You know what they say about opinions; they're like bumholes, everybody's got one and they all stink. Lots of good info on the original post. Is it a lot of time consuming hand work? Yes, but sometimes that's what it takes. I have a 3/4 horse Baldor with one inch spindle, a very nice, pro quality buffing machine, but I didn't buy it for and rarely use it for bike parts. And, I know how to use it. Aluminum, however, is a very soft metal. The softest I ever work on. My only concern with many of the methods suggested on this forum is that they essentially change the part so much. Rounding over edges, diminishing the definition of the lines of the part, blurring the edges of any engraving, etc. If that's Ok with you, or you can use a buffer and get the results you're after, more power to you. But many of the techniques I see recommended on the forum remove a lot of metal. It seems it's the difference between restoring a part, and re-finishing a part. One of the most valuable aspects of the original post is the technique of going up through the grits, step by step, removing scratch marks with the next higher grit before moving on to the next. The proper approach to polishing any metal. Is it easy to put aluminum on a buffing wheel and bring up to a mirror shine. Yep. It's soft stuff. Can you save a lot of time and steps by buffing? Of course. But there's a place for hand polishing too.