Koga Miyata restored
 

This week I finished restoring my wife's Koga Miyata for which I bought a set of (original), rather expensive decals.

Now here's my problem: I have no experience whatsoever on applying decals; I really would hate to spoil them. The official KOGA dealer who sold them to me could not help me out. He has never applied decals himself.

Google got me confused. I understand different sorts of decals exist; all needing a different approach and different handling.

My set of Koga decals looks like the "wet" type to me, but I could be wrong. They show like "mirror" view, though the side that should be in contact with the frame is not sticky. Unlike vinyl stickers, there is no layer to be peeled off.

The (paper) back side has cross marks for alignment printed on. Is there a way to find out what I am dealing with?

I wonder how they should be transferred. Should they be soaked first? Should they stay on the paper layer while transferring? Can they be slided to the correct position while wet? Or should they land on the right spot from the first attempt?

The top tube decal is about 15 inch long and it looks complicated. That one may prove to be very tricky to the decal newbie that I am.

Finally, I wonder if I should spray a layer of clear coat, as far as I ever may arrive at transferring them.

Any help or info will be very much appreciated.

1st I would like to mention that I am wondering why the Koga dealer doesn't find it out for you. He has to know what he sells ...and pretty sure Koga can tell him.

2ndly, what I would do is going to a frame painter. They for sure have experience with applying decals.

I did ask the official Koga dealer. Unfortunately, he has no clue about decals, but he promised to ask the factory on tuesday (shop closed on monday; so no answer before tuesday. )

Asking Kogo is no option; they have no e-mail adress available for end-user customers. All questions should be pipe-lined via an official koga dealer.

I would have liked to transfer these decals this weekend; so I hoped to read an answer by a "decal guru" here. Guess I'll have to be patient, though.

I would recommend a new post titled "How do I apply new decals?" so someone with the expertise may notice.

I know that. The more the reason why the shop should know.

Hope your decal issue will be solved this weekend. I am sorry I can't help you.

Btw, maybe interesting for next time: A German eBay seller is regularly selling KM decals. They are regular vinyl decals.

This restoration took me about six months (easy does it). One day more or less, I don't care.
Would vinyl be the genuine KOGA stuff? Vinyl is prone to peeling off.