CB750L Frame Decals

[Maz]

I'm trying to find a supplier for the two decals on the frame of my 1979 CB750L. It appears they are also on the early '80's CB750K, but no one seems to list them.
Here's a picture of the one on the right side, although it's the one on the left that I am after. They are both very similar but I couldn't squeeze down the left side of my bike to take a picture without moving my GL1000 and CB500T!!

Any ideas where I might find them?

Maz

[Truck]

If they are the same for all models I may have a set you can have. I'll have to get home and see what kind of shape they are in.

[Maz]

I appreciate that, Truck.
Maz

[Re-run]

we did have a link to decals in the parts section, but that doesn't mean it still works ot that the seller has them. I will see what I find.

There is a url for knkcycles and they did have some stuff, might not be exact, but might do the trick. Some labels for a 1980.

[Maz]

Thanks, Re-run,

I'll keep searching too. It's not the end of the world, but the one on the left, which gives chain adjustment info, has been torn/scratched and spoils an otherwise lovely looking bike!

Maz

[TOOLS1]

I have had a local sign making shop recreate the decals for some of the bikes I have restored. Just need good pictures and measurements. The shop I used even takes the pictures and measurements themselves. No one has ever been able to tell they were not original.
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[Maz]

That could be an answer. The decal that needs replacing has two vertical strips missing, like it's been scratched with something. I wonder if a local sign shop could 'fill in the blanks'.

Maz

[TOOLS1]

Get pictures from another bike, and they should be able to fill in the blanks.
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[Maz]

I may have to speak nicely to someone on here.....I've yet to come across another CB750 over here that has the same decals!
I know I'm being a bit anal about it, but every time I ride the bike I notice the decal and it really aggravates me!

[18Bravo]

I have one I don't care about. Any ideas on how to get them off in one piece?  Maybe a blow dryer? None of my previous attempt to remove one all in one shot have been successful, although I've been close.

[Re-run]

Instead of removing it, maybe take a hi-rez pic of it so the color and words come through well. The use thin paper(tracing paper?) and get the outline of the decal. Maybe with that, a place could get the exact dimensions and make a replica that looks virtually identical. Maybe?

[18Bravo]

After looking at mine and seeing how faded it is, I think a copy would be the best option. It's easy to do.
I recently copied some graphics off of my bike to put on a helmet doing exactly that - tracing.  Well, sort of...





Then I took it to FastSigns, and they were able to laser cut vinyl exactly to the size I wanted. I had to do the red myself with a sheet of vinyl, but the numbers look exactly like the original:



Here's your sticker:



 If you go this route you might want to enrich the color, as it was surely darker. I don't know if FastSigns can do the lettering, but if they can - great.  I copied a bunch of sites out of a magazine earlier this month that I thought I might need to redo the graphics on my CB500T tank and some other projects. You can see one of them in the rubbing. It's www.atik-graphics.com. Unfortunately in the UK.
When FastSigns did my job, it cost the same to do eight numbers as it did for one. The setup is what costs the most. So... you may want to do multiples so you can sell them to the next guys with the same problem.

[Maz]

Thanks 18Bravo. Using a combination of these ideas, I think I will be able to get a very reasonable copy. Atik Graphics are a hundred or so miles from me....I guess what you guys would class as "Just round the corner".
Maz

[18Bravo]

I hope it works out. I had forgotten you're in the UK, so that is fortunate. I think somehow I assumed no CB500T's were sold outside of the US. And yeah, a hundred miles is nothing. I live in Texas, and driving from the Panhandle region to Dallas is about the same as when I rode from Berlin to Bremerhaven to take the ferry to Harwich. (It looks like you're about ten miles from my ex girlfriend's town of Oxted)
Do post photos of the results.

[Maz]

Will do.

Out of interest, I ride through Oxted once a year, on way to an annual VJMC bike display that we put on at Box Hill. The only thing I know about Oxted is that there's an impressive old iron-lattice rail bridge that runs over the main road!! I never was a great one for local(ish) history!

Maz

[18Bravo]

Maz,
This will interest no one else but you, but it is motorcycle related.
I arrived in Berlin in the fall of 1984. Thankfully I waited until that year to read George Orwell's 1984. Contrary to what people believed, that book was absolutely correct, if you happened to visit East Berlin, which I did on a regular basis.
My first girlfriend was an Au Pair from the UK.  She went home for Christmas and mentioned offhandedly it would be nice if I could visit. I thought nothing of it, thinking I would surely not qualify for leave so soon after arriving, but at the last minute I did. I rode my bike, a VF750C, to Bremerhaven, and took the ferry to Harwich. From there it was mainly the M25 to Oxted, and foggy as hell. Not to mention I was driving on the wrong side of the road. :)
I arrived in Oxted, and as I had no address or phone number, went to the butcher who was still open, although it was dark by then.  This is how small Oxted was:  I asked if he knew where the Hughs lived, and he gave me perfectly clear instructions to their house about four blocks away.  Of course, while I was turning the bike around in front of their house, I almost got run over in the fog.
It turned out to be most interesting Christmas. We visited her grandmother in Southampton, whose fairly large house had been occupied by the Americans during the war. So needless to say I was not well liked at first, but... I learned about boxing day, flipping the telly to the other side, what bollockes meant, and not to say "I'm stuffed" at the dinner table.

[Maz]

You're right....I do  find it interesting!
On the original 'Decal' subject, I have sent you a private message/email. On the subject of your visit to England, I feel sorry for you that you had to experience the M25, although in '84 it wasn't quite complete and there were a lot fewer vehicles using it than there are today! It is constantly being widened to accommodate the growing traffic and most parts of it suffer from daily closures due to accidents/wrecks.
Your brief story has given me an idea to start a new thread - I'd love to know how Britain and the Brits are perceived in the US / Canada or anywhere else for that matter, be it by what you see on the TV, or personal knowledge, so I thought I'd start a thread where we can share our experiences/perceptions/beliefs of each other. Even the little things like different meanings of words or local slang (your "bollocks" example is a good start!).

What do you (or anyone else reading this) think?

Maz

[TOOLS1]

I'm curios as to why you cannot say "I'm stuffed" at the dinner table?
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[Maz]

I think that has now become more acceptable, albeit a bit slang. It does (did) have another meaning too..... To be stuffed means to be f**ked!
I always say I'm stuffed, when I've eaten too much and no one has complained yet. Mind you, I don't keep particularly high-class company!!

Maz