Replacement decals for smaller components
 

Probably not worth the time and cost, but I have some smaller components that have lost their branding due to wear.

One of my favorite brake levers of all time, the NGC 202, has a nice looking "GC" on the front of the levers. Unfortunately, hands touch the brake levers fairly often! So this has worn away on a number of lever sets I have had.

Other common victims are Cyclone II derailleurs.

I'm currently selling a Trek 710 with all of the components listed above, and most of them have worn off.



Does anyone sell waterslide decals for smaller components like these?
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I've been waiting for someone to start advertising a laser engraving service for stuff like this

i use a magnifying glass, a few flat and round toothpicks, and a tiny touch up brush... sometimes... other times i just sell the bikes without bothering.
mostly, the paints i use are spray paints squirted into little cups... it's always fun/ to discover that certain plastics dissolve when hit with spray paint...

Buy the model makers decal paper from Testors and a small rattle can of Krylon acrylic clear.

Grab images and art from online.

Not necessarily a need to get fancy or convert, JPEG work. Can use the most primitive Paint program to clean it up, resize, color edit etc..

Use appropriate settings and use an inkjet printer.

Allow ink to dry. Next is to lightly spray coat with clear. Two fine coats is ok. Let it cure and set for a few days, room temp no humidity.

Trim perimeter of art. Handle with a flat nosed tweezer. Follow the routine in applying as to a model. Once cured and dry, Testors has a formula called Decal Set to top coat. Or just spray a small amount of Krylon clear in a container and while in liquid state, dip a small soft brush and dab over the applied decal.

I could use the Gipiemme stickers for Simplex SJ 6311 shifters. I was lucky to find decals for Zefal pump, but have to use lettering.com for my Bluemels.

Cyclomondo has many small decals
 

Greg Softley at Cyclomondo has a lot of the small derailleur and other small part decals. Here is a link to the small parts pages. His decals are suitable for external applications and don’t need to be clear coated like water slide decals.

Here is a link to the small parts page: https://www.cyclomondo.net/various-f...ub-saddle-pump

I have made my own water slide decals. Just ripped an image off the web. Tested out size on regular paper then ink jet printed on decal paper. This was one of those flat gray anodized.
Veloce cranks that I shined up a few years ago.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...76c651f11.jpeg

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replica transfers are available for the 3TTT handlebar stems models Gran Prix and first generation Record

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f6c4c897b8.jpg

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have also seen a large assortment of quality replica rim transfers available

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What chain_whipped said. 😀 Here is the sequence for one I made with slide decals. I like to mess around with graphics programs, so I tend to like to make the new ones, but finding a clean image of one to use seems like a great way to go, too. I think these are perfect winter projects. Also very low risk and low stakes. It’s not like we’re talking about cutting a one-of-a-kind diamond. If it doesn’t pan out, I can just sand it off in about 30 seconds and take another run at it.

What I started with:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8df30589e.jpeg

Here’s what I used for reference:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...826074847.jpeg

And here is the finished one in the wild:


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a639f99e0.jpeg

Most of the simple black-on-aluminum graphics that started appearing on components in the 1980s were screen printed directly onto the metal. Before that, they were typically self-stick decals, and many of these are readily available from people who have reproduced them. Here's a pic of a first-generation Shimano 600 lever, created while Shimano's designers were still trying to get a handle on how to effectively copy the established European look, but still retained some of that unique Japanese flair. Of course, they were soon to demonstrate how to go Baroque-One-Better with the infamous and much-loved 600EX 'Arabesque' group from the "Giant Step Backwards School of Graphic Design!"
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ff4fca1ecc.jpg
Many years ago, I bought several pairs of Modolo brake levers that were surplus product from the Scott Mathauser brake days. I didn't like the name SCOTT screened onto the levers, so I scraped it off with a fingernail. Equally diking the now blank space, on a whim I cut a couple of Cs out of leftover bar wrap finishing tape and stuck them on to fill the void. To my surprise, they stayed on and looked good for most of the 15+ years, tens of thousands of miles, and multiple bike frames I rode with them on my foul-weather commuter. I felt I had really scored when a biking co-worker once commented "I didn't know Cinelli made brake levers."
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...597af77896.jpg
Cinolo Brake Lever

When I had access to a laser engraver, I found that one could spray a piece of polished or plated metal with molybdenum disulfide dry lube, let it dry, then run it through the engraver. Then the moly can be easily cleaned off the areas not hit by the laser but will remain on the target areas. The resulting graphic is a bit on the brownish side, not true black, but it shows up nicely and wears about as well as most screen printed stuff. You might check if there's a maker space nearby that has one of these. They will probably call it a "laser cutter" but anything under a couple hundred watts is really an engraver. The trick would be sticking to flat surfaces kept perpendicular to the laser.