Bicycles can be branded any number of ways such as painting the name, decals/stickers, a badge, or a combination of these methods. A faction of bicycle collectors are ardent badge collectors. In publications such as “The Classic Bicycle News” (no longer published) there was a column devoted strictly to bicycle head badges. The badges are normally made of steel or brass but aluminum, plastic, and other metal alloys have been used as well. They can be stamped, cast, etched or simply painted. Some even employed porcelain or cloisonné which is basically melting colored glass on the badge (Sears Chief). There are also badges (I’ll call them compound badges) such as the Iver Johnson badges that use a metal badge with a separate celluloid backing. The designs on badges range from very simple to elaborate and employ varying degrees of artistry.
Most head badges are affixed to the head tube but some have been mounted on the tank, front fender, or rear fender. This is necessary for bikes who have a tank that extends forward, and encompasses the head tube where a badge is typically mounted. So called ‘tank light’ bikes such as the Schwinn Aerocycle, Shelby Airflo Speedlines and Arrows, Elgin Bluebird or the Murray built Spaceliner style of bikes require these alternate placements.
Badges are typically affixed using either small screws or rivets. Most badges utilize two screws/rivets arranged vertically (top and bottom) to hold them on but there are also three screw/rivet arrangements. As stated most are of a vertical arrangement but they are also found horizontally or diagonally affixed. In some cases a bicycle missing a badge can be identified simply by the spacing or arrangement of the badge holes. Some badges were glued on such as the Schwinn plastic ‘starburst’ badge used in the early 1960s.
There is another form of attachment not typically seen and this is the ‘bottlecap’ badge. These badges were attached using what amounts to a large, integral rivet head that is flared out from inside the head tube. A hole, normally, about 5/16” in diameter is drilled into the head tube, the badge is placed on, and the rivet is flared to secure the badge. These badges are found, primarily on Miami Cycle bikes such as the Racycle and Flying Merkel but private labels as well. The Huffman Mfg Co also used this style of badge on its products in the mid-1930s. Finding these badges in nice condition can be challenging for collectors. Removing them requires prying the ‘cap’ from the inside of the head tube to remove the flare in order to clear the hole in the head tube. A lot of times people have tried to pry these from the outside which, at a minimum, distorts the badge and worst case destroys the badge.
So if you happen to run across a bike that has a badge with no badge screws or rivets then you may want to pull the fork and check to see if the badge is attached from the inside. Conversely if you find a bike with no badge and a hole drilled in the center of the head tube then you know this bike likely had a bottle cap badge although it may not tell you what badge it was unless there is some evidence of an outline that you can positively match to a known badge.
Enjoy the ride!