[Closed] De-badging anyone?

I couldn't tell you if my bike or any of its components have writing on them.

Maybe you have a hormonal imbalance?

I use a natural selection based approach - mud sticks to some bits, not others. It's a bike, not an art work or a personal statement.

My road bikes wheels are de-stickered (stans alpha rims).

Look much better IMO. Black rims, silver spokes, black novatech hubs. They look cheep, but in my head I know they're ace. The frame's an entry level CAAD4 from 2004, so the whole thing's a a bit of a sleeper with nothing left to upgrade 🙂

Good stickers/logos stay where they are. Also, sometimes, hard to remove ones. Warning labels tend to go, they annoy me. "Do not fill petrol tank while riding" was a good one on my old Suzuki.

Might do the ones on my Fulcrums, they're kind of horrible.

Don't mind them, within reason. Four decals per Stan's rim is a bit much, for one.

I've got some wheels the previous owner took all the decals off, it annoys me, so I ordered replacements. Those replacements have sat in my toolbox for 6 months, so it doesn't annoy me that much.

I'd never take them off frankly, just not that bothered, but not a big fan of plain things.

Life's too short to worry about bloody stickers. Too busy riding...

I seem to buy cheap frames off on-one where they don't include decals to keep the price down (or haven't fitted them). I've not got round to putting them on.

All Stans rims should be de-stickered.

As an aside, TINAS, I'm considering getting basically that exact wheelset. Where did you get yours and how much, if you don't mind?

All Stans rims should be de-stickered.

+1.

On my Canfield I rubbed off the top tube and downtube decalling, I much prefer it and it was easy. The headtube badge stays.

In general I think too much bling disturbs the eye, I prefer less.

I did de-sticker my commuter as the stickers looked crap and came off easily, now it's all stealthy black with zero logos. While I liked it to start with, I'm now starting to feel the need to add something again, I might just opt for some Hi-viz type stickers / Tape as it's a commuter and I like not being run over so much...

I don't really go out of my way to de-sticker any of my other bikes but I've not added any extra stickers to a bike since the mid 90s... I'm sure stickers used to be much cooler in the late 80s - early 90s...

Actually having thought about it, I'm going to get my eldest to sticker the crap out of all my bikes now, she'll absolutely love it and I reckon the inevitable collection of sparkly Fairies, Stars, Rainbows, Ballet dancing mice, and various random children's TV characters should deter any would be thief...

Some things do look better de-stickered. My frame was powdercoated black ten years ago and remains plain black. The stickers were removed from my Mavics because I didn't like yellow much at the time. Kinda hard to remove labels from tyres, bars seatposts cranks etc though.

@blackmount
Life's too short to worry about bloody stickers. Too busy riding...

@thepurist
I use a natural selection based approach - mud sticks to some bits, not others. It's a bike, not an art work or a personal statement.

Pithy, both. But surely bikes can be all those things? And when not riding, then thinking about and tinkering with bikes doesn't make life too short, but more enriching if you like bikes? There are times, surely, when one isn't riding (and posting on the internet about bikes instead)?

Have destickered in the past - a night shift, nothing else to do, went for it.
Have had a few frames I didn't bother stickering up. (1 respray, 2 came naked with stickers separate)
If I got one of the logotastic road bikes on a cheap deal I'd have to remove them, look horrible

I have no time to pontificate which stickers to leave on my bicycles.
I do however ,have time to mooch about here. 😀

Marzocchi safety disclaimer stickers, even with a hairdrier these are right buggers to get off. I regularly take off stickers I dont like. Need to have a session with Mr. Razor Blade and the wifes Babyliss as both my current bikes need destickering or rehelitaping. I even have mismatched wheels (with prominent logos) on the DH bike, oh the shame...

I wouldn’t de-sticker stuff, but I wouldn’t replace them for new ones either, I don’t Helitape the bike neither. I know someone who colours in their tyre names with a black felt tip pen. Unless they pay him to ride for them. I recently got my daughter to draw a little something on my top tube, to motivate me when the going gets tough, I have thought about letting her loose on the rest of my bike too.

A few years ago, Mrs Yak pointed out that due to the shear number of decals, gaudy writing and silly coloured cables, that my bike looked like a 'small boys trainer'. 😳

Since then I've made a small effort to get rid of any easily removed stickers, but that's about it.

