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How to Make bike decals?

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How to Make bike decals?

Old 06-24-20, 06:40 AM
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How to Make bike decals?

Can anyone pass on their experience or point me to a good site or youtube video on making my own decals and applying them to my bike? I still have the original decal on my bike, which I took a picture of but they are in rough shape. My talented son did some magic in Photoshop and cleaned the image up so now I need to print it on decal paper and get them on the bike.
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Old 06-24-20, 07:27 AM
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I used beldecal waterslide paper, but they seem to be gone now.
Waterslide is very thin, and needs to be covered in clear. Vinyl is not as thin, but can be applied on top.
The one choice [at least with their waterslide paper] you'd need to make is print on clear paper, or do you need a white backing?
Also, your home printer won't print silver or gold, if you need those colors.
You can always take your file to someone in town and have them print some up.
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Old 06-24-20, 08:21 AM
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If you're going the vinyl direction, I believe you can make them on a Cricut machine.
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Old 06-24-20, 10:05 AM
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What's the bike? There are a lot of existing repro decals on the market, and it might be easier to buy.
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Old 06-24-20, 11:07 AM
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@rhm has done this with some success. For example: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...nk-canvas.html I don't know his technique.

Velocals will make custom decals for you. If you just want letters and one of their standard fonts, it's cheap and easy.
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Old 06-24-20, 12:51 PM
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These people are really good too
bicycledecalsdotnet
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Old 06-24-20, 01:14 PM
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Cheap and fast? https://diylettering.com/ is my go-to for rub on vinyl.

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Old 06-24-20, 01:26 PM
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Not lettering but this logo on the front fork. Do you think this decal exisits out there somewhere?

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Old 06-24-20, 02:30 PM
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https://velocals.com/peugeot-fork-de...te-top-1-pair/
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Old 06-24-20, 02:45 PM
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These days to do the pro looking ones like Cyclomondo and Velocals sell requires an expensive printer and some pro graphics software, and the knowledge to use it. However, a run of the mill laserprinter will work for simple black and white decals. Decal paper is fun. Depending on the graphics, sometimes it's possible to infill by hand with a gold paint pen etc. There are lots of threads on this sort of thing on various guitar forums.

Old school decals I believe would have been made using photostats and silkscreen, but not sure on that.
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Old 06-24-20, 03:21 PM
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Heck, $9.95 that's a no brainer. Hopefully they ship to Canada OK. Thanks Salamandrine!
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Old 06-25-20, 10:25 AM
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gugie , thanks for the link to DIYlettering.com. I just placed an order with them. I like that I can design and can modify the shape of the words. The only thing that I don't like, for the simple version, is that I cannot add a symbol, like a star. There is a more advanced version that does this but, I am happy with the way it will look without the star. I will have my graphics with a border for just over $20 with shipping. I will weed it my self to save money.

This bike is low end, I can't reveal what I am working on. It will look good in the end. I'll post when it is complete.
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Old 07-05-20, 10:26 PM
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Graphics arrived and are on the frame. Now I can't hide the low endedness any more. The good thing about such a bike is that I have artistic licence. If this were a Raleigh, I could probably find the decals somewhere, but who would have a Royce Union graphic.



This looks a lot better than the original foil graphics. Maybe too good. If I do it again I would make the letter size a little smaller. I wanted it to look vintage, but with such big letters it looks like a modern bike trying to look vintage. It is not clear coated yet. So this is the just the vinyl on top of the paint.
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Old 07-06-20, 06:56 AM
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Looks great Velo Mule!
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Old 07-06-20, 09:00 AM
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...those are really nice work for 20 bucks. I might do something like that for the Michael Johnson frame I have here. Thanks.
Is that with a clear overcoat of urethane sprayed on ? Or is it something else ?
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Old 07-08-20, 02:39 AM
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I cant post links yet, but if you search youtube for "How to print uci certification on a bike like a pro", you can find how to make water slide decals, and tips for your clear coat over it.
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Old 09-06-20, 07:47 AM
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Those are really nice work! Hope I can do something similar with my cricut machine.
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Old 09-06-20, 12:21 PM
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Assuming one has a professional ink-jet printer with archival ink, what types of media would be suitable for a bike frame?
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Old 12-13-20, 08:08 PM
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There would be pretty good staying power for any vinyl sticker topvinylcutters.com. You might even think about grabbing a clear coat spray can to clear the coat over it. I've never done that before and I don't know if it really works. And it might make the post too thick to fit back into the seat tube if it did (I guess you could clear over just the decal and leave any part or the seat post that is inside the seat tube alone)..

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Old 12-13-20, 08:32 PM
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Originally Posted by gugie
Cheap and fast? https://diylettering.com/ is my go-to for rub on vinyl.

Gugie,
Those are nice....What type of files do you send them....can they convert a high-quality PDF and scale to the correct size, etc?
Best, Ben
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Old 12-13-20, 08:45 PM
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Originally Posted by xiaoman1
Gugie,
Those are nice....What type of files do you send them....can they convert a high-quality PDF and scale to the correct size, etc?
Best, Ben
I've sent them a PDF for other work, but both scripts are available as fonts at their site.
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Old 12-13-20, 10:25 PM
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Originally Posted by wowzow
Search youtube for "How to print uci certification on a bike like a pro."
Interesting. Hans uses a heat press and a special cutter to make his water slides.


​​​​​​
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Old 12-13-20, 11:21 PM
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I have made my own waterslide decals a few times. Not all that difficult to do but hard to get really good results. Considering how much it costs to paint a frame/fork set, I wonder at the wisdom of using home made decals or stickers, unless you know what you are doing and have the equipment to do it properly. Anyway, a couple of home made water slide decals that I made up years ago...

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Old 12-14-20, 03:44 AM
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A while ago for fun I made a bunch of these. I used an ink-jet printer on decal paper from the hobby shop, sold for plastic models. When I put the first coat of clear on it it ran - the red in particular; next one I will go *very* light coats to see if that will help. I would probably also run a marker along the edge (before applying) to get rid of the white rim. This is on powdercoat, it stuck just fine:


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Old 12-14-20, 06:54 AM
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Originally Posted by randyjawa
I have made my own waterslide decals a few times. Not all that difficult to do but hard to get really good results. Considering how much it costs to paint a frame/fork set, I wonder at the wisdom of using home made decals or stickers, unless you know what you are doing and have the equipment to do it properly. Anyway, a couple of home made water slide decals that I made up years ago...
How or on what sort of printer do you print or make your own waterslide decals?
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