The subject of PRINT YOUR OWN bicycle decals comes up every 9 months or so. The problem is, all modern laser and inkjet printers are "subtractive CMY" printers, meaning they need a WHITE background to produce the correct colors. They work by subtracting colors from white. If your bicycle is white, you're in luck. If not, then all the colors will change when you try to apply the decals ...
So you are stuck with 2 unsatisfactory choices :
(a) Print the decals on white decal paper, and attempt to cut them out. (b) Print the decals on clear decal paper, and attempt to paint the backs of the decals with white paint.
The ALPS printers have been out of production since about 2001, and even when they were "in production" they produced some 'banding' which made it pretty easy to tell that the decals were reproductions. The inks were more durable than inkjets but not as stable as from a commercial sign printer. And, the range of colors for the ALPS printers was very limited - white, silver, black, gold and maybe 6 other spot colors. Inks came on tapes so you couldn't mix your own.
The alternative is to design your decals in Adobe Illustrator (or another program like Corel Draw that can output Adobe Illustrator files.) Then, email them to a bureau with a good spot-color printer/cutter. After some cleanup, they can send you the decals in a few weeks' time. Examples of good bureau printers include Roland printers, and Gerber Edge FX printer/cutter. These printers cost anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000. I have done runs of several decals this way (Reynolds 531, 1973-5 era, and a "Made in England" decal.) In addition, I've done cut white vinyl (I_n_t_e_r_n_a_t_i_o_n_a_l_, a Raleigh model name ...)
A 3rd alternative that I haven't tried yet, is to buy a low-cost vinyl cutter, print your decals on white, and then use the cutter to trim the edges. There is a pretty new cutter called "RoboCut" that costs about $500 and can read registration marks from a page in order to align itself before proceeding to cut. This, combined with a color laser printer, might be a simple way to get superb results.
- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA, USA