Replica Factor Ostro VAM

[bikemanie5]

Yeah mine are over the clearcoat. Just accidentally chipped a piece off trying to check for you 😂.

That's mad they done that the decals are gonna rub off in a few months. I dont know why they would go through the effort of what looks to be a great frame and ruin it with putting removable stickers on. It beggars belief XD

[brembilla]

On my Bora the B is not aligned with Ora on both sides of the fork 😬🗿

On my seatpost the Factor logos on each side around 20 degrees rotated from each other.... the frame and the paint are pretty solid overall but whoever is applying the decals might be partially blind. ATP I almost want to get a kit from speedydecals and just reapply myself.

[BIFO17]

my frame arrived from Tom and there's no clear coat over the decals. Is this normal?

No ! Mine under clearcoat

[brembilla]

No ! Mine under clearcoat

I have the same frameset color as you and they are over the clearcoat. I do not think your decals would be under while ours is over. They are very thin and may feel like they are under, but they are not.

[datfrog]

Polar cancelled my order back at the end of summer/early fall because they were having issues replicating the "Black" design with the darker decals. I've kept in touch and a month ago they said "production has now returned to normal". I went to contact them about placing an order and all products are removed from their store my message has been left on read for a few days. RIP Polar?

[Fabilangson]

Mine are 100% under the clear coat. I have the glossy Raw UD version.

[bikemanie5]

mine are definitely not under the clear coat. I was able to scratch a bit of the decal off with my fingernail didn't even try that hard.

[BIFO17]

I have the same frameset color as you and they are over the clearcoat. I do not think your decals would be under while ours is over. They are very thin and may feel like they are under, but they are not.

Could you post some pictures of your bike, please? On mine, the varnish layer is quite thin, but I can clearly see it over the stickers; in fact, I can't even pick up the sticker with my fingernail.
Mine come from taiwan glory bike, not from yoho

[bikemanie5]

on mine the UCI decal is the only one under the clear coat. I wonder if its because the reflective decals wouldn't be as effective at reflecting light if they were under the clearcoat.

I've also bought those light bicycle wheel still waiting on them are they any good?

[BIFO17]

@Brembilla. your bike is différent from mine.
The sticker on the seatpost isn't angled correctly. You can clearly see that the Factor stickers are over the paint, which isn't the case on mine. I'll take a picture.
I don't think Yoho = Taiwan Glory

[Alienado]

Some pictures of the chipped decals, which took little to no effort to do. @BIFO17, hate to burst your bubble but the decal alignment on both of our seatposts seem exactly the same, which are both off from the original by ~20-30 degrees (real ostro pics for reference). Your paint does look a lot more purple than mine, which I wish mine was.

@bikemainie5 The Airia wheels are great. Took nearly 5 months from pre-ordering to arrive, but they are bombproof. Crashed on them twice and they just needed a little truing before being good to go again. At 1180 grams for steel spokes and a 25/31.5 rim profile, couldn't be happier. Not sure if a sub 1kg carbon spoked wheel would survive 2 big crashes like these did.

What is the width of tire you are using? I will use 700x32 tires that are the limit officially.

[BIFO17]

Our seatpost stickers are indeed the same and conform to the original (perpendicular to the top tube once the seatpost is inserted into the frame). On mine, all the stickers (except the VAM one) are well under the varnish (I managed to grab the VAM one with my fingernail and easily damage it 😥).

I compared it to my real SL8 and it's the same. The Specialized stickers are definitely under the clear coat (even though I can feel the raised areas when I run my finger over them, I can't get a grip on them). Only my SD Worx sticker is on top.

As for the scarab color, it's difficult to compare; it depends on the lighting, the angle of the shot, etc. However, I do see some differences in the finish: the Ostro lettering on your fork isn't quite positioned correctly.

Note: I added a protective film to the sensitive areas. It's an ideal solution for protecting the stickers if they aren't protected by the varnish!
I also added a ceramic coating to protect the paint and enhance the "scarab" effect.

[bikemanie5]

Yeah im gonna wrap mine seems like the only solution just dont want to make the bike look tacky. Do you have the film on in those photos I cant see it

[bikemanie5]

Some pictures of the chipped decals, which took little to no effort to do. @BIFO17, hate to burst your bubble but the decal alignment on both of our seatposts seem exactly the same, which are both off from the original by ~20-30 degrees (real ostro pics for reference). Your paint does look a lot more purple than mine, which I wish mine was.

@bikemainie5 The Airia wheels are great. Took nearly 5 months from pre-ordering to arrive, but they are bombproof. Crashed on them twice and they just needed a little truing before being good to go again. At 1180 grams for steel spokes and a 25/31.5 rim profile, couldn't be happier. Not sure if a sub 1kg carbon spoked wheel would survive 2 big crashes like these did.

Nice I ordered mind and they said they would ship in 2 week. I checked a month later and they said lol we've not even started making them yet and we are going on holiday for basically a month XD. As long as they are good wheels I dont mind

[Pinkee]

You don't want ali one ?
Note that Factor, Ostro, etc. decals aren't just stickers stuck onto the paint; they're covered with a clear coat that protects the paint. If you don't want to have to sand and repaint everything, you'll have to stick the new decals over the clear coat, with the risk that the decals won't be exactly the same size (and therefore it will look awful 😮‍💨).

Well that escalated quickly. At least I know the weaknesses in the carbon now.