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Hi All
Last year when I bought a Duke from the US, it came with its original hand book including the importation details from Italy. Looking through the hand book I noticed that there where some old stickers between the pages, I didn't take much notice of them until now.

Later this year I shall start on my 76 SS restoration , I had bought a sticker set from a seller in Australia earlier this year, so I compared the Desmo and 900 Super Sport stickers with the ones that were in the manual. There was another small sticker the "Made in Italy" is white with black writing and this one I have never been on a Duke before anyone know what bike its off?
I knew from past stickers that the after market stickers always rose up above the surface as where the water decals that the Factory used back then were flat and once cleared you would not feel the step up lip.

What a score I have a set of Factory Water Decals for my SS, I was going to see if I could get some made or track some down but I guess I don't have to now
There are also some subtle changes to the new stickers , the corners and color,as is the white background, it is much brighter and totally different to the water decals as you can see below






Has anyone ever been able to track down some water decals lately ?

Martin,
Just joined the Forum so please excuse the late reply ...
Interested to see your original waterslides - did you make any progress sourcing further examples? I've been looking and not found anything comparable anywhere.

PM sent

Interesting post...likewise, I only just spotted it!

I first did a paintlob on my '75 900SS around 23 years ago, and the 'desmo', 'ducati' and '900 supersport' decals I bought back then were rub-down transfers. They were nice and thin and although they did stand a little proud of the paintwork, they weren't anything like as bad as 'standard issue' vinyl.
I'm fairly confident they were original stock as I think the tank logo in black and white wasn't used after '75, although I'll happily stand to be corrected.
I still have some 'desmo' and sidepanel transfers which I'm wary of using as one refused to stick down and was a real pig to remove (the bits that did stick down, that is )
The 'old stock' large blue graphics for the tank were waterslide...and shattered on contact with water. might be worth bearing in mind?
At least the subsequent jigsaw puzzle gave me a decent template to make masks up from!

Unfortunately the only original paint on my bike was the front mudguard, and the remains of the stripe was a waterslide decal:



The decals I used on my recent rebuild were bought from Mdina in the UK, and although they're vinyl they are very thin, and blend in very well under 2 coats of 2k clearcoat. I'm happy they're a good representation of the original, and nothing like the regular vinyl 'stickers' that have been on the market for a while.

For ultimate smoothness, the way to go would be to get some masks made and paint the graphics on, but I didn't think it necessary in this instance.

I don't recognise the 'made in Italy' logo - mine are on a gold background.

Hope this is useful

Why not paint the stripes to avoid the vinyl colour & edge issues???

Dave.

On the "Made in Italy" stickers my 81 MHR & 85 F1750 had black on gold versions just behind the fuel cap.

The MHR sticker lasted till the first full tank of fuel leaked out through the cap , the F1's sticker, being under the clear, is still there.

All these graphics are paint...



Unfortunately, I've since discovered that one bike was light blue (as per the fairing), so one set is being reworked

Cheers,

Andy

Hi Marty

Back in Oz to dry out after Bruce McLaren Festival in NZ.

Very timely post about decals. I'm about to repaint my standard steel tank and twin seat for the 77 SS. Was mulling over how to do the graphics. The Imola tank on the bike has what look like waterslide stickers - very thin and chip like paintwork (not clearcoated over). I like this finish but not sure how to get it. Painting the graphics on sounds like pretty hard work. Did you ever turn up a supplier of the waterslide stickers before you discovered the treasure in your handbook? (Just looked in mine, but no luck!)

Cheers

Brian

Hi Brian

I was wondering what happened to you , You coming up to the Bevel & Bullsh!t bash in march 20 ?

No I never found any more but there are ways around it

Cheers Marty

Painting the stripes & Imola decal is easy.

The only things you need to use as a decal is the Ducati & Desmo's.

Dave.

Here is my bike and it has been painted just as BEVEL DAVE has suggested.

Great bike and lovely looking paint job. If you look at the top of this page you will see the correct DESMO decals to finish off the fairing and seat correctly. You may also find your Marzocchi fork decal needs attention.

DesmoKid wrote:Great bike and lovely looking paint job. If you look at the top of this page you will see the correct DESMO decals to finish off the fairing and seat correctly. You may also find your Marzocchi fork decal needs attention.

Ok you will half right the tail has the correct one had the nose repainted but painter used the wrong Desmo stckers but did awsome paint. Whats up with the fork sticker.

Probably nothing; the photo makes the sticker look like it has an all yellow background whereas it should have some white.

ok-i'll try again-cause my posts seem to be getting deleted-CAN ANYONE SAY WHY THERE WAS ONLY A MARZOC STICKER ON THE LEFT LEG ?