De-decal'ing a GS

[Ken H.]

A while back there was a thread on taking off the decals on RTs and how a lot of people liked the cleaner look. I did ours at the time.

 

As part of repairing my 'oops', one side for our GS came without the "R1200" decal above the embossed "GS". I like the look! Time to get out the hair dryer for the other ones!

 

[steve.foote]

I like it.

[Tasker]

Ken, tell me about your seat...

[Ken H.]

Ken, tell me about your seat...

- Seat thread here.

[Tool Man]

Ken...I like the look too

 

Looked at your seat thread. I don't know if I'd lower the pegs...mine are getting shorter by the ride now and the brake lever hasn't got a radius to it anymore either.

 

Have you done anything for a back rest for Donna yet?

Steve at CB has your pics and my thoughts, but I haven't heard from him yet. Kerin says " I'm waiting for my backrest before I get on that thing."

 

Did I tell you that I like the color

 

Mikey

[mark5lam]

What is the best way to remove these stickers from the plastic parts of the bike?

 

I removed one sticker from the tank (the ugly silver helmet warning sticker) in the most difficult and risky way I could think of. I use WD-40 and a razor. Yes, I know, how did I do that without scraping the paint off the tank? Very carfully. It was a pain in the arse to keep the blade on the glue and in-between the tank paint and the sticker. It was one tough sticker. It came off in little peices and although I did it without damaging the tank, I wouldn't recomment that process, even to someone I don't like.

I know you can use heat (blowdryer or heatgun) but the sticker was so thick and strong I thought I'd have to use much heat to lossen it up and was worried that would damage the paint and or the plastic parts of the bike.

 

I still have the octaine sticker on the gas cap I'd like to remove as well as the sticker on the wind screen. What is the best way to get these off?

[H C Edwards]

Mark

I used a hair dryer and a little plastic scraper thingy my wife had bought for scraping teflon cooking pans without damaging them. It worked very well, and took maybe 15 minutes for both the stickers on top of the tank. A spritz of WD40 quickly removed what was left of the adhesive. You can't tell the stickers were ever there.

[Ken H.]

I use WD-40 and a razor.

Yikes! You've got more courage (or manual dexterity) than I do!

 

Heat gun - no, too much potential to soften or burn the paint. Hair dryer - yes. It takes surprisingly little heat to soften the stickers' adhesive. You actually run the risk of overheating them to where the sticker itself melts, deforms, and tears off in tiny pieces. Rather, just a quick (5 second?) hit with the dryer on one edge, start it coming up with your finger nail, hit it again and gently pull a bit more, hit it again... You quickly figure out how much heat is enough to release it and how much softens the sticker too much and it just stretches and breaks.

 

Once the initial plastic top layer is off, use mineral spirits to quickly dissolve the remaining adhesive.

[Emoto]

Some of the GS stickers are brutal to remove. Far worse than conventional stickers on other brands of bike. If you don't have the special pot scraper, I found that one of those fake credit cards they send you in the mail to make you think their offer is important works very well.

[Scott A]

I found a unlikely tool that did a great job of removing the servo brake warning sticker on my gas tank - a Warner brand paint guide. It's a long, thin blade for edging paint. It got right under the sticker and lifted it without doing anything at all to the clearcoat. FWIW

[Tasker]

Yeah, that looks nice!

 

Off with my stickers!

 

And yes, Ken, it is illegal to wash your GS. For the love of God, go find some mud!

 

And BTW, I think the seat looks good!

 

I think I've decided to have a Bill Mayer built this winter.