many have had this same thought, but in my experience (as well as seeing attempts by many others) the clear over raw steel amost always disappoints...eventually. Unless you can remove EVERY speck of rust and then give that perfect steel a perfect (impervious, flawless, not a single pinhole) clear coat in dry-as-Mojave conditions you WILL see rust form under that clear and over time it will continue spreading UNDER the clear and look like hell. It looks great when freshly polished (not as bright as chrome but still really good-looking) but that look is fleeting. I'd caveat by saying "YMMV", except it really won't. Oh wait, there might be one glimmer of hope so i don't come off as a Debby Downer: the clear Powder-coat some PC shops apply have the benefit of being applied right after a thorough blasting that also will bond better to steel than almost any wet-applied clear coatings, but even so there have been reports of rust forming beneath PC, too so it's not guaranteed. And if you have chrome you want preserved on the same frame/fork you'll need to have a PCer that can do masking for both the blasting and the coating. Do-able but takes skill/time and that stuff costs.