Identifying validity of bike frame decals

I bought a Geoffrey Butler reynolds 531c frame of ebay a few months back, and while i am pretty happy that it is 531c tubing it has also been suggested by a couple of people that it might not be a genuine Geoffrey Butler. The main gripe they seem to have is the fact that the seat tube and downtube decals are pealing off, and that the colour is one often used by a company in south london who'll 're-brand' bikes for a small fee.

So for my peace of mind...

Can anyone suggest how I could find out for sure whether its genuine or not.

all help will be greatly appreciated
thanks

Pics?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/daviddc/4900628877/

colour isnt so clear but you can see how the decals aren't completely flat to the frame, i had a look for any kind of numbers stamped onto the frame but couldnt find any although im not really sure where to look

Decals definitley look like they were applied by a monkey.

Doesn't mean that they weren't applied to a respray of a Geoffrey Butler.

Unfortunately Geoffrey Butler themselves don't seem interested in helping one ascertain what age / genuine or not from frame numbers, they long since stopped building frames. I imagine they didn't keep the records, or at least when I spoke to someone at the shop a while back they were pretty unwilling to help.

If you like you can compare frame numbers with mine. However, my decals were applied after laquer, though they're transfers not vinyls, so I guess you could question whether mine is a GB as well. Chances are that they would have stuck to a certain number of digits and/or letters. I don't know it off hand but I'll have a look tonight. Mine is most probably early 70s though so details of frame building may not be worth comparing. It's possible that they comissioned other builders to make frames for them - I've never really found out much about them.

You would find frame identity numbers under the BB shell and stamped onto the fork steerer. Obviously you'd have to take the fork out to have a look.

If you want to re-apply decals the Geoffrey Butler shop have a box of the ones on your frame, maybe just get a new set ... and apply them a little more carefully.

I'm thinking that removing them is probably a good idea, any advice on how to do that with damaging the paint?

if its no hassle to compare frame numbers then that might be a help cheers.

i have different forks on the bike so getting the number of the originals shouldnt be too hard as i just have to remember where i put them, im assuming this will be the same as the number under the BB shell which i cant find, presumably as its been painted over, perhaps a bad sign?

thanks for the help

Hi
Often paint can fill the numbers on the BB completely, or render them unreadable or very feint... I think powdercoat could just fill them alltogether. So it may be that they are there. But yeah I'll have a look, forgot last night as some personal shit meant I wasn't really on the ball.

As for removing yours, I would try using a hairdyer to soften the adhesive, peel, and then some light solvent to remove any remaining adhesive.

Hi

cheers for the tip, they came of real easy.

not so sure the serial number is gonna be so useful though. I found the forks and the only numbers i could find stamped on the steerer is 0816. How does this compare to your serial number?
it doesn't seem to give much away and a search around the internet hasn't thrown anything up either.