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So I have been handed my sisters commuter bike for a few weeks with the task of stripping and polishing the alloy frame after she saw what I did with the other bike. This alone should make it look smarter but as its a commuter it also has things like a rear rack and mudguards. I'd really like to try to make it look cleaner somehow while not removing the functionality. So the rack and full wrap around guards have to stay but I'm thinking of trimming back the rear guard maybe, but not really sure how far back I can go while keeping its effectiveness.

Anyone ever done anything similar? Any ideas or pointers? I'm from a MTB background so this is new territory for me.

Bike is a Specialized tricross sport.

Got a picture of this beast? What size wheels and budget?

A set of these?
Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272337098818

Bikes in bits now so can't really take a shot. Its from 2008/9ish and has non disc 700c wheels, those ones you link look pretty cool, but I bought her a new set Christmas 2015 and they are still going strong.

Plans are to polish the frame remove stickers, clean and simplify. Going to loose the secondary "cross" brake levers, and maybe add a little accent colour with coloured bolts n bits. That all sounds great, but the rack and guards just don't mesh well with this ethos in my eyes. I spent the best part of last night looking a pictures of peoples commuter bikes last night to get ideas and inspiration I already cut the rear of the rear guard down slightly which has saved 110g due to some of the metal framework going with it. Not really having ridden a bike with mudguards I don't know how far I can go, they are what I'd describe as full guards. I spotted a few last night that had the rear cut from the upper stay forward rather than extend all the way forward to the bottom of seat tube but I'm unsure what this will do for effectiveness. Also see a few front guards cut from the fork forward, but again I'm not sure what this would do.