Page 1 of 1

Old decals/stickers

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 12:07 pm
by David Lahey
A new challenge arose yesterday while trying to make a 1977 TY :yamaha look like it did in 1977.
The only "Pirelli" stickers I have were made back in 1977 and apparently after 44 years, sticker glue loses most of its stickiness. Who would have thought?

Luckily my wife had some spray-on contact cement in her scrap-booking workshop and I'm giving that a try. Fingers crossed.

Yes, there is substantial irony having large red Pirelli stickers on a bike that is wearing brand new Michelin tyres. If I could have bought new Pirelli MT13 tyres they would be on it.

Re: Old decals/stickers

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 1:27 pm
by Bully fanatic
I have to ask David. Why would you use MT13s when the Michelins are so much better. I can remember when I bought my first set of Michelin Radials in the early eighties to replace the worn out set of Pirellis. They were the Winter versions which was a mistake as they had unbelievable traction but each side of the rear tyre only lasted one trial they were that soft The Summer ones lasted so much better! I know the Pirellis are period correct but didn`t the TYs come with Dunlop Trials Universals on them? Or was it Bridgestones?

Re: Old decals/stickers

Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 6:16 pm
by David Lahey
Bully fanatic wrote:I have to ask David. Why would you use MT13s when the Michelins are so much better. I can remember when I bought my first set of Michelin Radials in the early eighties to replace the worn out set of Pirellis. They were the Winter versions which was a mistake as they had unbelievable traction but each side of the rear tyre only lasted one trial they were that soft The Summer ones lasted so much better! I know the Pirellis are period correct but didn`t the TYs come with Dunlop Trials Universals on them? Or was it Bridgestones?

Yes the TY250D model came with very crap Japanese trials universal tyres but this bike I'm working on is one of Peter Paice's 1977 bikes and at the time, Peter was sponsored for tyres by Pirelli importer Frank Matich, so I was wanting to use Pirelli MT13s on it for realism.
Yes, Michelin changed the world of trials at the end of the 1970s but this was 1977 and the Pirelli MT13 was still king.
I remember buying my first (front) MT13 in 1976 and being very impressed. At the time I could only afford one new proper trials tyre for my TY175 and chose to get a new front MT13. On the rear of my TY175 was a hard/rigid/rounded profile Bridgestone trials universal. While the TY became much better for trials with the Pirelli on the front, it scared me the first time I laid the bike into a sweeping curve on the road because the square profile of the proper trials tyre went up onto its edge causing the front end to slide out.