Fork and hardware coating options

[Ride]

I've stripped the fork lowers and triple trees bare. Hardware is cleaned and wire wheeled of rust and corrosion.

I want to match the clear coated aluminum danmoto rearsets.

Is paint a decent option? I have an hvlp gun.
I've also read that gun-kote works great.

 

[Ride]

I looked into auto paints but nothing is truly bright aluminum. Apparently there is no such thing in automotive paint. Everything is some kind of grey with metallic added to give it that flash. At certain angles it will always appear grey or at best silver.

He suggested aerosol metal colors from auto parts stores.

I spoke to a local custom fabricator who suggested glass bead blasting to open up the pores and then ceramic paint (high heat). He said the ceramic bonds better and isn't as thick as 2k urethanes. He also suggested flat black so it looks more natural and "disappears" into the bike.

 

[spotty]

use flat black as an undercoat for the silver, it always makes it appear lighter/shinier

 

[Ride]

use flat black as an undercoat for the silver, it always makes it appear lighter/shinier

Really? I always thought you go lighter as an undercoat to brighten up the topcoat or darker to tone down brightness.

 

[spotty]

dunno why it works, a friend of mine gave me the hint while we were talking about model making (24th scale cars) and I do it all the time now on models and the bike

 

[Ride]

dunno why it works, a friend of mine gave me the hint while we were talking about model making (24th scale cars) and I do it all the time now on models and the bike

Good tip then thanks!