Fmtrx

Hello all,

I have a purple Raleigh Stowaway and i am planning to have its frame painted. For this reason i am searching the following two decals:
photo1: RALEIGH (on the folding tube)
photo2: Stowaway (on the chain mudguard)
Is there anyone who may have either a NOS item or a good quality reproduced one?
Thanks in advance

EDIT: it seems that i cannot post photos of the decals because i have less than 10 posts... :/

pastorbobnlnh 

Fmtrx, welcome to Bike Forums and Folding Bikes. While I can't held with locating decals, I can assist with a stock photo that I borrowed from the Raleigh UK website. Maybe they can help? Hope this picture helps. Is this the same bike?

fietsbob

a picture, you have taken, and a printer can make you some..

Fmtrx

Hi Bob,

Actually it is a much older bike than that one. A Raleigh 20 bought in 1984 but the Sturmay Archer says on it 78 12, meaning December of 1978 manufacture date?
It is quite the same as the first twenty that was produced in 1971 but with the folding capability. If i could post a link i would...but i am still under 10 posts...

Fmtrx

This is a great idea, provided the fact that one has a high res picture of the decal and the dimensions.
Now if someone had scanned his decals, we could go to the local printing shop and have this printed to
a vinyl sticker.

pastorbobnlnh 

Ahhhhh! Over in the Classic and Vintage forum there are several members who have Raleigh 20s and maybe even the folding version. Specifically @cudak888 might be able to help you out with hi-res pictures. There several people on ebay who sell decals. Have you looked there? Some are members here on BF, but I'm forgetting their user names.

You are looking for a Raleigh that looks like this.

cudak888 

Pretty sure the originals are some sort of ink; IIRC, they're waterslide, but held on the reverse with contact paper of some kind.

I don't recall "Stowaway" decals making it on any of the US-market models (I may be wrong) so I'm going to take a bet that this is a UK model. As such, even the downtube decals may be different than the US variants, Bob - though some UK Twenties did have the same exact scheme.

Best I can do is a photograph of the US graphics, as I have a Twenty wearing the same scheme as the second to last. Granted, it'd be MUCH easier to do a Live Trace (in Adobe Illustrator) of this decal if the source photo used a light colored Twenty, like that white one. It would make the vinyl stickers super easy to cut out on some Oracal with a plotter. If you're going through all the effort of a paint job though, I'd suggest using the negative space of the vinyl cutout as a paint mask, and do the black/gold Twenty downtube graphic and its drop shadow in paint.

-Kurt

gat3keeper

How's your Raleigh foldies so far ?

pastorbobnlnh 

Kurt, ( @cudak888 ) I knew you were the person to turn to! Thank you. @Fmtrx where are you located or more specifically where was your Raleigh originally sold?

Fmtrx

@bob, my bike is quite similar with the bikes you posted. I suspect mine is a second iteration though, as the differences are:
mine has a simpler saddle without springs (reduce cost of production, a later model)
the decals are different, i will post them as soon as i have the right to post photos in this forum
the tires are 451 with black and white, whereas in the picture i notice the thicker 401 type tyres.
mudguard design is quite different, in my model they are narrower.

My bike was bought in greece in 1984 from Christos Tsirikos bikes, it is a big bike shop here in greece which imported Raleighs. I remember that its price was 14.000 drachmas back then.

@gat3keeper currently i have dismantled my bike and i am waiting for some parts : tires, the stand, front light, the decal <<20>> i found which is located under the saddle and the <<Made In England>>, the mudguard of the chain , and a gear mechanism located inside the hand grip to get its internal metal piece as mine has been broken. From my side I have removed the rust from all parts with very good results.
I have the following difficulties:
1. detach the fork and the handle bar
2. there fork is stuck and rotates with difficulty
3. detach the main crank and pedals from the main tube (i do now want to use a hammer, i will have to buy a special tool which pushes when you rotate a screw.
4. back wheel mudguard cannot be removed, the screw is rusted and i cannot remove it even with WD40.
I suppose i can accelerate the process by visiting the local bike shop and let him use his tools and finish the disassembly
I have found a paint shop that does electrostatic paint of good quality and i located the color in its color selection list.

Currently the main reason i postponed the paint job is because i want to find the sticker before destroying the existing one (well, what is left from it ) with the new paint.

Perhaps if i find high quality scans (anyone?) then i will be able to print a vinyl sticker in a laser printer.
Currently i have applied rice paper on the existing "Raleigh" sticker. Worst case scenario is to reflect the sticker design with a pencil and then use photoshop to recreate the sticker.
But I want to avoid this as i am not sure about the quality of the results.
Unfortunately the sticker is more complicated than the one showed in the photo - it consists of 3-4 colors and has a pattern - so i am not sure if i could use a mask. Although it would be a cool idea to implement.

pastorbobnlnh 

Ahh Greece! I have a neighbor who is originally from Athens and have learned so much from her about your beautiful country. And her cooking! Some day I'll come and visit.

Keep responding to our posts and we'll get you above that 10 post threshold faster than you can fold your Raleigh!

Fmtrx

you should visit sometime Greece. Islands are cool here. You could visit Santorini, Rhodes Mykonos etc. It depends on what style of fun you seek. Each place has its own style.
(now let's see hmmm this must be my 6th post? )

pastorbobnlnh 

I hope to in retirement in a few years.

You probably don't realize you can post up to five times a day until you reach the 10 post threshold for adding pictures, attachments and links. Come back and ask us four separate questions in different posts (i.e., tire recommendations, Brooks Saddles, cable housing, etc. and then on your 11th post try to add a picture or two of your Stowaway.

Speaking of pictures, here's one of @cudak888 's Twenty which is on his amazing website.

fietsbob

I see / have seen, the water draining down the cable an puddling in the housing, and rust seizing the cable in the housing,
on many rear brakes of women.'s bikes with up turned cables ..

then the simple addition of a rubber bellows seal between the 2 arms of Brompton's side pulls which use a pulled from beneath brake cable

as a part of its folding design was an Aha,!, finally a solution ... made simple, ..

after the introduction of V brakes, made finding such a rubber piece easy....






....

Fmtrx

thanks for the help. i will definitely need some help with the saddles. i am between two models.

Fmtrx

could you post a photo of this modification?

Fmtrx

I will post photos of my bike, but you will not enjoy them...it is in bad shape now and dismantled... :/

pastorbobnlnh 

Oh, I can show you some rusty crusty old bikes I'm owned or restored over the years! Only two more posts to add those pictures! You're almost at the magic 10 threshold!

And Saddles--- of course I recommend a Brooks! A Flyer would be nice. Or a B66 or B67. Just my thoughts.

Now post two more times!