Classic & Vintage - Pinarello Decals Peeled Off

I am cleaning and restoring my 1984 Pinarello Catena Lusso that I have been riding for 24 years. I did NO maintenance on the bike during that period and it still rides great! Unfortunately, all the decals have peeled away.

They are individual letter decals on the final paint, then clear coated over. As they have peeled off, there is quite a "depression" between final paint and the adjacent clear coat. I have found vintage decals at the "bikingthing" website but they have a black border around each letter (which mine did not- all white) and they come on a clear decal sheet (all the letters are attached, not seperate).

One option is to hand paint in the decal area to fill in the letters. Does anyone have any other thoughts? Thanks in advance for your input.
Tom

contact JRrestore (he posts in this forum) about making you some all-white individual letters with perimeter die-cutting. Might be a little expensive, but the only other option is to scour eBay for matching decals, and that might take ages. Did you already scour? Cause Greg Softley in Australia ("cyclomondo" on eBay) is another resource and there's a seller in Italy (Italian eBay) that might help.

+1 cyclomondo on ebay. I got a full set of Raleigh decals at a reasonable price and the quality is excellent. I have also seen work done by JRrestore on Pastor Bob's bikes and they also look excellent. I would be hesitant to hand paint on the frame.

I'm not sure there was clear coat on the 1984 models. You may just be seing the effects of the adhesive on the paint. If you can rub it out with compound, it's the adhesive/fading effect. If it's a definite layer of clear, it's likely someone did it after they got it.

I may be wrong, but I've seen newer models, no clear, even the Montello.

And I forgot, Tom. Welcome to the forum. You're always welcome here.

Yellow Jersey has them as well

Edit: For what it's worth I have Pinarello of the same vintage and the transfers are peeling as well--no clearcoat.

Ah...please look at the other Pinarello thread, I replied to you there.

Hopefully they weren't Load Bearing Decals. :innocent:

Hey, guys, thanks for the quick and helpful responses. I will track down JRrestore. As an interim step, I am working with a sign company. We downloaded the old Pinarello logo, are correcting it for distortion and size and I am having them make vinly stick on letters. I am curious to see how this works out and if it really looks half way accepteable. It will depend on the thickness of the letters. Another good point about this approach is that it is totally reversible. We'll see....

Also, I am unsure about the origin of the clear coat, the bike really has been clear coated. First chromed, then painted white (with the exception of the chain stay), then painted blue and in some places the white shows through as "trim". Thanks again,
Tom

Tom,

Some owners had the frames clear coated on their own. I did. Those years of Italian frames simply had less than average decal and paint adhesion quality. That's putting it mildly for something like a Gios. And, the clear coat is no guarantee of invincibility, as the decal adhesive just wasn't all that good.

The best of luck to you with a pretty 'Pin.