting in the fork was so severe that Cyclart had use lead to smooth out the surface of the metal during rechroming. Copper, Lead, Copper, Nickel, Chrome. That bike was a Santa Cruz bicycle (it lived its life a few blocks from the Ocean, in a garage.) That bike had 100% of its decals in ORIGINAL unscuffed condition (sorry I don't have a picture), and it had one ORIGINAL tire (Raleigh Nylong Extra Japan 270), and I am almost the 2nd owner - it was was found by Bicycling Magazine ex-Technical Editor Jim Langley, and sold to me just days after he acquired it.
On the International there was a rust bubble coming through the paint on EVERY SQUARE CM of the bike. The campagnolo chainrings were badly bubbled and splitting from the inside margin. The front fork was in BY FAR the worst condition over the entire bike. On both bikes it's probably a combination of flexing and chroming - that worsened perforation and corrosion damage.
In Summary - - - - for areas of the bike that flex a lot, and - in a salty atmosphere, - chrome can prove to be an inferior finish if you don't take care of it.
- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA, USA