1993 MARIN Titanium FRS Build
- Thread starter rothaz
- Start date
Did you hear Velocals is closing up shop end of this year? One less quality source IMO
I sourced my Ritchey decals from them and was very happy with them, sounds like they are moving back to making signs
I sourced my Ritchey decals from them and was very happy with them, sounds like they are moving back to making signs
Yep, noticed a post on Bike Forums yesterday and it's sadly the case
They produced great quality, I also ordered Rocky Mountain ones from them before
I'm guessing the vintage bike sticker game was not profitable enough?
I believe they are still taking orders until December 31st but USA only
fguki
Senior Retro Guru
Since I am producing own bicycle restoration Stickers (mainly Marin, Syncros, Ringlé, Answer Manitou, KLEIN etc.) I can tell you: YES! it is NOT profitable at all! Investments for machines, software, tools and time is in no case in good relation to sales numbers and the effort you put into the ads, the e-mails, the customers service or the time you need to pack things and carry them to the mail box.
From a business point of view I can totally relate to their decision. Especially since they have superb range of options and materials and therefore a truckload of machines to run all that. I myself am doing 90% vinyl cuts only - and with them you can already see that its not a very profitable field at all.
Example: I put plenty of time and money just to be the one guy who produces SYNCROS powerlite fork decals or the hammer n cycle stickers for the stems and the back of the Generation 1 seat post etc.. Expected sales numbers per year? Maybe 2 sets? 3 sets of powerlite fork? 20 sets for stems or 7-10 of the seat post stickers. And that goes for 75% of all your products in your palette. I invested lets say 250,00 Euros of time and material per sticker (!) and expect to get back 25,00 Euros per year. Each stickers will amortise after about 10-15 years! Hilarious.
Most customers simply dont understand the work ou need to do until you have finished stickers or vinyls. Yet they come to me 25 times a month asking me to make a one off restoration sticker for them! And expect it to cost 3,00 bucks or 10,00 bucks a full set!
Now, what does my whole afternoon in front of Adobe Illustrator (for just one sticker) cost? 200,00? 400,00 bucks? And what do you now expect a sticker to cost?
If you would be honest to yourself: "Yes, its basically all just not worth it!"
I myself just do it because I simply want to!
From a business point of view I can totally relate to their decision. Especially since they have superb range of options and materials and therefore a truckload of machines to run all that. I myself am doing 90% vinyl cuts only - and with them you can already see that its not a very profitable field at all.
Example: I put plenty of time and money just to be the one guy who produces SYNCROS powerlite fork decals or the hammer n cycle stickers for the stems and the back of the Generation 1 seat post etc.. Expected sales numbers per year? Maybe 2 sets? 3 sets of powerlite fork? 20 sets for stems or 7-10 of the seat post stickers. And that goes for 75% of all your products in your palette. I invested lets say 250,00 Euros of time and material per sticker (!) and expect to get back 25,00 Euros per year. Each stickers will amortise after about 10-15 years! Hilarious.
Most customers simply dont understand the work ou need to do until you have finished stickers or vinyls. Yet they come to me 25 times a month asking me to make a one off restoration sticker for them! And expect it to cost 3,00 bucks or 10,00 bucks a full set!
Now, what does my whole afternoon in front of Adobe Illustrator (for just one sticker) cost? 200,00? 400,00 bucks? And what do you now expect a sticker to cost?
If you would be honest to yourself: "Yes, its basically all just not worth it!"
I myself just do it because I simply want to!
It's great you do want to in spite of reality of the market. I greatly appreciate all out there still offering reproductions of vintage bike decals.
I've tried my hand at producing single color vinyl cut logos with good success just for personal use on a Brother Scan n Cut. A massive amount of work each time especially considering I have no idea what I'm doing
I've tried my hand at producing single color vinyl cut logos with good success just for personal use on a Brother Scan n Cut. A massive amount of work each time especially considering I have no idea what I'm doing
