Gettocal - Having been repeatedly befuddled with the high cost of replacement decals and logos I am making an attempt to establish a working base of simple decal and logo knockoffs that can be used by our members - The object here is not to challenge any copyrights or compete with professional decal manufacturers but simply offer a method of users sharing their art work - I hope to gather some posts that look like almost exact replicas - I have found that some decals are so expensive that cheap replicas will do...

I will start with two decals that can be copied then manipulated to print on a 3"x10" vinyl decal bumper sticker to be placed on a seat tube or down tube...

Copy and manipulate the picture in your favorite graphics program to change backgrounds or make transparent areas or add other logs into it...

Vinyl bumper stickers are tough and hold up to bad weather - There are many bumper sticker print shops that can be used on line with printing costing anywhere from $1.50 to $3.00 each... (buildasign.com and many others)

REMEMBER: According to your browser you may have to click on an image several times to see it in its full resolution.

09/05/2012: Please note that I started this post 01/11 and many of the sites I have stored the decals at have automatically compressed the files reducing the resolution. If you need the file in higher resolution let me know and I will forward the file to you...

2023-10-06: Checked around for online sources that print Bumper Stickers. It appears that they want you to print 25 or more. You can use buildasign.com to print singles. There may be other sources out there but its the only one I can find here in the USA.

3"x10" bumper sticker format - My own work - For seat tube about 28mm in diameter

I have had a really hard time trying to find a font that matches Peugeot's "Lion font" - This one is not even close but I'll post it anyway - Its for a down tube 3"x10" bumper sticker format about 28mm in dia...


Much better scan on page three

Close rendition to campy logo - Tails at beginning and end a little off but still very close...

Scanned Simplex but shortened and increased contrast - Also Peu Lion...

Columbus SLX Basic...

Just thought I'd let you know you're not alone in this idea, and not just talking to yourself

Pretty sure there was at least one other thread here a while back that tried to get this going. I have in my mind a proper database where good quality original decal files could be stored and maybe they could even be graded for accuracy.

I don't have the storage space to host this but maybe someone has...Or maybe velobase could be used. It would be nice to have 2 independant sites for backup.

I have some really high quality Columbus Cromor ones that I can contribute and will dig out when I get a chance.

Here's some art I've done. Someone send me an email if they want it in vector. I've had spotty luck at sign shops for getting them printed. Kinda depends who is doing it that day, and how knowledgeable they are.

I'm about ready to give up on Velocals.

That's some very cool stuff, however when I drop the image into MSPublisher and enlarge it it's beyond fuzzy. I guess that's why you offered the vector version. Unfortunately I wouldn't know what to do with that, and I'm no closer having read the Wiki Vector entry.

No way to attach pdf files >100K. Most print shops can handle pdf files and they can be scaled as far as I remember.

The hard part in this getting the colours right. In the original decal the grey portion was done with a silver ink which only specialist printers can achieve.

Edit: Can see that the file has been resized on upload so resolution is not as good as it could be. If anyone wants high res version of this you can contact me.

Sorry to hear. I've ordered a few times with good luck. Are you trying to get something newly made? Mine were from stock; actually just received some Jeunet ones...

That's because its just a small jpg.

dbakl - Thanks for the post - I was wondering if anyone was even interested - Heres another one...

Yeah, I've been chasing decal solutions for decades, since I made some 531s in the 70s in my college silkscreen class. Honestly, the cost for sets that someone like cyclomondo sells on ebay seem quite reasonable to me, but I know how timeconsuming it is to create the art and get it printed right! I'd rather pay the price than go through the grief myself...

wow, you even have a Falck decal in there...very impressive at this scale and on my monitor...I may take you up on the vector offer, I have some vector artwork I could swap, but maybe of little interest: Allegro, Merlin, Ciocc San Cristobal, but includes a late Columbus SL and a Prugnat Lugs decal.
Me thinks those early Columbus jobs should be on foil: have you had them printed anywhere on foil (or Mylar)?
Edit: I also am just a bit nervous about starting up an artwork database of logos that might still be protected property (for example: the Campagnolo script is extant and, I'm sure, protected worldwide; Weinmann is still in business, too, ditto Peugeot and Fuji)...I'm not a lawyer and don't have the money to hire one, either.

What does this mean and how does it impact decal/sticker quality? Thanks.

I have a few to contribute, but it'll take me a while to find them. Some are on a computer I haven't used in a while.

For now, here's something everyone needs!

^you needed them, so somebody else will too...someday. They look good, of course I have no idea what the originals looked like!
General question: has anybody sent art to one of the decal printers that usually service model aircraft and railroad hobbyists? I'm assuming their work will be better than a bumper-sticker printer would do.
randyjawa: in brief vector-based artwork can be enlarged (or reduced) to virtually any size with no degradation in quality...pixel-based art (such as you're viewing on your monitor when looking at this) cannot. Vector files are what we want to use when making decals.

After spending a couple 30-40 minute phone calls with JR at VeloCals I feel like I need to come to his defense a little.

The high cost is directly related to two things:

1) The cost of the proper printer, inks, media, etc.
2) The time it takes to turn crappy photos and such into vector drawings so that the decals can be made properly and at the right size.

I was amazed at the process JR has to go through. Looking at the sample below I bet rhm knows as well.

If all you're looking to do is slap some stickers on your bike feel free...if you're trying to restore a bike $50 for a full decal set is, IMHO, a bargain. There's nothing that finishes a restore like all the proper decals.

And, it's a little cat out of the bag, but JR told me about something he's getting ready to make available that will knock your collective socks off. I won't spill all the beans but maybe this will be a tad of incentive for him to get "it" all ready to go and ready to be ordered. JR?

More importantly, its outline shape and fill based, which is how the plotters that print them work.

Yes, I've never seen anyone else knock off the Falck; needed it for a Legnano.

Yes, I have 2 versions of Columbus printed to gold foil.

I could do the art for this stuff it my sleep. It is incredibly time consuming, even if you have something great to work from.

And getting them printed right is even harder than making the art!

mmm. Velocals has both Battaglin and Medici decals. Both ones I need. Very interesting.

Nice in theory, but not really based in reality.

As others have stated, pixal artwork is worthless. It needs to be converted to vector artwork. Adobe Illustator is the industry standard. It costs about $600.

Then there is the time. To convert a logo from pixal to vector will take 2-6 hours for someone with a lot of experience with the program. This comes from first-hand experience as I recreated Cinelli, Frejus and Gloria logos. I have over 20 years experience using Illustrator. What's shop rate at your LBS? $50-$60 /hour? Granted a decal maker can reuse the artwork, but there is no guarantee you won't be his only customer.

Next is color. Color is an SOB. Is the color in the photograph correct? Is the monitor showing the correct color in the photograph? PMS (Pantone matching system) is the industry standard. Does Pantone have an exact match? Then comes the hard part. Even with a specified PMS color, every printer will print them different. Even 2 different printers that are the same model are likely to print different colors. Then there are usually a few colors a printer won't print well. The chroma is off in the red for example. Then there are metallics. You have to print out multiple times to get the color correct. And now you need a printer to do this all. That isn't a cheap printer. The inks aren't cheap.

So $50 to get 1 page of decals is pretty much an excellent deal. And I am fairly certain anyone charging you $50 is not getting rich.

Waiting for my socks to be blown off...