Vinyl Graphics

Lonerider59

Lonerider59

Wizard
Visit site
Over the past half dozen or so years I have discovered several vinyl, graphic companies on the internet that make graphics so precise and well colored, not to speak of the extremely thin material that it's almost impossible to distinguish them from custom paint. Every time I think I've seen the best, a new one comes along that has something a little more out of the ordinary or has colors never seen before. I has dressed my last five bikes ingraphics to set them apart from the hundreds of other bikes just like the one I had. It allows the owner to personalize without making changes that can't be easily reversed. Most vinyl graphics can be removed in just a few minutes, leaving no sign they were ever there. They are so good if you use them correctly that most people will swear they are paint. I had a dealer in Jackson, Mississippi try to walk around warrantying a tail light lense because he said whoever painter my fender must have broken the lense taking it off. Then I instructed him that the graphics were vinyl decals, not paint. He had to eat a litle crow. I highly recommend vinyl to dress up any bike. It's inexpensive, the possibilities are endless, and you can easily do your own design and installation. Just do a searh for vinyl graphics and you'll come up with all kinds of companies out there. I'll show a small job I did to my FZ1 while at our rented condo in Gulf Shores. It took about ten minutes to do both sides of the tank. In case you want to know, the lettering is "Wizard".
 
That looks really good. What is the name of the website? I use a decal place called Fastdecals.com They also make quality graphics. A while back when I had my 150cc scooter, I was going to do a Dale Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Theme, thank God I held off. They made all the decals right to size which I still have in the tube. I sold the bike and Jr. switched teams.

Do you know how many years UV protection you get from the decal? The ones I have are supposed to give you 6 to 8 years prolonged exposure. If garage kept, probably alot longer.
 
The little guy, the wizard, came from edecals.com and the lettering came from immortalgraphix.com. Another great site is Ihotrod.com and I've used them for several cars too. They probably have the most sophisticated color combinations but are a bit more expensive. I think most decals are good for at least five years. I've had them on a couple bikes for three and four years and saw no appreciable decay in the color or quality of the vinyl itself.

By the way, are we the only people on her.

Don
 
Decals

Lonerider59 said:
The little guy, the wizard, came from edecals.com and the lettering came from immortalgraphix.com. Another great site is Ihotrod.com and I've used them for several cars too. They probably have the most sophisticated color combinations but are a bit more expensive. I think most decals are good for at least five years. I've had them on a couple bikes for three and four years and saw no appreciable decay in the color or quality of the vinyl itself.

By the way, are we the only people on her.

Don
Click to expand...

Thanks for the great tip on decals Don. I am going to try it on my 2003 FZ1. Nice to know you don't have to go the paint route to customize your bike. Tom
 
If you've never done the decal thing before, you might want to order an extra decal just to use as a test piece. For the bigger decals I usually use a mixture of about 8 to 10 oz. of distilled water 1/4 teaspoon of alcohol and 1 drop of dishwashing detergent. All you have to do is use a fine spray mist and give whatever you are going to apply the decals to a little mist. This will allows you to move the decal around a little before you finalize pressing out the moisture and press the decal down. Once you get a handle on the process, you can use the dry method. The worst thing is to get a fold in the decal or a big air bubble in it. Never give up because it is possible to remove it if it's not right but you have to be careful not to stretch it. Make absolute sure the surface is clean. Directions usually come with them and if you follow them and take your time, you'll be fine.
 
FZ1riderNY said:
I often say that myself. A little more participation is in order!
Click to expand...

I totally agree +2

As one who is getting ready (more like researching and preparing for the onslaught) can/do you put a clearcoat over these or just apply them on top?

Preparing to paint my bike, and these would be a great alternative (well DUH!) since I truly have no artistic ability, air brushing skills, yada yada, when it comes to doing something decrovative. I can work with solid colors and use masking for linear designs, but that is about the best of it (or that is what I'm going to try to do anyway :D )

BroHay
 
BroHay said:
I totally agree [SIZE=\"5\"]+2[/SIZE]

As one who is getting ready (more like researching and preparing for the onslaught) can/do you put a clearcoat over these or just apply them on top?

Preparing to paint my bike, and these would be a great alternative (well DUH!) since I truly have no artistic ability, air brushing skills, yada yada, when it comes to doing something decrovative. I can work with solid colors and use masking for linear designs, but that is about the best of it (or that is what I'm going to try to do anyway :D )

BroHay
Click to expand...

anybody got any input on above?

BroHay
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top