I use satin on the motors. It depends on what your intentions for the bike are? Ive seen that you have really polished the rims and they were never like that, and you were asking about leaving the triples bare or just clear coating them and they werent like that either and you have got aftermarket shockers too. All that is fine if thats what you want and i dont have any probs with it, so just do the rest of the bike how YOU want it and what YOU think looks good to you and it seems like you have started doing that anyway. Some guys like over polished mirror finish alloy stuff and some like to make all the finishes correct like they were originally. If i was you just go ahead with what you think will look good and be a bit fancier than original and unique to other bikes. The original finish of the bike wasnt really that great anyway. If you really are kinda aiming for a concourse resto thats really, really close to original then your gonna have to be a lot more fussy, particluar and exact on the finishes and parts you choose and things like rims and swingarm need annodizing. If not then just continue on with what your doing do it the way that is easiest and looks good in your eyes. As a general rule of thumb do everything except motor and pipe and maybe hubs in gloss and it will look pretty good. Yes some 2pack black will be a bit glossier than new, but at the same time it was never a real satin finish either. Either way it wont look 100% perfect but then if your fussy like that then you gotta look at adding special additives to the paint to try and replicate the exact semi gloss finish but unless its some extreme resto where everything is perfect its not really worth it. Most people will accept gloss 2pack or powdercoat on frames these days. Another way to get a fairly close to original finish is to use gloss acrylic paint. It wont have such a deep gloss to it like 2pack. Having said that just because your using expensive gloss 2pack paint, it doesnt mean its going to come out like that! One case is a bike that a guy brought in today for me to make wiring loom for and i was a bit shocked at his painting. I sold him expensive 2 pack Spies Hecker paint and he did the paint him self and its gotta be some of the worst painting ive seen. There is barely no gloss at all. He has not done all the proper preparation work and used the right spray technique, has over spray etc etc. There is just no depth at all. So even if you have got some really good glossy paint it wont necessarily come out like that and produce a good finish unless you spend your time in preparation work with the undercoats and rubbing back, and if your gun settings are wrong and your tecqnique is wrong.
