Trek decal opinion
 

When I ordered new decals I had the option of large ,9” or small 8”. I wasn’t sure so I chose the 9”. I think they look to big, what do you guys think? I did go ahead and ordered the 8” yesterday just in case. Thanks
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1a51d27f6.jpeg

Yours certainly looks larger than the one on my old 710.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8d947cfe7.jpeg

Unless a person is well versed in a particular brand's decals, they're not really going to know. It looks like a Trek to me. I don't know any better. This thread is very timely and helpful to me because........I have a Trek I need to order decals for. I'll see what the people say and order or not. What type and thickness did you order? That's what has kept me from ordering so far. I don't know which ones to get.

I think it's fine too. It's not like you put modern Trek decals on it, or another brand. :)

Honestly, the new Trek decal makes the 531 decals look old and faded. Now those need to replaced as well.

Stop it, enablers like you are why we all have problems!😀

One of the reasons not to repaint your bike! all the parts that go on might look shabby if they are the same ones and not NOS.

I have a shiny, new Ishiwata 22 decal for my Trek. It's still in the envelope it arrived in waiting for me to order decals. That was a year or 2 ago. :D Another problem I have is no fine motor skills in my hands. If I try to put a decal on, I'll fudge it up. One of my best looking bikes has no decals. Only the tubing sticker.

I kinda like the worn 531 decals.

Seriously, they always look screwed-up and kinda ancient. :p Would be weird to see one with clear, shiny graphics.

I didn’t paint this one. Someone stuck a decal from the 80’s on it, but the misleading decal was why I got the frame so cheap.

I think you've got the right ones- here's my 78 TX700

https://live.staticflickr.com/7820/4...85ee650c_h.jpgTX700Built1 by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr

I think the photo in post #1 shows a decal that well fills the open area on the seat tube. :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

For that size frame, I think the decal looks fine, although the smaller one would look okay too. If the frame were any smaller, I would want the smaller decal.

My guess is that the smaller decals were for steel frames with 1" top tubes and 1 1/8" down tubes. When tubes got bigger than so did the decals. Maybe, I'm speculating here. Manufacturers like their name to be as big and visible as possible so they take advantage of more real estate. As a painter these details scream at me. It drives me nuts to see them placed poorly.

Before I apply decals, I place masking tape (or similar) on the frame as a guide to position them exactly so I'm not guessing where they go Some decals don't allow for repositioning, where they touch the frame is where they stay. To help me I use 3/4" aluminum angle bought at the hardware store. This guides my tape or decal to be straight with the tube. I also use a split tube with a squared end to align decals directly across from each other. Tape and these tools takes all the guess work out of decal placement.

I have a selection of half tubes that started out with a wall thickness of .058". That makes them fit perfectly over a tube with a ø 1/8" smaller. I either square the end (before is split it in 2) with my lathe or belt sander.

Nice bike! I think they look good. When I redid mine, didn’t know there were 2 sizes, right or wrong I’m not changing them.
Tim

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e858d7f7d.jpeg

What is the most important thing to consider is "are you comfortable with them?" If yes, no issue. If no, change them. That is how I roll every time now. Sadly, such errors in my own judgement always cost me in cash, time and frustration. However, at the end of the day, only I must be satisfied.

When I replaced the decals on my 510 recently, I had the same question. Thinking that the "small" 8" decals must have been for the 19" and 21" frames, and the 9" decals for the larger ones, I went with the 9". Even on a 25.5" frame, it looked a touch large. But I didn't have anything to go by. It took a little getting used to, but I thankfully don't think about it any more--not that I am the person to just "walk it off" as some things will always get to me, but in this case, what was done was done, and it didn't look bad. So now it's part of the woodwork.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...97424d4f62.jpg

Looks fine. I should order some classic Trek decals to replace the originals on my 1993 Trek 5900 OCLV. Great bike. U G L Y decals. Some sorta weird brownish-goldish lettering with white highlights, inconsistently used, different fonts that don't go together, and indifferently overlapping alpha-numeric characters. It's like Trek contracted with the world's finest builder of monocoque carbon fiber frames, spared no expense on the lightest titanium components... and then let someone's grade school kid design the decals.

I couldn’t handle it, it bothered me too much so I switched to the smaller decal. I think it’s much better.




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I agree. With smaller diameter tubes, the smaller letters look better. Those details are very noticeable to me. I"m repeating my self but I think those larger letter decals were for later frames that were built with larger ø tubes. I'm also glad to see that you understood to place the decals between the top of the big ring and the bottom of the seat lug. Some that are new to decal placement put them in the middle of the seat tube and then they look too low when the bicycle is assembled.

My brother-in-law lives in Fairmount and rides his custom Doug Fattic bicycle often. Fairmount can't be too far from you.

I'm going to ask again since this is a decal thread. Velocals has 2mm vinyl, 1mm vinyl, and Waterslide ultra thin film. Glossy, low gloss and clear Matte laminate finish as well. Would somebody in the know go over why you would use one over the others, please?

Thanks in advance.

I like to use the 1 mil glossy. They look closest to what the original decals looked like new, IMHO.
And yeah, I used the big ones. I like em either way. :)
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5bd916268b.jpg