Little help.... typestyle for Club Special??

[handsomerob]

Well, I am having my Club Special powdercoated a metallic silver/blue very similar to Serotta's ICE color. I think I am going to use Red w/Black outline on the decals, but there is a problem.

Serotta no longer stocks decals for bikes that are 24 years old (imagine that). The Columbus SL/SLX downtubes are smaller diameter than the modern ones that Serotta makes decals for so I am needing to get some decals made up for it.

The only hitch is I can't find a match for the typestyle used for the "Club Special" decal on the top tube. The one on mine was almost non-existent when I got the bike. However, thanks to a recent Club Special for sale on eBay I got a very good picture of what the decal is supposed to look like.

The two closest fonts I have found are Kunstler Script and Palace Script MT, but neither are an exact match.

Any help from my Serotta brethren??

[Jeff Weir]

If you have a friend that's a graphic designer, give him the photo of the blue toptube with logo. He can take it into Adobe Illustrator and recreate the exact artwork you will need. Should be a relatively simple task.

[3chordwonder]

It'd take more than a ten minute job for a designer to do properly.

Unless the original font is found, it'd require a lot of editing/redrawing to the Kunstler Script and that takes real world time, not 10 minutes. Drawing type is a relatively exacting process compared to drawing most things a designer/illustrator is asked to do. A slightly wrong curve looks awkward and obvious very quickly. That's why there's designers whose entire career is built around typeface design.

Infinitely easier to find the original font and base the logo recreation on that. Most likely it will still need some editing to make the exact flow of strokes to the next letters in line perfectly like the original logo.

There's planty of websites where you can browse through thousands of fonts online to find the one you need (if available - not all old fonts have been rebuilt as digital fonts). Google away.

If nothing else matches, the Kunstler Script looks like a good base from which to start editing and redrawing to get very close to this logo.

Simple importing the photo of type on a curving tube and hitting the 'automatic outline' option in Illustrator is not going to give a genuinely good enough result.

imho etc, blah blah

[Ginger]

24 years ago that was probably not a computer set font.


So...I'd go back to the typehouses...

I'd bet it is Kunstler Script, only the Linotype or handset version...when a designer adopts a font, they need to change it a bit to appear correctly on the screen...

I remember running across a company in Nashville that was reviving the old poster fonts...I'll see what I can come up with...

[David Kirk]

JB or Cyclart can give it a proper repaint and make new decals for it.

The bike is worth doing all the way.

Dave

[handsomerob]

JB or Cyclart can give it a proper repaint and make new decals for it.

The bike is worth doing all the way.

Dave

I complete understand the sentiment, but I could not have been happier with the quality of the powdercoat on the Waterford 2200 I had done a few months ago. More durable than paint and every bit as pretty (for a single color anyway). The owner of the shop is a guy I have known for a long time and had his start in the auto collision repair business. As a friend, he only charged me $55 for the frame. That is such a ridiculously good bargain, I couldn't justify spending $500 more for the difference. Truth be told, if I dropped some serious coin on a paint job, that impending first chip, scratch, or accidental knock down would really worry me (and be inevitable).

After selling the parts the frameset originally came with, I own it for less than nothing. The build will be good bits, but nothing expensive. For instance the kit will be very cheaply purchased, but new, Veloce 10 speed (thanks Alexi) and the wheelset that was on it before that I got for $100. I actually will have less invested in the complete bike than what a quality paint job would run.

I will post some pics of the frame as soon as I pick it up and have some sunlight. ;)

[3chordwonder]

Do it yourself - it's easy, nobody will be the wiser.

[legacysti888]

choose a similar font - outline it in a vector program, tweak and join the fonts to your liking to make it look complete. Save it as an EPS or editable PDF and send it over to any custom bike paintshop with a color choice .

Font search: anywhere form 5 mintues to 10 days
Editing in Vector: @ 30minutes

[Alexi]

Do it yourself - it's easy, nobody will be the wiser.


what font is that? It's awsome!

[Volant]

Rob, PM me your e-mail address and I'll send you the line-art for creating the decals. Just let me know if you want the fades and stroke shifts as in the original or if a solid is what you're after. Can't get any easier than that!

PS - perhaps we can exchange beers at 3S/3M :beer:

[handsomerob]

Rob, PM me your e-mail address and I'll send you the line-art for creating the decals. Just let me know if you want the fades and stroke shifts as in the original or if a solid is what you're after. Can't get any easier than that!

PS - perhaps we can exchange beers at 3S/3M :beer:

PM sent....

Original would be cool but not if it took a considerable amount of time.

Thanks...

BTW... first beer is definitely on me.

[girlie]

www.typophile.com (the best)

www.whatthefont.com (personal favorite)

[Viper]

I will give you $1M if you put this on the downtube:

[johnnymossville]

with nothing at all that matches. It would take me an hour or two to draw in adobe illustrator doing it the right way (perfect match). I don't know if it's worth that much time.

Like you said though, it would be nice to have a match. Maybe those websites mentioned above can help.

Good Luck.

[Volant]

20 mins. I'll send you the file Rob and you can let me know if you want the shadow added. If you place it on black, it won't matter. :beer:

[handsomerob]

20 mins. I'll send you the file Rob and you can let me know if you want the shadow added. If you place it on black, it won't matter. :beer:

dude... you got some SKILLZ. That is awesome. :banana: :beer: :banana:

[gman]

ignore...I posted a new message mistakenly in response to this. I stripped out the message.

[Kublai]

I've got another thread running trying to figure out if my bike is a Club Classic or a Club Special. Based on a photo I found of racing in 1982 it seems to be a Special. I'm planning a repaint/restore project and would LOVE to get the original graphics/decals. Can I tap into the great work you've done recreating them?