I guess it's different with a road bike but my MTBs are dirty most of the time and I've never really noticed the decals. Removing them might be an interesting exercise if I had the time or the inclination but I don't

@bigbadbob

I have a friend who uses permanent marker to remove the reflective strip in his Schwalbe marathons, but that's purely for aesthetics! Nice to hear about the personalisations, I put a Charlie the Bikemonger sticker on my girlfriend's toptube which reads 'toughen up princess'...i enjoy reminding her of that...

I really wish you could take off the tyre logos, especially on Schwalbe tyres with their stupid names.

kiwijohn - Member

All Stans rims should be de-stickered.

They didn't used to be so bad but the new ones are a) ugly, b) numerous and c) mahoosive. And also d) hard to remove. House!

Tyre logos is where it becomes obvious I have a problem. Kenda do their logos in 2 different sizes, I hate it when one tyre has a massive KENDA and the other has a little KENDA. But that's not as bad as the accursed Continental with their logos the same on both sides, but not quite opposite, so you can't centre them on the valves. DAMN YOU CONTINENTAL!

I recently got my daughter to draw a little something on my top tube

Continental with their logos the same on both sides, but not quite opposite, so you can't centre them on the valves

I'm a bit of a corporate marketing whore, but I never put any additional stickers on the bike (I might have put a couple of subtle ones under the down-tube on my MTB for a bit of stone protection)

Stickers tend to go on tool boxes, or on the back of the man-shed door.

I would like to say I debadged my Surly Troll, but to be honest I was merely finishing off something that the stickers and badge had all to easily done themselves...

Struggle to find time to ride let alone de-brand, also would probably end up stripping paint anodising etc too knowing my cackhandedness. I do remove dealership stickers from my cars however.

Possible good way to deter thieves, unless they're pros.

My AC all mountain wheelset is the most gaudy looking thing you've ever seen...but surprisingly fits in with colour scheme.

I actually asked Cotic if they could provide me with a Soul frame without the headtube badge because I didn't like it!

Taken a couple off my 456 but this was because they were scratched/messy (plus the bike looks nicer without them). This is a Ti frame though so it took less than 5 mins with no paint to knacker.

Took the stickers off the Curtis because they were looking tatty, will get some replacements when I get it resprayed.

£60 'best offer' on Sokin hubs off ebay

The alphas i waited for CRC/wiggle to hve £10 off £75 weekends and ordered them seperately which made them about £65/£70 each.

Spokes/nipples from rose bikes in germany

Built them myself, but the LBS quoted £25/wheel but the spokes had to be from them (£1.20/spoke Vs 65p from germany)

So arround £240.

Building was a PITA, I've only done MTB wheels before and getting soft roadie wheels upto an even tension was a whole lot more difficult. Doable, but took 3 attempts, and even then one spoke loosened up and fell out after 150 miles!

I prefer re-badging.

Santa cruz stickers on a five just confuses people.

I really wish you could take off the tyre logos

Isopropyl alcohol and some elbow grease.

De-stickered my Crest rims as soon as I got them; far too gaudy. Resprayed my (07 model year, so 'grey') fox forks satin black when I serviced them, and didn't redo the stickers, much neater IMO but the Soul frame was resprayed (before I had it) and the decals are under the laquer so they're staying. I must admit, I think I prefer the old-style Cotic decal to the later 'wrap' style one.

[img][url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8380/8476303280_280c5d42c9.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8380/8476303280_280c5d42c9.jp g"/> [/img][/url] [url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/78747112@N04/8476303280/ ]2013-02-15 13.34.48[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/78747112@N04/ ]Uncle Monk[/url], on Flickr[/img]

one frame decal is alright sometimes but other than that I hate Logos on bikes. not much of a fan of colours either

Oh dear, it seems as though I might come across a little sad now.

Taken the stickers off the Prince Albert frame, the Stans rims, the Open Pro rims, left other resprayed HT sans decals, and put a couple of wraps of black leccy tape over the Answer bars. Once you've started...

Now I'm going to see how long I can resist getting the IPA out on the tyres... cheers njee! 🙄

Everything black and 90% of stickers removed.

I'm generally pretty relaxed about this.

I didn't add the supplied decals to my C456 frame because they were gopping. I did design some of my own but in the end decided I liked it unbadged.

The only decals I'd really like to remove are the several hundred bizarre and unnecessary logos and marketing tagnuts on my Focus roadbike. I mean 'Discover freedom' WTF?

If it will come off, it's coming off. Stickers under lacquer vex me.

