whilst my zxr was off the road, i went for the satin black finish on the frame and swinging arm after the alloy cleaner stained the frame on my bike. I was lucky enough at the time to be working for Mars, and got the company we used to electroplate my parts with a satin finish after the frame had been vapour blasted.
Cost me over £200 at the time and 5 years on, its still perfect.
Putting the bike back together upon reassemblyhas never taken so long as i was so paronoid about scatching it.
My rsv has got polished outer frame spars and swinging arm, and after washing aal the crap off from the other nights 140 mileblast down the m4, its now covered in water marks that mean i am gonna have to buy some hard polish to remove them.
Once i have some time and spare pennies in the summer, i might well strip mine down and get it done in satin black again, just depends if the company i used last time still remember me.