I worked in plating shop for a couple of years and spent hundreds of hours behind a large buffing wheel. I can tell you for sure that polishing the entire frame is not worth the effort.

I owned a polished '98 Litespeed Ultimate. It was extremely difficult to keep looking good - a real PIA. The final finish was done by electropolishing, so even the finest polishing compound would not produce the same luster as the original.

Settle for a nice satin finish that can be done with the finest scotchbrite pad that you can find. A real poilsh would require a lot of small buffs to get into the tight spots.

If a frame was really going to be polished when first built, about 90% of the polishing would be done before the frame was welded to minimize the amount of work in tight areas, created after welding.

http://www.swmetal.com/