An idiots guide to building a bike

Or........A guide to building an idiots bike

 

Part two: Decals

Rule # 57: No stickers -
 

Nobody gives a shit what causes you support, what war you’re against, what gear you buy, or what year you rode x,y & z See Rule #5 and ride your bike. Decals, on the other hand, are not only permissible, but extremely Pro.

 

So ensuring that I obey the rules I set about designing myself some decals for the new frame (they are definitely not stickers).

 

The decals have gained inspiration from several sources:

• 5 four..3 - A spin on the Longitude and Latitude that this blog gets its name from.
• Legs speak louder... & It's all about the bike - Paying homage to the Velominati rules and its disdain for a certain famous, now disgraced, multi Tour de France winner.
• Ride 'till the bell tolls - a play on - 'Weekends are like recess for adults so play hard until the bell rings'  with a twist on mortality - Not sure who the original quote is from.
• Hydrocross was the obvious (to me) amalgamation of hydraulic (brake) hydrocarbon (oil and carbon) cross (cyclocross and everything else crossed into the bike). When you see what else I have in mind for this bike you'll possibly understand the 'cross' bit.
• Various other inspirations long forgotten but still in my head.

After a few weeks of messing around with various art work packages, confirming that some ideas were far too cheesy with Alan, my cycling style guru, and sticking paper proofs on the frame, this is what I came up with:

 

 

My next problem, getting someone to make them!

I sent the proof to some local vinyl decal suppliers and a few Internet suppliers. I got a few replies and initially went with the first to reply. After a week or two of endless questions from the supplier they still hadn't given me a price! I tried a local supplier who had responded, they obviously didn't want the job as they were as help full as..... well they just weren't. So finally I went with an Internet supplier who's price was fairly high but communications were great.

http://www.vinyllettering.co.uk/

I'm glad I did, my feeble attempt at designing looked good on paper, however the vinyl cutting software had different thoughts (probably why no one else would have a go!) Nick at vinyl lettering had to redraw the design again to get it right and then send the proofs back for me to approve. Even then the design in places is fiddly to say the least and took a fair amount of work to get right.

Applying the decals with the backing paper.

 

Thats 54..3 or 54 North 3 West. Latitude and Longditude of West Cumbria.

The finished article, I'm biased but it does look cool... to me.

So what I thought would be the easy bit, actually getting the decals, ended up a long winded affair but worth it. They are supplied in a three layer sandwich with the decal in the middle. After positioning each one in turn you remove the base paper and apply with the top paper still in place. After giving it all a good rub then the top paper is removed to reveal the decal.

So this is the frame ready to start building, the only second hand bit will be an old carbon seat post I have, everything else will be new. Hopefully some will turn up with a man with a beard on the back of a sleigh next week. (Yes........... my Dad's coming for Christmas!!)