Originally Posted by
JohnDThompson
That was intentional. Until the early 80's, Reynolds decals were multi-layer transfers delivered between a heavy paper facing and an onionskin back. You got only one chance to apply the decal; try to re-position it after it touched the frame, and it would tear. This made it virtually impossible for a decal to be lifted from a frame and placed on a non-Reynolds frame to bolster its value.
By the early 80s Reynolds' cachet had faded some, and the modern decals were much less fussy.
The "You got only one chance to apply the decal" is dead on. The decals on my 1981 were pretty much gone, so I purchased NOS. First time applying and the fork decals went on straight, the downtube, a little skewed
..and that's the way it's going to stay.
