Robvolz 

You know how every year you get your license plate tags and stick them over the old tags until they’re stacked up several deep?

Well, sweetie’s Cinelli has a short Campy seat post and several years of Fairbanks Alaska bicycle license, 1974 to 77 I guess.

What is strong enough to remove these decals but not harsh enough to remove the anodization?

As always, I thank you for your expertise

robert

spclark 

Hair dryer and patience.

You may find some adhesive residue left behind, which typically will soften up with WD-40 or even olive oil, neither of which will affect the anodizing.

Robvolz 

I have a warming drawer. gonna try that.

thanks

merziac

I wouldn't, if it gets very warm it might smoke the stickers and foul the warmer.

Stout plastic scraper, heat and oldschool nasty carburetor cleaner, Berrymans, Gunk or Motorcraft PM2 non evaporating, foamy kind, use it outside only.

Get some of the sticker scraped off and soak with cleaner, still takes work, patience and elbow grease.

Let the cleaner do the work and it comes off easier.

You can't hurt the anodizing with anything that you can work with but gloves, mask and eye protection are prudent.

Piff 

I used a hair dryer and a plastic bottle cap to remove some very stuck and very old reflective tape from a frame. Worked great!

merziac

Yep heat and a stout scraper will do the trick, add nasty chemical when it can't hurt and make very short work of it.

Steel Charlie

Hairdryer, absolutely! Way easy and clean

merziac

Nothing most of us have will affect the anodizing except oven cleaner or lye which I hope none would try to use on stickers of any sort.

Bad Lag

Try acetone. It's guaranteed not to hurt the anodic coating. It will eat the adhesive starting RIGHT NOW!

Consider a spray of WD-40 or some other protectant when done, as acetone will strip away any and all oils and greases leaving the bare steel fittings vulnerable.

SurferRosa

It's not anodized. And don't ya have to polish it anyway?

repechage

Heat should activate the adhesive, these are stickers, not decals.
a judicious use of a propane torch should do the trick, a wood scraper fashioned from a gallon paint stirring stick.
acetone most likely for the remaining adhesive.

Robvolz 

It’s not like I don’t have hair, I just towel dry.

Anyway, I used the warming drawer and got several years off.


I’m sure by tomorrow I’ll get the rest.

thanks for the tips

thinktubes 

If you remove those, Dudley Do-Right going to darken your doorstep

zandoval 

Come on Rob, that seat post is looking pretty beat up to begin with... Ha

Hair Drier and a fingernail is the ticket.

I would probably leave the oldest one on there.

chain_whipped

Are you the fellow with the badger? Put some peanut butter on it and let him go at it.

P!N20

I reckon a splash of that Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve would remove the tags, treat the corrosion and leave a mirror finish all in one hit!

Chuck M 

I feel like it is 7 years bad luck to remove an old bicycle license sticker. But if I was going to remove that, I don't think I would worry about trying to remove it with the care one would take restoring a priceless work of art. That post has more problems than the stickers and polishing them out will correct any sins committed from sticker removal.

Pompiere

I found these plastic razor blades that fit any single-edge razor blade holder. They have a thin sharp edge and they don't scratch like a metal razor blade, so they are great for removing decals from fragile surfaces. I used them to remove a bunch of stickers that the previous owner had left on my fiberglass body camper. They are double edged, so you can flip the blade over when one side gets dull. https://www.menards.com/main/tools/h....htm?exp=false

repechage

and food will taste of Alaska license sticker for a fortnight.

Mr. 66

I would torch it lightly and it will just peal off, I would do this if it was painted surface as well. The glue softens at temperature much lower than the level of paint damage. The torch can also clean some of the stubborn crap off the post.

Robvolz 

Since it's for a Cinelli, its an odd size; 26.2. Those are hard to find.

I'm building this not to win restoration awards, but leaving scratches and chips to be the all-around touring bike like it was meant to be.

Kind of like Rich's Cinelli. Just the right amount of patina.

The heat method worked. And thanks for the tip on plastic razor blades. That will help with residue.
Robert

Robvolz 

No longer licensed in Alaska

Rick_D

We used aluminum foil and Drano powder to make hydrogen balloons as kids. I'll be it would make a seatpost bubble, too!

Removed a decade of license plate stickers with a putty knife on a warm day, but unlike a seatpost the license plate is quite flat. This sounds trickier, but heat, patience and perhaps a plastic scraper should coax them free.

Robvolz 

Look up one post ^^^
And yes, your advice is exactly what was used.

Thank you.

madpogue 

Water under the bridge, but -- who doesn't have a heat gun?

Caveat fingernail-user - those little shards can hurt getting caught under (not that I'd know firsthand..... er.....).

(BTW, what purpose is served by affixing a registration decal to a removeable part? An especially handy-to-remove part at that?)