Last weekend didn't work out for much on bikes. And today I couldn't work on the trike so I took off the decals.
There are several references to removing decals from bikes on the internet and articles here too. I think I found this one the most helpful;
http://www.instructables.com/community/Removing-Bicycle-Decals/
I decided I would just go out and be ready to try them all! And if that failed, well then it I'd just take it to Seattle Powdercoat and start over.
I got a heat gun at home depot... Plastic razor blades and a serious holder at NAPA.. A whimsy holder at Fred Mayer... Some WD-40 and a few clean rags... And a wheel erasers with mandrel from NAPA....
I left the sandpaper on the shelf to start with but I was ready with power tools and and several grits, although I suppose that would have been silly. The powder coater would take to bare metal.
I started with the least expensive set of solutions... The heat gun, cheap razor holder and a plastic razor...
I have used a heat gun to strip paint from window frames in the past so I was pretty familiar with it. BUT I timed what I did. I used the heat gun on high with a back and forth motion for approximately two minutes on the decal. The aluminum was pretty conductive so it took more time than I thought it would and would probably take less on steel. I also noticed that when it was about the right temperature if you looked REALLY close you could see the adhesive on the edge oozing a bit.
The first one I tried I simply lifted the edge with my thumb nail and it peeled right off! But to be honest I started on one that looked like it was an after thought when they put it on, in fact the edge was already kind of lifted and it was a small one.
The next one was a bit bigger and here you can see how close I was holding the heat gun. Basically if I couldn't see the refection of the hot coils I was too far away. I'd say I waved it back and forth over the decal about an inch high and for about two minutes.
My thumb nail didn't lift an edge but the plastic razor sure did...
From there it was just heat, lift the edge with the plastic razor and peel off all in one piece. There is a critical temperature. If you're not hot enough they still stick and you have to tug and scrape. Instead of doing that just a bit more heat seemed to always do the trick!
10 minutes later and all the decals were off and there wasn't even a lot of residue.
I think all but the velocity stickers on the wheels came off in one piece. Those were tough, and probably took a much time as all the rest put together. I think I was being shy about getting to critical temperature because I was worried about those 29x2.35 big apples. I did ruin the cheap holder on the wheels too. I think if I did it again I could avoid that and not have had to use the $8 holder.
I'm a little disappointed that there was not reason to use the wheel eraser a fact I'm sure I'll get over when I return them unused and get my $50 back.
It took two and some places three applications of WD-40 and a little elbow grease with a clean rag to get the residue off. Again most of the work was for the two wheel stickers.
My son was so proud of my efforts that he even made dinner! Smoked ham and brie sandwiches with garden fresh spinach and some honey crisp apple... I think I like taking decals off....
FUN!
