Aluminum is a difficult substance to plate compared to steel, due to the reactivity of aluminum. It can be done well but it takes a much better process and process controls, which you aren't going to get when you base your purchase decisions strictly on price.
Health and safety regulations have affected many industries in the USA, chrome plating is just one of many. Would we rather go back to the days of toxic rivers with no life forms and air you can see and feel as it destroys your lungs? I don't think so. The only reason we don't have much of a chrome plating business left is due to the policies that allowed American companies that enjoyed all the benefits of operating in this country the unfettered ability to outsource their plating to countries with no environmental rules and pay scales reminiscent of the days of lords and serfs. Lots of dirty jobs were shipped to Mexico, where many factories still have large open ponds of highly toxic waste leeching into the ground and water table. Thanks to politicians, those companies in the USA were allowed to export the jobs and then import the finished products duty free. Then the politician who signed the NAFTA bill decided to really help out those American corporations by handing favored nation trading status to China, an even cheaper source than Mexico that had even less environmental regulation.
Btw, Harley is fixing their lousy chrome problem. They got away with blaming the customers and environment to avoid paying for the bad parts, now they've decided to do more and more blacked out models (no chrome).
JMHO - Jerry