blake ; I'm with you brother. I HATE chrome !!! I'ld rather spend my time riding than polishing. Went through that crap with my last bike 1995 H-D Superglide, spent more time polishing that D*mn chrome than I did riding !! Don't get me wrong I love my 1976 Honda cb750F1
! But I'm doing away with as much of the chrome as I can. My first pipes were 4 into 1 with the flat collector which I sanded all the chrome (30 grit) I could then sandblasted everything. Shot it with multiple coats of Rustoleum . Pics are located here,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41094004@N07/sets/72157624056071846/ . While it looks shiney I think it was actually Semi-gloss. The muffler started out life as somebodies Chrome exhaust tip (found along side the road) I did the same thing to it. Also located in the pics is the design of the baffle I built which I wrapped with insulation and a layer of steel window screen then slid it into the muffler and atached with a screw to the little tab in the pic. Sounds good and looks good as well IMHO ! Unfortunately I destroyed the collector my oil pan going up my driveway and had to get another headpipe, I replaced it with the Hondamatic pipe that's also in those pics. It's not been dechromed Yet!! If you want to paint your pipes your going to have to scuff the chrome up real good so your paint will stick, then after you paint them (I'ld recommend 2 or 3 coats) carefully fit them on the bike and start it and let it run for just a short time, shut it off and repeat. I did the heat cycleing (?spelling?) 4 or 5 times before I ever went for a ride. My paint did Very well an I had no problems with it at all. Hope this helps. ...cougar... P.S. I didn't post pics because there are several and some folks (like me use "Dial-UP") .
