Not long ago (8/1/2024 to be exact) I posted a question regarding an early-70s frame, stating that I would be using to build a mid- to low-end Japanese tourer with spare parts, largely to see if I could do it for close to 0$ and because I didn't have a vintage Japanese bike in my collection since I sold the Miyata 1000 some time ago.


As I was finishing the "spare parts" bike (photos of which will be posted when I get the requisite number of posts, btw) my next-door neighbor offers me his son's bike for free - he just needs to clean out the shed. We go into his shed and it turns out to be a 1981 Nishiki International in quite good shape, having been hung inverted from hook through the rims. Yes, it needs some work (e.g. the bars were wrapped with electrical tape way back when) but it is complete and rust-free.


So here's my question: Is there a source for the "NISHIKI" decals/stickers on the down tube, the "INTERNATIONAL" on the top tube, and the "N" logo (the kind with the multi-color semi-circular ribbons around the "N") on the head tube?


The font for the brand and model are an all caps Helvetica-like bold italic font in light yellow. (The bike frame is blue).


I would really like to bring this bike back to like-new condition and the decals are missing letters and showing quite a bit of wear.


Thanks in advance.

I was going to recommend www.bicycledecals.net (I picked up some Vitus 172 steel frame and fork stickers there), but don't see Nishiki listed as an option. There might be a printing company that could do it for you. Good luck!

And once again Velocals loss is mourned.

Top

After Velocal went off line, the only remaining choice is Ebay. I did a search on Ebay and I see some Nishiki (mostly MTB) decals. Maybe if you message the seller they might have the patterns for the International too.

Thanks for the inputs. I haven't looked for bike decals in quite some time and all of my go-to sources(especially the one mentioned above) are no more.

I'll probably take a shot at using the printable decal paper and making them myself. The text looks like it won't be much of a problem as I've seen that font in other places - Lethal Weapon movie title maybe) but the old "N with ribbons" logo is likely to be a problem.

Any suggestions? Anyone make their own replacement decals this way?

Post some pics of what ones you need, I have a few pdf files from that era.

Thanks! I will post the pics as soon as I reach my (10) post threshold, as mandated by the Lords of the Forum.

Upload the pics to your Album, then others can post them, but then do the homework, and get those posts done

Never underestimate tiny differences in fonts. A good close one is "just off somehow" when you look at the bike... you don't know whats wrong, its just wrong. Corporate/brand designs are there for a reason - minus 90' big firms all getting away with Helvetica.

Decals can be reproduced, the problem is color accuracy. I sometimes help out people for fun to reproduce simpler things, but getting it printed is a pain, since white color can't be printed, and without white, colors are off on transparent medium.
Cyclomondo in Australia is one of the most famous bike decal producers, well known for top quality, check them out: https://www.cyclomondo.net/
They don't list Nishiki, but sending them a mail can't hurt.

Thanks for the suggestions. I honestly didn't think of getting around the (10) post threshold for thread pics by using the album.

Regarding fonts - Yes, I certainly agree that there are subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) difference between similar fonts. I'll be showing my age a bit, but I've been doing graphic art and technical drawing text layouts since the days of Letraset and Leroy lettering sets for drafting, so I have more than a little bit of experience in that area. (For those who too young to remember, Letraset transfer letters & K&E Leroy lettering guides were common before mainstream computer software for graphic art & CAD.) I only mentioned the "Lethal Weapon" font as an example to show that something quite close to the Nishiki font I need may be readily available.

And oh yes, color matching self-printed decals is almost impossible because of the transparent substrate and that the printed colors are not opaque.

Sending out emails is another good suggestion. It is certainly true that vendors sometimes don't include their entire inventory on their web sites. I've been in contact with some potential vendors already (via eBay) and I'll reach out to Cyclomondo.

Simply go the Introductions forum and say hello to three other new forum members. And BOOM, you're at 10 posts.

Done - pics uploaded to an album.

Thanks again for the suggestion.

*** pic assist***

to be honest, from a reproduction standpoint you are partially lucky, as at least the "International" in not in "sign painter" script font, other than that repro-ing that "Double Butted Chrome Molybdenum" is no fun. Not impossible just not a simple one.
Kind of an interesting thing, that on this model they had the "NISHIKI" in block, while the head tube is still using the "bamboo" style 'N' the older models used for the DT logo as well. (I'm not expert, google is...)

Well, I'm hoping I can just carefully clean and mask the frame material decal.

Yes, the "N" decal is typical for an '81, but I got confused looking on-line at Nishiki bike photos trying to pin down head badge/decal dates,

I strongly suspect there are repainted bikes out there that originally had head tube decals but substituted the older badges because reproductions are readily available on eBay,

In worst case, everything can be reproduced, not without giving up perfection, but its still better than nothing.
Here's an unmolested auto-trace... not perfect, and from here to decal it would take a while, but as you see it's possible. I would prefer hand tracing although that takes ages to get good.


Down tube is easier, here's a quick hand-trace (top one in purple) after the catalog front page, but this could go to the prints hop after some fine tuning (round off all corners, equalize spacing around "'i"s and set wider letter gaps all over) already:




If you are not in a rush, set a watch on ebay and similar for international decal, Nishiki is really off my scope, but based on yours I bumped into an article, where the guy got his resprayed, and claimed he got orig. decals. from ebay. You can never know when the next pops up.

Hey!!

Can I get an update on finding these decals? I'm in the middle of restoring this exact bicycle lol. If you have recreated these, I would love to take a look at the digital file! Would save a ton of time

I keep trying to upload my pdf but this site keeps telling me my file extension is wrong. It isn't wrong.

I can DM you my email, if this helps. Really appreciate it!

Just kidding.. i need 10 posts.. lol

Did you get it?

I did yes. Here's hoping that dw01 has the remaining decal art.

Cool beans.

Actually, I reached out to H Lloyd Cycles and while he didn't have the Nishiki decals/stickers on his website at that time, I was told they did offer them, and they put them up on their website (and on eBay) shortly thereafter. While H Lloyd didn't have all of the graphics I was looking for, they has most of what I needed. This certainly shows the value in directly contacting potential vendors, as suggested in a previous post.

For the other lettering, I found a great vendor that does small vinyl lettering stickers/decals. Amusingly enough: www.smalllettering.com

The folks at Small Lettering don't have bicycle decals per se, but what I needed matched up to one of the fonts & colors they have available. Their quality is quite good, prices are great, communication is good (they contacted me to confirm the sizing) and their turn-around time is short. Very highly recommended.

Steve from H Lloyd recently recreated the decals and did great work! If anyone else happens to be looking to recreate these decals, the color is PMS 607 and Steve has the pdf art!

As for the base color of the frame, I went PMB-8083 Paradise Shimmer from Prasmatic Powders, google that and their website will show it (cant post link)

I'm sure there are closer colors for the blue, but after seeing the sample swatches they sent me it looked pretty darn close.

I'll make another post after everything is done (: Wonderful thread! Very helpful

I cant post links.. or images..

but if you google 'img bb' and paste the following after the URL it'll show my before & after (:

/R4YwYbLT
/cK9xK6rr

Project finally finished!!