Jof

I'm at the next stage of restoring my 1970's Liberati road bike and I'm wondering what to do with the decals.

My options seem to be:

1/ Fire up my trusty CAD package (or Illustrator, I guess), design some replicas, strip the old ones and apply the new ones. (Presumably of the fine vinyl type you see various websites touting)
...or...
2/ Mix up some car paint that matches the colour of the transfer in the worst areas and touch them up with a fine paintbrush.
3/ Put up with all the damage and don't be so OCD about it

Here's a picture of a particularly bad bit by the shifters - you can see the scratches aren't just small chips in general; they are quite conspicuous.



Thoughts/advice greatly welcome.

Michael Angelo 

Wax it and ride it, I wouldn't worry to much

Zieleman

+1 I ride my bikes with damaged decals. It's part of the time machine experience. With polishing and waxing the frame the paint gets a 'showroom-feel'. Combined with a little patina a bike is way more authentic. Only when a bike has been FUBARed, like rattlecanned, powdercoated or rusting to pieces, a respray with new decals is allowed IMO.

Can we see some pics of the whole bike please? Welcome to the forums! Oh and trim that RD

Jof

'Patina'... yeah, that's what my girlfriend keeps saying

The bike's in a few pieces at the moment - awaiting my tubular tyres amongst other things. Here's a pics of it first assembled after arriving from Rome, plus another couple to give you an idea of what I've done to it so far...

Michael Angelo 

^ yea you need different brake pads.

Oldpeddaller

Wow! Beautiful bike! Is that the same fork in both photos? The 'before' pic seems to have a Columbus dove symbol engraved on the shoulder and blistered chrome - the 'after' pic has neither. Did you get it re-chromed?

Like most other posters here, I'd leave the decals as they are - or if that 'grates on your nerves' too much, then carefully touch in the chips and scratches with a very fine brush and not too much paint. The patina looks fine to me though, shows the bike has been used.

dbakl

Ouch! Looks like a different fork! I'd leave the paint alone but maybe replace the seat unless you're in love with it.

Jof

Sadly it is indeed a different fork. The original one was bent in the post. I got it bent back by a frame builder - ready to be rechromed - but we discovered what could be cracks in the crown. I then spent weeks tracking down Columbus forks of that era and eventually found these. Apart from the Columbus logo, they are spot on

The bike itself was sent by a family friend at Olmo. The seat was provided (and signed by them) at some point in the bikes history. I've replaced it with a Charge Spoon saddle as, whilst not being Italian, it looks nice and is super comfy

Jof

Next task is to fit the Veloflex Roubaix tubulars I just got. Then it's rebuilding the bottom bracket, setting up the gears and then fitting the bike. Once I've done that it's time for bar wrap and we're done.

...But I'll leave the decals as-is