How We Make Them

Orchard Classic Decals started with a very specific problem: the decals on a well-restored classic Kawasaki are often wrong. Not badly wrong — just not quite right. The colours are slightly off. The proportions don't match the original. Sometimes the model year is only approximately represented. You can see it straight away if you know the bike.

Valerie and Andy have known these bikes for a long time. The triples, the KH series, the trail and enduro machines of the 1970s and 1980s — they're familiar ground. When Andy started restoring his own H2, finding accurate decals turned out to be harder than finding the parts. So he made his own.

Why Kawasaki, and why this generation

The two-stroke Kawasakis of the 1970s were extraordinary machines — fast, raw, mechanically direct in a way that nothing from that era quite matched. The H2 750 and H1 500 triples are still capable of frightening experienced riders today. The KH series that followed refined things slightly without losing the character. The trail and enduro line — KE, KDX, KMX, the F-series — brought the same approach to off-road riding.

They also came from the factory with very specific graphics. Each model year had its own face. The decals weren't decoration; they were part of what the bike looked like. Getting a restoration right means getting the decals right for the year, not just the model.

That specificity is what the range is built around. We don't make approximate decals for approximate restorations.

Factory reference first

Every set starts with reference material. Period brochures, press photography, original machines. Where the factory produced different variants in the same year — different colour options, different market specifications — we account for that. The goal is to reproduce what Kawasaki actually issued, not what looks plausible.

Reproduced from original factory reference. Not memory. Not approximation.

How the decals are made

We print on gloss self-adhesive polymeric vinyl with a white permanent adhesive (low initial tack). The vinyl is designed for solvent inks and digital print — it holds colour accurately and has proven longevity.

Printing is done on large-format Roland TRUEVIS machines using solvent inks. These are waterproof and tested for longevity. Once you've applied the decal to the bike, we recommend clear-coating with a 2K product — this protects against petrol spills, sun, and general handling. It's an important step; the installation guide covers it in detail.

Every order comes with a free printed sample. Not as a gesture — it's there so you can test your clear coat on the sample before committing it to the real decal. Reactions between clear coats and solvent inks are uncommon but they do happen. Test first.

The range

We currently make 54 sets, covering the H and S series triples, the KH 250, 400, and 500, the KE and KT enduro range, the KX motocross line, and the KDX and KMX enduro machines. The range runs from the early 1970s through the 1990s. We're still adding to it — if your model isn't listed, it's worth asking.

Sets are priced between £55 and £68. UK and European shipping available.

Custom sets

If we haven't made the set for your specific model and year, get in touch. Tell us the model and year and what you're working from. We'll give an honest assessment of what's possible. Where the factory issued something we haven't reproduced yet, we'll tell you.

Thanks for taking a look. We're a small workshop in Norfolk — it's just the two of us. Any questions, just drop us a line.

— Valerie and Andy at Orchard Classic Decals Ltd