Isopropyl alcohol and some elbow grease.

Now any ideas how to get my local chemist to sell me IPA and 100ml syringes? (for bleeding brakes) So far they've declined, won't order them in for me either 🙁

Corporate marketing whore <--- 8)

I'll stick my neck out into the breeze here and say that silly stickers and excessive logos are part of what I have ALWAYS loved about MTBing. I love all the silly marketing guff, silly nano-tech-composite-race-spec-high-modulus-for-race-only fluff that goes with our lovely sport - alongside a pinch of salt. It's been with us since the 90s and I LOVE it 😀

My new Yeti ASR5c is a perfect example - alongside all the excessive 'tech logos', it's got a picture of a yeti doing a skid on it. In sunglasses. 😆

I chose my genesis partly because of it's lack of bling, I like the understated, kind of retro look, I think genesis do that well, although some of their more recent colours are a bit gaudy. I really like the primer grey colour for frames.

Cheers for the info, TINAS.

D0NK - Maplin or other electrical place for IPA.

The Epic bleed kits are pretty cheap, you can get the cheapest version if you only want the syringes.

Or you can order them in 100s from online vetinary wholesalers. Or speak nicely to a local vet? They might be a bit more relaxed about these things. Just don't ask them to throw in some special K.

I like stickers, out and proud. I removed the stickers from my new Stans and put new green ones on, plus I put the Hoops decals on.
I blame my dad he wouldn't let me put the battle damage decals on my X-wing when I was a boy.

Stickers under lacquer vex me.

*I take no responsibility for bald patches on your frames (a big bald frame scar still looks way better than some gawdy logo to me though)

Ive counted 21 cannondales on my new errr cannondale.

godzilla - Member

I blame my dad he wouldn't let me put the battle damage decals on my X-wing when I was a boy.

Well you know what to do then, get a white bike and find an x-wing sticker sheet on ebay...

godzilla - Member

I like stickers, out and proud. I removed the stickers from my new Stans and put new green ones on

I've got a set of Slik blue graphics for my Flows to match the frame... Not sure if I will or not, the old decals are nicely careworn even if they don't match. Why does life have to be so hard!!?!oNE

Life's too short to worry about bloody stickers. Too busy riding...

(..... and posting on internet forums)

😀

cheers ned someone else mentioned vets recently, will have to borrow next doors cat for a reason to go in 🙂

How on earth can people afford MTB without all the revenue they get from the advertising stickers? I mean, you ARE all getting revenue for the advertising you're doing right, what with the huge budgets these companies have for advertising?

Yep. I don't like lots of logos.

[img] [/img]

Well you know what to do then, get a white bike and find an x-wing sticker sheet on ebay...

Have a look at buzz-lightyear on here. His tracer 275 hasn't got a part without some sort of embellishment.
Intense must have a 7 year old doing the final finish for them.
(I still think it looks wikked awsum Stew) 😈

I'm not that fussed about decals and stickers to be honest, although they do seem to be getting s,append on more and more.

My last proper stealthy bike was my Demo 9 which only had really small / subtle decals. I then removed the decals from my 888's. it looked alright. My new Rune had quite a few de SL's but they can't be removed, so I'll live with them. My Easton wheels would cause those that hate decals to have palpitations! I don't mind them though.

I'll stick my neck out into the breeze here and say that silly stickers and excessive logos are part of what I have ALWAYS loved about MTBing

+1

I loved the all the old Kona decals and colour schemes.

>Life's too short to worry about bloody stickers. Too busy riding...
(..... and posting on internet forums)<

Got me there.

Each to their own - I look at the bike above and think Chav Corsa 😉

I taped over all the branding on my commuter, in an attempt to make it less of a target for thieves. Not for when it's parked up, as it is out of sight, but for when I'm riding it. It makes it far less risky riding past the local yoofs when they're hanging around. They probably don't know much about bikes, but recognise one of the big brand names from a mile off.

I have removed all stickers from all of my bikes.
Partly aesthetics, look much nicer I think, especially the massive ones on the disc and four-spoke on the TT bike.
Also, if they don't sponsor me why should I advertise them?Unfortunately a lot of frame decals are behind laquer and have to stay, even though I don't like them.
Also, some stickers may look OK when new but scratched and torn ones just look rubbish.

