Decals....What would you do?

[SkipdiverJohn]

It's certainly a nice looker with that paint finish, and I would have been grinning like a Cheshire cat if I had got that in a straight swap for a Raleigh Pioneer, even though I'm a fan of them too.
Patina is fine up to a point, but to my mind when decals deteriorate too much, they start to draw the eye to them for the wrong reasons, plus those are very much of the 80's and haven't dated that well IMHO, whereas the frame is stunning and timeless in appearance.
I don't think the degraded decals do anything to enhance the bike, hence I would take them off and run it with just the Orbit headbadge and Reynolds transfers retained.

 

[weareHKR]

It's certainly a nice looker with that paint finish, and I would have been grinning like a Cheshire cat if I had got that in a straight swap for a Raleigh Pioneer, even though I'm a fan of them too.
Patina is fine up to a point, but to my mind when decals deteriorate too much, they start to draw the eye to them for the wrong reasons

Totally agree with this... ☝️

plus those are very much of the 80's and haven't dated that well IMHO.
I don't think the degraded decals do anything to enhance the bike, hence I would take them off and run it with just the Orbit headbadge and Reynolds transfers retained.

But not this...☝️

I would definitely strip it down to the frame, give it a gentle T-cut to bring the colour out & then apply some fresh repo decals, from (Retrodecals.com) it'll look stunning ... 🙂

 

[si_c]

I'm in the leave it as is camp definitely. That's a beautiful bike as is.

The only thing I'd be tempted to do would be to put a good clear coat over the top to help stop any further deterioration.

 

[Spiderweb]

As I mentioned earlier, I think for now I will leave as is, I may replace in the future but would use exact replica decals from H Lloyd. @SkipdiverJohn they are a dated 80’s style but I like that, it is an 80’s bike after all and I’d like to keep it looking original. Some time ago I replaced the brake levers as the rubber hoods had perished, I used aero levers but now wish I’d kept the original non aero with the cables popping up above the handlebars.

Thank you everyone for all the advise.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Not really a fan of aero levers myself, especially not on a touring bike where speed is not the primary design criteria. Given the rider is a lot bulkier than a brake cable and is positioned immediately behind the bars I would say any drag reduction from using them is largely imaginary rather than real anyway. Can yours be used conventionally connected with the cable out of the top or are they aero-only?
Would Orbit have built the frame themselves or did they contract out their frame building? If so to who? The fabrication has a very neat and well finished appearance, looks the equal of any similar Raleigh or Dawes 531 frame. I'd certainly be happy to own one.

 

[Spiderweb]

Not really a fan of aero levers myself, especially not on a touring bike where speed is not the primary design criteria. Given the rider is a lot bulkier than a brake cable and is positioned immediately behind the bars I would say any drag reduction from using them is largely imaginary rather than real anyway. Can yours be used conventionally connected with the cable out of the top or are they aero-only?
Would Orbit have built the frame themselves or did they contract out their frame building? If so to who? The fabrication has a very neat and well finished appearance, looks the equal of any similar Raleigh or Dawes 531 frame. I'd certainly be happy to own one.

No they are specifically aero levers so no cable exit holes out of the top.
I understand at the time when Andy Thompson worked at Orbit they still made their own frames in house, although I stand to be corrected if anyone knows any other info.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Wasn't he the bloke who went to Falcon when it was in the process of winding down? I wonder if there's any connection between the two makers? The seat stay junction looks rather similar to some 531 Falcon frames to my eyes.
I suppose ultimately it doesn't really matter who the actual fabricator was, but it's clear whoever designed those frames certainly cared about their finished appearance.

 

[Spiderweb]

Wasn't he the bloke who went to Falcon when it was in the process of winding down? I wonder if there's any connection between the two makers? The seat stay junction looks rather similar to some 531 Falcon frames to my eyes.
I suppose ultimately it doesn't really matter who the actual fabricator was, but it's clear whoever designed those frames certainly cared about their finished appearance.

Yes, he first set up on his Own, Thompson Bicycle Company (headbadge TBC as below) but use the same style tube decals as on my bike. At some time he moved to Falcon to assist with their winding up.
I think he still posts on Retro Bike under the name ‘Featch’, this is where I’ve found most of my info.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Just seen this and had to say how gorgeous that bike looks

and proper gears to - not these namby pamby indexed levers on the bar!!!

 

[Gravity Aided]

I can only state that when I ran into this problem, I found one of those single edge razor blade holders painters use, and fitted some plastic single edge razor blades to it, and they did a good job of removing the decals without scratching the paint.