I want to remove the decals from my bike

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Revision as of 22:38, 22 May 2008 by Bokonon (talk | contribs)
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The older the bike, the harder it is to remove the decals. On new bikes they will peel right off. On older bikes a hair dryer or heat gun will help soften the sticker. Be patient and re-apply heat as needed. Most likely it will leave some glue residue. WD-40, Goo Gone or turpentine will help remove the residue. Follow with a good coat of cleaner/wax.

About the tank: If you're trying to take the decals off the tank, be aware that they're underneath the paint's clear coat and are not going to come off without a fight. Your options are:

  • Sand the clear coat off over the decal, remove the decal, try to touch up the paint, then reapply clear coat. Will probably end up looking much worse than whatever decal you were trying to remove in the first place.
  • Repaint the entire tank. See the Painting section of Bodywork & Frame.
  • Get a bigger sticker and put it over the one that's there. This has the advantage of being able to be changed from time to time.

A Goo Gone testimonial

I've had sticky decal residue on my bike ever since I got it (a year and a half ago) and have tried everything to get it off. Well, apparently ALMOST everything. I had posted a question on how to remove it when I first purchased the bike and received recommendations from gasoline to nail polish remover to WD40 to airplane something or other remover. Nothing worked. Well, I didn't try the airplane something or other remover, but I did try everything else, and they all just made the sticky mess clean.

I'd given up on it until I read a post recently about Goo Gone and I thought to myself, "Self, you HAVE Goo Gone! Why don't you try it?" OK, so I headed over to my bike tonight expecting to be disappointed once again. HOLY CRAP! This stuff WORKS!!! I sprayed it on; it's a gel, so I spread the ooze around and waited for about 10 minutes. I went back with a towel and started wiping. I noticed it had softened the gummy stuff. I wiped some more, then started lightly scraping with my nail behind a towel. WOW! It was coming off! I was so excited! I laid a towel on the garage floor and went to work. 30 minutes later the bane of my existence ever since I'd owned this bike was gone gone gone!!!

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