What polish and laquer for bare metal?

If you're satisfied with the finish you get with lacquer only, all well and good.

If you are doing it yourself, first try some lacquer where it won't show too much(eg underneath). It will probably look ok when wet, but once the solvent has evaporated I suspect it will look 'dry'.

At this stage you might consider painting the frame silver, then lacquering. Silver paint is pigmented with aluminium powder, so naturally it tends to look like ali, but if you want to make it look like steel you can add a little black (make sure the paints are compatable). By using this technique you can first give the frame some sort of anti rust treatment - preferably phosphoric acid straight onto the steel, which won't be visible after painting.

Of course all this would be best done with stoving materials, but I don't see why it couldn't be done with airdrying paint. If using two pack polyurathene paint, bear in mind the catalyst is based on cyanide and is not a health product !

as good as that sounds, dude i dont want to paint it, ive already had it sprayed silver and it looked cock...just my opinion. Dont want it fancy, because its not.

i want the rough metal look, the no paint racing feel. I want it to look like every possible gram has been shedded off and ridden through acid rain for thousands of miles. Which it has in a way, and i want to show its true, raw identity, the savage trusty frame that it has been, which is why the naked metal look suits it.