4 ms·

Headbadge Hunter: Rescuing the Beautiful Branding of Long Lost Bicycles

26 points by prismatic 9y ago

bdamm 9y ago
My kid's bike (4yr) has a badge. It fell off, he was sad. It was a real dad-son bonding moment for me to show him how to carefully prep & re-bond the head badge. It was also really fun to realize when it fell off that a) some bikes still have them and b) he thought it was cool and wanted it fixed. I hadn't given either any thought right up until the moment it fell off. There's something deeply aesthetic about these.
sizzzzlerz 9y ago
There are some very nice badges among that collection. Whether it was bike badges, hood ornaments on cars, the labels used by fruit and citrus packers, or other similar items, the old timers certainly knew all about aesthetics and tried to make things that were purely functional, beautiful, as well.
- dmlorenzetti 9y ago
  A potter friend once told me that archaeologists have used the marks potters put on their pieces (i.e., stamps that individuals used to "sign" their work) to figure out trade routes between ancient civilizations. Kind of puts "old timers" in perspective...
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
SeanLuke 9y ago
Some firms keeping up the tradition: Bike Friday https://store.bikefriday.com/images//parts/10760.jpg https://store.bikefriday.com/images//parts/10760.jpg Cielo http://twentynineinches.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/cielo2010-005.jpg http://twentynineinches.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/cielo... Rivendell http://roadbikeaction.com/wp-content/contentimages/2009/IMG_1044.jpg http://roadbikeaction.com/wp-content/contentimages/2009/IMG_...
- abrowne 9y ago
  Wait ... is that Papyrus on the Bike Friday one‽
  - SeanLuke 9y ago
    Yep. Their corporate logo is in Papyrus. There have been complaints.
moonka 9y ago
I love old headbadges. When I was looking for a new bike, I was disappointed that a lot of them are just logos painted on these days. I ended up with one that looks nice (a Masi), but I plan to get a custom one made at some point for myself.
- sarnu 9y ago
  I once made one myself. It was a touring bike in british racing green, and I thought it deserved a headbadge. So I engraved it on a piece of silver. Never took a photo of it, though...

26 points by prismatic 9y ago

My kid's bike (4yr) has a badge. It fell off, he was sad. It was a real dad-son bonding moment for me to show him how to carefully prep & re-bond the head badge. It was also really fun to realize when it fell off that a) some bikes still have them and b) he thought it was cool and wanted it fixed. I hadn't given either any thought right up until the moment it fell off. There's something deeply aesthetic about these.

sizzzzlerz 9y ago

There are some very nice badges among that collection. Whether it was bike badges, hood ornaments on cars, the labels used by fruit and citrus packers, or other similar items, the old timers certainly knew all about aesthetics and tried to make things that were purely functional, beautiful, as well.

dmlorenzetti 9y ago
A potter friend once told me that archaeologists have used the marks potters put on their pieces (i.e., stamps that individuals used to "sign" their work) to figure out trade routes between ancient civilizations. Kind of puts "old timers" in perspective...

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

SeanLuke 9y ago

Some firms keeping up the tradition: Bike Friday https://store.bikefriday.com/images//parts/10760.jpg https://store.bikefriday.com/images//parts/10760.jpg Cielo http://twentynineinches.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/cielo2010-005.jpg http://twentynineinches.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/cielo... Rivendell http://roadbikeaction.com/wp-content/contentimages/2009/IMG_1044.jpg http://roadbikeaction.com/wp-content/contentimages/2009/IMG_...

abrowne 9y ago
Wait ... is that Papyrus on the Bike Friday one‽
- SeanLuke 9y ago
  Yep. Their corporate logo is in Papyrus. There have been complaints.

moonka 9y ago

I love old headbadges. When I was looking for a new bike, I was disappointed that a lot of them are just logos painted on these days. I ended up with one that looks nice (a Masi), but I plan to get a custom one made at some point for myself.

sarnu 9y ago
I once made one myself. It was a touring bike in british racing green, and I thought it deserved a headbadge. So I engraved it on a piece of silver. Never took a photo of it, though...