The right way to do this is disassembly and physical removal of rust, then thorough cleaning before coating w/your choice of finish, powdercoating, paint, plating, & anodizing.
My observation is that your results are inversely-proportional to the amount of elbow grease/technology with which you attack corrosion. Wire brushes, media blasting, and chemicals all have their places depending on the metal being cleaned, the end result of finish you want, the $ you have to invest, and your timeframe to accomplish this.
You may make use of all three mentioned methods of blemish removal prior to your finish, on any one piece. Good results take more time, "scraping the barnacles to a rough finish" may give you a serviceable 'rat bike' look, most people here do not care for that look on their V Maxes. People frequently spend the value of their rides to modify the suspension/motor/looks and this is $$$ which is never going to be recovered in the marketplace, but it makes the bike more-suitable for their use and meets their individual aesthetic needs. You have choices to make.
Is there a "Matrix-style" spray-on which will magically clean pock-marked, rusted chrome, corroded aluminum castings losing their factory clear-coat to an encroaching cheesy coating of smegma, scratched paint returning to factory like-new finish? No. Live in the reality that you are either going to invest a lot of sweat equity or a lot of $$ to achieve a factory finish on your deteriorated parts.
You may find that with some prudent shopping you can more-cheaply replace some parts than it will cost to refinish them. This takes time, a computer, and knowledge to sniff-out deals, and time to accumulate them. My advice is to 1) get it running, 2) make it reliable and safe, 3) then spend your time riding it and doing cosmetics as your wallet and time permit. That way you get to enjoy your ride, you learn more about the bike, you are more exposed to other ideas about in what direction you want to go w/your mods, and can still exhibit a reasonable degree of fiscal prudence. Buying a $2K set of Carrozzeria wheels when your car needs four new tires and a brake job, and your kid needs braces is not the correct order of priorities.
Make it work, make it reliable, and stay within your budget.
