I had a diy nickel plating set up over 20yrs ago and used it for things like brackets, nuts/bolts etc - small stuff. I've still got one of the bikes that I plated bits on and just about all of the nickeled bits have survived really well with no peeling or rusting through. The plating was done straight onto the steel - no first coat of copper.

The surfaces have degraded gracefully into a kind of vintage look matt sheen. It's not right for the bike they're on (an early 70's Jap) but would look kind of ok on something like an Enfield.

I do remember putting a lot of effort into prepping the parts though. The mists of time have fogged over exactly what was needed although I have vague memories of lots of polishing and stuff like acid baths to etch the surface. I'm not sure I'd want to do stuff much bigger than brackets, engine mounts etc. Certainly not mudguards or a tank on a diy basis as the cost of the equipment to do it would be more than paying a professional company.

There's also a few technical issues with stuff like evenness of ion flow and metal deposition. It's not really an problem with small bits in a 5L tank but with a bigger setup and bigger items in the tank you can have problems with uneven coverage and staining that need some experience and a bit of trial and error to work through. Not an issue if you were setting up to do 20 tanks but if you're only doing one it could be a bit frustrating. I stopped doing it when I stopped working in research labs (couldn't get the chemicals easily any more) and just do the odd bit of zinc plating now (much easier)