For those of us who are stuck indoors during the winter months, a great way to pass the time is to learn a new skill. I've always wanted to make my own headbadges for my bikes and a recent purchase motivated by my model building hobby has provided me with that opportunity. I bought a jewelers saw, grabbed some scrap aluminum sheet I had laying around and I'm having a lot of fun. The end result is then banged on a scrap steerer tube on my big vise to give it the rounded shape and voila! My own custom bicycle headbadge. I use epoxy or clear silicone to attach them to the bike.
I'm also using the time to rebuild part of my bike fleet, but this will only last so long and I figured that it's always good to learn a new skill. Investing in yourself is never a waste. I also bought a set of vintage hand engraving tools at a flea market and I'm trying my hand at it. Mind you I'm not that good at it, but I figure that practice will provide me with better skills at some point.
In these hard economic times, knowledge and tools are always a sound investement. You don't need to buy it if you can make it yourself and scrap material is freely available if you look hard enough. Some of this stuff might already be in your possesion!
Until next time, ride safe and Godspeed.
Gerry :)
3 comments:
Nicely done! Now, can you make a teapot headbadge? ;)
what is a head badge? can you show me where you put it on your bike??
I can definitely do a teapot. A headbadge is what is found on the front of the bike on the head tube just below the handlebars. However, sometimes you can add them elsewhere on the bike like the seat tube.
Gerry :)
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