I have seen some talk in the Framebuilder's forum about making your own headbadges, and I found this fellow online that recreated a Trek headbadge (out of stainless steel) for a restoration using electrolytic etching:

https://images.app.goo.gl/ZHPbXyyB2eUBpY6f8

Whole it seems like I totally could make a repro Trek headbadge for my frames that are lacking, I know that I won't ever find the time to actually do it. But if I did, it seems like it would make sense to make five or six at a time from a single sheet of brass.

And if I could do it, then it seems like someone else could do it and sell these, similar to repro decals.

And maybe it wouldn't be economically feasible, but buying old headbadges for my three Trek frames gets costly.

Has anyone made a repro headbadges for their bike, and has anyone ever tried selling them as a failed business venture?

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forum member [MENTION=73614]rhm[/MENTION] has produced some in the past


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It is hard to imagine that custom reproduction head badges would be cheaper than buying old ones -- and you don't want to do that, so....

Just visit your local co-op and see if they have any weird or interesting head badges on frames destined for recycling that you could get for free or for low $$ -- that's what I did for an older Paramount -- it keeps folks guessing, and is fun!

since Trek is still around there's probably legal issues for an actual business

I wondered, but at the same time you can find Trek (and Schwinn and Cannondale and ...) decals all over the internet. But maybe they're dealing with legal hurdles that I am unaware of.

I love the aesthetic of 70s Treks too much to mismatch headbadges. I would totally do this with some other Frankenbike. Schwinn branding looks like garbage to me, even if they made some very nice bikes, so I would have no regrets about slapping something else on there.

I'm not saying this would be profitable... classic bike restoration rarely is. But it does seem like something that someone thought would be profitable (or so much a passion project that they lied to themselves).
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H Lloyd provide headbadges.

I was looking for a Holdsworth 1961 headbadge and they will provide a reproduction oneI got an original one of ebay.

There are some really spectacular head badges on some vintage bikes -- I must confess I've never considered Trek's badges to be all that swell, design-wise. Lovely bikes, though, and I understand the desire to keep a bike "all-original" if you're into doing that (as I sort of am on some bikes), but I do smile every time I see the "funky" Loco Star Amsterdam head badge on my '76 Schwinn Paramount (which was repainted by someone else, probably in the 1980s or 1990s)

I would really like to try making a more attractive version of the pentagonal plastic head badge Motobecane used ca. 1973. I'm thinking either chem etched brass or cut on a 3 axis engraver, then paint fill. The overall shape of the badge is very recognizable, so I could take artistic license with the internal details.

I wonder if it would be easier to etch brass or to etch a steel pipe (1.25" OD) and then "shape" the brass over the mold. The brass would have to be thin, but then you could do as many as you wanted.

I like the idea of making a better version of a plastic headbadge.

Generally speaking Etsy is the place for this. Depending on how complex you want it to be it can be relatively cheap or as expensive as some jewelry.

Jen Green Headbadges makes some wonderful mixed-material examples.
Mediterrantio has some cheaper novelty headbadges for modest amounts.
VintageBikeStore has original headbadges from old bikes.
WendelinWombat for novelty stuff as well.
GabinandCo for lots of vintage French stuff

If you want cheaper than $35 a piece... it probably doesn't make any economical sense with the complexity of some of these vintage models.

I could use a Carlton head badge.


As obtained from my wife's younger sister. Just my size. 27" steel rims are going, along with the completely rotted tires.

Woodrup cycles in Leeds UK have new metal head tube badges available.
Only any good if you have a Woodrup of course.... I'm considering one for mine.

I do smile too, every time I've seen it. OK I've only seen it this once, here, but it worked.

When my wife got her '90s Litespeed, she liked the bike but not the garish decals and head badge -- so we deleted them.
I had collected a few cute, campy or actually beautiful head badges, just to look at. I said pic yer favorite, and this is what she chose:

We didn't have Uranus decals though, so I got some '50s style Rollfast DT repros on ebay. So now the bike's "name" (when we talk about it behind its back) alternates between "the Uranus" and "the Rollfast". Never "the Litespeed" of course. NTTAWWT

-Mark B

+1 on this. I don't know if he's still doing it, but he helped me with a badge for my Stella.

Here's an original Stella head badge (which I only found later) next to the first version Rudi made for me, which was done as a composite from various pictures.



I was totally satisfied with that, but he wasn't so he made a second version, which is the one I'm still using, even though I now have an original in a drawer.