Plainsman

Looking for some best practices on making my own custom bicycle decals. I have a vinyl cutter and have made decals for cars, cups, walls, etc. Looking for suggestions on best type of vinyl, application tips, any pics (invitation to toot your own horn), etc. I’m also toying with the idea of using removable vinyl so I can experiment with different looks. Any advice?

Whit51 

Plainsman, if you try posting this in the Classic and Vintage sub forum you might get some good responses. This comes up from time to time over there.

Sy Reene

I have not done my own decals, but you may find some useful info at a site where I did create my own and ordered. There's some info on their vinyl choices anyway.

https://doityourselflettering.com/create/

Leinster

I made stencils out of painters tape and sprayed logos onto my son’s bike, and a strider bike that we gave to a neighborhood kid. The controlling factors were the consistency of the stencils, and the quality of the paint used over the stencils (the cheap hardware store paint bled after the application).

Checkout Oldshovel on YouTube, he does his own stenciling on his restoration bikes.

Pactin

Made some for my wheels, but unfortunately don't have any pics. If you've made them for cars, the same details apply (eg: make sure you apply to a clean surface, etc) except bicycles are a bit more of a complex surface than that of a car's panel.

In my experience, the metallic vinyl - from that brand that sounds like an insect - adhered much better than the regular stuff. This may be due to it being thinner and having a stronger adhesive backing.

Plainsman

Thanks all.

Seattle Forrest

​​​​​​I don't know where you'd put these on a bike but they're pretty spectacular, and she does custom sizes at a very reasonable price. Aero tubing would give you more space for something like this.

https://www.hydrascapestickers.com/store