In the heyday of bicycle framebuilding the headbadge was the signature of the builder, their seal. Many of the finer companies used cast badges that were more like jewelry instead of cheap decals commonly found on most modern bikes. These pieces made a statement about the bike's identity and those who crafted it.

When I spent about 200 hours handbuilding the frame of the Libertas Perpetua, my custom road bike, I knew I would not be satisfied with a sticker to symbolize the identity of my handiwork. The Evans Frameworks badge is investment cast and bolted to the bike, depicting a pair of hands conjuring a frame from the ether. Rodin knew that hands symbolized power, the strength of those who can wield them to create, and it is my own hands that are depicted creating a frame with the exact geometry of the LP. There is a reflection of Escher and a bit of Avila in the work, but it is my own hands created everything about it.

The badge also borrows heavily from the designs of Mike Cherney, whose design for Strong Frames provided much inspiration. Mike is an independent jeweler who gained legendary status in the fledgling mountain bike framebuilding industry with his work for Ibis Cycles creating their badge and their beloved Toe-Jamb and Hand-Job accents. Mike graciously guided me through his creative process with explicit details about his methods and tricks of the trade. He was pretty hard to track down and I am quite appreciative of the hours he gave me as he considers himself out of the headbadge design business.

The process started by sketching my own hands dozens of times until I got the pose I wanted just right. Then the image was scanned into SolidWorks and "traced" to create a 2.5D model of the hands and badge frame with text. The hands were modeled to enable CNC machining, as I planned on creating a soft-mold in aluminum to cast positive waxes which could be hand carved in low-relief to add depth and humanity to the hands. Ultimately I opted to have an SLA semi-master created from which a silicone mold was made to cast waxes for carving.

After breaking a lot of wax copies, wrecking a nice pot, coating everything in my room in a fine layer of red wax shavings, and hunching over a workbench for 20 hours with carving tool the master was completed. The wax was sent to Robert Snell for investment casting. Robert was exceptional to work with and his expertise and assistance are hightly recommended. Robert, coincidentally, casts many of the bicycle badges used by custom builders who have resisted decals. He told me the badge was "one of the nicest ones I've seen... like a Michaelango with the hands." I'm glad he likes it as much as I do.

The waxes were cast to make a yellow bronze master, which was then used in turn to duplicate the master wax. The final parts are investment cast in white bronze, which does not tarnish easily, and has a lovely color somehwere between silver and nickel. The final castings are tumbled, polished, and then reworked to fit the tube perfectly before mounting. The headtube is carefully drilled and tapped, and the final product is proudly mounted with 2 stainless steel 2-56 torx-head screws, which are counterbored into the cast badge for flush fit. The torx drive provides a strong industrial touch and the added security of being more difficult to steal with common tools.

While the project turned out to be far more involved than I had initially expected, the results have been exceptionally rewarding. The finishing touch of the badge adds a sophisticated and artistic air to the bike, and accurately reflects the passion for detail and dedication with which the bike was constructed and ridden. It fetches numerous comments from other riders who are often astonished the bike is borne of my own two hands. The professional touch of the jewelry-quality badge completes my custom ride where is truly standout in the eyes of the myriad Palo Alto cyclists riding boutique frames that I speed by on the way to work.