Vintage decals
 

Seeing as so many vintage bikes didn't have their decals clear coated, they should be easy to remove. How do you get them off intact? I'd like to have some reproduced using originals as a pattern.

Try a hair dryer. The heat will soften the glue and let you peel them off. As to whether they will come off intact, that's hard to say. My experience has been that the decals will soften and stretch a bit on removal which will distort them somewhat. That probably shouldn't be a major issue if a graphic artist is using them as a pattern but you could not simply use a copier to capture the image.

Thanks for the reply. I'm surprised that there's so few replies on the subject. Considering how important decals are to the vintage restorer. I've seen lots of posts on reproducing decals, but none on removing them for reproduction. Digital photos of the original bike are nice but no substitute for the actual decal.

I've provided "base info" to BF member JRrestore (aka VeloCals.com) who does custom reproduction, for a couple projects. He seems to be happy enough to have digital photos taken in situ from several angles (such as: multiple shots head on taken radially around a tube). No matter what you do, it's de rigeur in the conservation game to scrupulously document original state before proceeding with anything irreversible.

There are several sorts of graphics that vintage bikes might have: printed vinyl is fairly recent, while older bikes had graphics printed on plastic/foil composite (Gitane, Jeunet), and in true "decals" there were wet transfer, and dry transfer types either manufactured with their own adhesive, or to be affixed with shellac or some other binder. Whether one can get them off depends on the type, and whether they were clear-coated. Kommisar89 is quite correct in saying that you should expect some distortion, even if you can remove the graphic whole. That's why pre-mucking-around photo documentation is important.

Good luck removing waterslide decals with a hair dryer.

I doubt they are coming off intact, no matter what. Photographs are the thing.

At Trek in the late '70s, we would just remove the waterslide decals we used with some nasty solvent. Dupont Imron is impervious to this treatment. That's not going to work with most paints though.

[QUOTE=cs1;7560425]Thanks for the reply. I'm surprised that there's so few replies on the subject. Considering how important decals are to the vintage restorer.QUOTE]

I agree. To the restorer, or anyone who wants make their bike look better, then accurately reproducing decals is very important. Unfortunately most decals are hard to get off without messing them up. Vinyl decals are easier than some because you can heat them up with a hair dryer to soften the underlying adhesive and then (very carefully) try to pull them off intact. Water transfer decals will almost always self destruct when you try to take them off, so thats a bummer.

I'm no expert in this field, but I would think the best one can do is take many multiple close-up macro shots of the originals with a good digital camera, relative to the tube size with all measurements to try and have them accurately reproduced by someone.

It seems the only thing you can do.

I've got some vinyl decals on my 89 Specialized Rockhopper Comp that's going to get painted. I'm thinking they'll lift off with a little heat. OTH, I've got some Waterfords that need paint. Waterford won't sell it's decals, they want to do the repaint. Considering they charge almost $400 for a single color, I'll take my chances on buying repo decals.

Stickers/decals over the clear are, like everyone says, easy to get off by heating with a hair dryer and slooowly pulling off. Keep them warm and moving, and they often come off intact. I try to get bike shop decals off intact and put them on my toolbox.

Water-slides will self-destruct, and I use a thumb or finger nail, get 'em off and use a little rubbing compound to erase the evidence of where they once were.

Its really not hard to work from good photographs and measurements...

Water transfer decals can be removed with a product called POLLY S EASY LIFT-OFF PAINT & DECAL REMOVER. You can buy it at your local hobby shop. It works very slowly so you can just remove the decal without damaging the paint below. It costs about $12.

JR.

That's the kind of info we need to know. It figures that a decal maker would know that. Thanks

Tim