Yep
[img][url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7286/8738231936_2f96c63a19.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7286/8738231936_2f96c63a19.jp g"/> [/img][/url] [url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/91477487@N06/8738231936/ ]Untitled[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/91477487@N06/ ]rickbanks89[/url], on Flickr[/img]

Well this is all very educational. Whenever I see a bike without its stickers on I always assume it has been nicked... 😕

Well this is all very educational. Whenever I see a bike without its stickers on I always assume it has been nicked

generally desticker my bikes to make them less attractive to thieves - or at least so they don't know what to list on ebay 🙂

The hack I use has all the logos on bars , post etc taped over to make it look plain
But the. Other bikes I don't bother with worrying about little things to much and just get on and ride

I ****in hate stickers, or pointless logo's emblazoned all over bikes/frames/components so before i even built my last bike up i removed all the stickers/logos from my Stans rims, Fox Talas forks, Cove Hummer frame. I still have annoying logos on my Easton Haven bars that get on my tits so i'll use that as an excuse to possibly try out the new Thomson TI bars, the logo's on my tyres annoy me as well but i've not found a suitable black marker pen to successfully cover them up yet.

Always destickered all my bikes since my first real mtb back in 91 (marin pine mountain) and my index finger gets itchy when i see a bike covered in logos or stickers.

Some of the worst looking culprits are Lapierre's which we sell in the shop 😕 , some of the road bikes look like they were designed by a 10yr old with an sticker/logo fetish, and the various acronym's touted by the bike industry on frame stickers are just laughable.

I'm convinced the main drive for oversized frames and fancy hydroformed alloy or carbon shaping is an industry led desire for more logo space 😉

Keep it simple, it's a bike not a fashion accessory and no-one is impressed with with a sticker....apart from the 10yr old kid next door that is.

Simple # 1

[img] [/img]

Simple # 2

[img] [/img]

An example of a bad lapierre, there are over 40 logos on this abomination.

[img] [/img]

A quite tasteful ibis build, Personally i'd have destickered the rims and forks but as it was a build we did for a customer i thought better of it.

[img] [/img]

Yep, de - stickered here too:
If it's not under lacquer it usually gets removed.
I've left the pressure guide on the forks, but that's it.

Not yet seen a bike that wasn't improved by the removal of unecessary decals.

I do the same with helmets too - all the 'Giro' nonsense comes off pretty easily.

Debadged the car too (the model name on the boot, not the manufacturers logo's) but the dealers put a new one on when it went in for a service 😐

Stickers too a minimum ideally,also where possible I will polish off screen printed logos/text on ally parts as long as it will not damage the finish.
My Prince Albert sans stickers:-
[IMG] [/IMG]

De-stickered here as well - I just prefer the clean look without any marketing bollocks slapped all over it.

I have been known to absent-mindedly de-sticker friends bikes/computers when I've been fixing them as well.

I was thinking I don't go in for this, but have just realised that the first thing I do on getting a new laptop etc. is get rid of the rows of shiny metallic stickers that are all over the case 😡

The thing that annoyed me most recently about a new bike is the amount of warning/safety stickers that were all over it.

i noticed the other day my boardman mtb has a cboardman sticker on virtualy every piece of bike including seat post bars stem, chris boardman must have a serious inferiority complex lol, mind you its probably so that halfords cant find a spot to put a halfords sticker on it?

So if so many of us like plain bikes why do manufacturers instead on putting so many logos all over stuff? Clearly not what the customer wants.
.
I realise that it may be down to advertising, or they think it is, but I used to ride for a team whcih had bike without the manufactures name emblazoned all over it, just a subtle head-tube badge. This actually got a lot of attention. If someone sees a bike with a name on it, they think 'that's nice' and then carry on. If they see one without they come and talk to you, ask what it is and then you can tell them about it. No logos = better advertising.

Both my bikes still have their headbadges but all other logos removed from the frame. Mind you they are both Surly who notwithstanding the quality of of their frames appear to design their decals to fall off in a stiff breeze.

Well all very interesting responses, it seems quite a lot of people get to removing stickers if they can. I like the examples of the 'good' and 'bad' bikes too, I think road bikes are especially susceptible to awful rashes of stickers - the Lapierre being a prime example. Although I hear Matt black is becoming popular in high-end road bikes (never for pro's obviously)? It seems like every manufacturer feels the need to have their branding on show, perhaps it's a kind of mutual reinforcment, whereby if one stopped they all might - if it became a bike 'fashion' basically? As is often the case though, people living in Singletrackworld probably only represent a fairly niche market of bike-loving obssessives...