The Flickr Bicycleheadbadge Image Generatr

The last of the four head badge photos from 2006 is of this AMF Roadmaster. It turns out I've already uploaded a badge like this but I like the torn away look on this one.

It's another trip into the bicycle brand history rabbit hold this morning.

Last summer I visited the Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum in Buffalo. I learned that the Pierce-Arrow cars of the early 20th century were preceded by Pierce Bicycles and even took a photo of a Pierce head badge. I subsequently learned from overly angry page that there is no such thing as a "Pierce-Arrow" bicycle.

What then to make of this Pierce Arrow head badge? After going down a bunch of dead ends it turns out that Pierce Arrow was a brand made by the French manufacturer Motobecane during the bike boom years of the 1970s. Those must not have helped the bottom line as the company went bankrupt in 1981.

I've been organizing my photo library this week when I discovered four head badge photos from 2006. This Elgin is one of the oldest bikes I've seen on the street.

Elgin was a house brand for Sears Roebuck before World War 2. They were sold for $14.95 under the Elgin King name in 1910 and later just as Elgin. By the 1930s Elgin was a prestige brand known for their innovative design. The bikes were made by Westfield or Murray Ohio. Elgin bikes in good condition are now collector's items. Here's a 1941 model that's going for $3899.

A badge within a badge design for this Trek bike.

Some of the Trek shield head badges include the name of the company.

Trek's oval and circular head badges only lasted a couple of years each. In 2008 Trek started using this shield design as a head badge and they are still using it, and variations on it, today.

Note that the bike is upside-down in this photo.

After a few years with an oval head badge Trek went circular.

In the early 2000s Trek started using these oval head badges.

This Trek Bicycle head badge is a variant of the one previously posted but is not shown on Wheelcraft Bicycles head badge timeline.

The 1988-1992 Trek Bicycles head badge design according to Wheelcraft Bicycles.

A later Trek head badge where the logo and text are no longer stamped into the badge and the type has changed. According to Wheelcraft Bicycles this logo design was used from 1984 until 1987.

Same head badge design as previously posted but in much better condition. Wheelcraft Bicycles posted a Trek head badge timeline graphic on their Facebook page. This design was in use from 1976 until 1983.

Trek began building bicycles by hand in Waterloo, Wisconsin in 1976. The company, now one of the largest and best known bicycle makers in the world, is still based in Waterloo but they no longer manufacture the bikes there.

This is the oldest, grungiest, Trek head badge that I have found. I think it may be from 1976.

Trayl was the house brand bicycle for The Sports Authority, which went bankrupt in 2016.

A 1980s-looking Kent International head badge.

Tracer USA Inc. was founded in 1996 and is based in Los Angeles. They primarily make cruiser and city bikes and have a very retro head badge design.

Trac International was a company based in Atlanta in the 1970s and 1980s that sold Moto Trac BMX bikes. The bicycles themselves were made by BMX Products, Inc. which was based in California. BMX Products made bikes for a number of different brands and is probably best known for Mongoose bicycles.

For obvious reasons I didn't bother looking for information about this one.

Carlo Torresini founded a bicycle company in Padua in 1895. He combined his name with the city's to call the company Torpado. In the 1950s and 60s Torpado was sponsoring race teams and was the second largest bicycle maker in Italy. The family sold the company in 1987 and the Torpado brand is now owned by Cycles Esperia, which owns several other brands, including Bottecchia.

ToroBike USA was a no-name company that sold cheap bikes through Walmart. Their website is dead and their last Facebook posting was in 2021.