Originally Posted by
big chainring
One of the ways to identify a good bike back in the day, was if the components didnt shine. You knew a bike was of decent quality because it didn't have chromed steel parts. And Campy had the satin anodized finish. Shiny parts meant cheap bike!
+1 - and I have tried for a long time on both bicycles and motorcycles to find a way to get the lovely satin finish on parts that were not anodized originally. Khatful's thread is immensely helpful but doesn't cover this. Where I tend to want to do this is when a part is otherwise in great shape but has some scratches or divots deep enough to annoy (like when someone gets deep scratches in a stem or seat post). Usually I just end up polishing the whole thing (people like shiny) or leave the scratches there.