The revival of bicycle head badge art

If you are one of Britain’s five million regular cyclists, how best to subtly tweak the appearance of your bike so that it stands out from the crowd?

It was once common for bikes to display a beautifully-designed and brightly painted metal head badge in the same way as cars wore a mascot on their bonnet, but the practice has largely been replaced by the use of stickers or painted logos.

DIY head badge art

The Specialized sub-brand, Globe, has put a twist on the traditional head badge by selling bicycles with a holder that allows any piece of paper of the correct size to be displayed.

The ability to fit DIY head badges to Globe bikes has spawned web pages dedicated to sharing designs.

More recently, American cycling blog, Rough Riders has commissioned its own brass head badges that attach to the frame with special double-sided tape.

The head badges are designed to bendable so that they can be curved tightly around the head tube of any size of frame.

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