Peek the Geek

I'm oh-so-close to having acquired all the parts for my single speed project and am finally about ready to start putting it all together. I'm having a tough time making one decision, though. I'm considering removing the "Gunnar" decal on each side of the downtube.

I'm considering removing them for a few reasons:
-Part of a couple of the letters on the decal have already been scratched off. It's not very noticeable, but it is kind of sloppy looking.
-I've never been a big fan of the font style Gunnar used on their bikes.
-Maybe the simplicity of a single speed bike calls for more of a simple look.

The decals are not under a clearcoat, so they should be easy to remove. And I won't be removing the other decals ("Ruffian," head tube, seat tube). I'm looking for your opinions here. What do you think?

Here are a couple photos of the frame with the decals, and a couple of very roughly Photoshopped pics showing how it would look without.

Pheard

I'd take both decals off.

Peek the Geek

Baby steps, man. Baby steps.

C Law

Sorry......your workshop is way to clean for me to give you any advice.

Try scraping off the letters with a tire lever. Worked on my Surly 1x1. I never tried it on any of my gunnars though......

Oh yeah, if I were going to remove the Gunnar on the downtube I would remove every logo, including the fork, save the seat tube and the chainstay lettering.

Enjoy. look foward to seeing the complete build

cierrecart

Ditch em......just use a hair drier to heat them up and peel them off.

dminor 

I'd take 'em off and then replace them with your own custom-design decal. (Of course I'm a graphic designer, so it makes it easier to come up with such things.) I think more people should ditch the brand stickers and put something on that personalizes it to them. After all, it's only vinyl

bidaci

Looks like its missing something with the downtube decal off and the rest left on. I like the look without any decals myself. Take em all off.

WannaGetGood

What would you use to take off the decals, are they stickers or is it paint?

Siu Blue Wind

I would take them both off as well. The head badge will show what it really is.

Peek the Geek

They're stickers. They can be heated with a blow dryer and then scraped off with a credit card or something. Gunnar's web site also says decals from this model year can also be removed with a pressure washer at the car wash.

Actually, I've had another thought about what to do with the decals. Maybe remove the "G" and the letters "NAR" so that only "UN" is left. "Un" --- Italian for "One" --- as in "One Speed."

Of course, people might just think I'm a big supporter of the United Nations.

Heck, I just want to ride the thing ASAP.

Kennethfaria

if you are contemplating whether or not to leave or take of the decals i say take them off and add new ones.?

EDIT: BTW how would you take of Painted decals?

Moochers_Dad

Take them off and make the RUFFIAN decal say "PUFFI" or if you smoke or are into magic dragons: "PUFF"

Then, take some time and use a Sharpie® to outline all your tools on your pegboard so you know where they go.

Kennethfaria

But how do you take of painted decals.. or is the only way to repaint?

mx_599

great photo shop talent, but i would leave them

Kennethfaria

wow photo shop talent... i didnt even notice he photoshopped it. good job blending the colours to make it look real.

as you can tell i dont read posts fully

Peek the Geek

Actually, the Photoshopping was easy, and wasn't even done with Photoshop. I used the Photoshop Elements polygonal lasso tool to select a blank part of the tube, copied, and pasted that a few times over the decals. Then I used the clone stamp at low opacity to blend the edges a bit.

Thanks for all of the opinions, by the way. I think I may just take them off to see if I like it. If not, I'll order new decals to replace them.