KonAaron Snake 

Like so many others, my Cinelli Grammo stem was missing the plastic cap and none of my efforts to acquire one bore fruit. Even the incomparable Gomango was stumped! What was I to do? Give up and have a stem with a gaping hole that stood out against the backdrop of Titanio perfection? Pshaw! I did what anyone who wants a unique piece of bike jewelry should do...I stopped by to see Jen Green!

https://www.headbadges.com/

Jen is a local artisan and custom jewelry maker who also specializes in head badges. You know those beautiful badges on the two NAHBS winning Black Sheep frames? Her's. She's as nice as could be, smart as a whip, professional and wonderful to work with. Upon seeing the challenge I presented her, she furrowed her eyebrows for mere moments and proposed a game plan within seconds. One week later? VOILA! She also makes really cool bike related jewelry...my wife loves the chain ring earrings I gifted her.

oberthecat

WOW very nice work and a great idea on your part.

gomango

A major win for Team Aaron.

A lovely upgrade and super classy.

Will she do a head badge for my Croll if I say pretty please?

Ps I even put an ad on a local racing board to no avail Aaron.

Those guys usually dig up all sorts of odds and ends for me.

frpax

How does it stay attached to the stem?

tugrul

That's neat.

+1 I'm curious to see the back side and how it was made.

ftwelder

She has made several custom head badges on my personal bikes. Top shelf.

cucumis.cucurbi

I really thought this was gonna be about an article of clothing.

KonAaron Snake 

We tried an o-ring and it didn't work...silicon is holding it in and will need to be reapplied if removed.


I'm quite sure that can be arranged mango! As much as I appreciate the assist, I like this just fine!

lostarchitect 

Woah, I need a custom headbadge, I think.

And I guess I need a bike to put it on.

KonAaron Snake 

So one thought that I had...someone more visually gifted than me develops a c and v head badge for those who want to bling the community.

Ecrevisse

Aaron,

That is so much nicer than the original.

triplebutted

I have a headbadge from her custom made as well. I'm ready for another one this summer. She does great work.

hueyhoolihan

just to show you the contrast between a pro and DIY job. here's mine.

it was just a "proof on concept" type attempt from a cork off a cheap bottle of wine. and half hour's worth of work with a kitchen knife gave me this:



and this:



i think, if i ever try it again, a nice piece of ebony or redwood might be more appropriate, plus i could make it thinner on top and fit a little better...

BTW, it's a press fit, like it was on the wine bottle!

KonAaron Snake 

Your cork job looks fantastic and has its own appeal.

Ebony would be a good choice.

joe englert

wouldn't it have been cheaper just to buy another grammo stem and take the cap off of it and then sell the one without a cap?

KonAaron Snake 

Yes, it would have been cheaper. And a lot less awesome.

As far as I am aware, there are only two Grammo stems with panto plugs...mine, and a guy who saw mine and decided he wanted one too.

Chombi

That's what's really fun about doing custom things on our C&V bikes. We can sometimes improve things with new found resources that might not have been available to us before, either because we did not know where to find things or they are not available anymore or they just did not exist.
Just like on my Vitus Carbone bike, I really love my Gilles Berthoud saddle on it, but I ended up usually staring at that grey area of plastic at the rear of the saddle. I thought it would be nice if GB had at least put some sort of branding logo on it as it looks so plain, so plastic. Till I came across a Vitus lapel pin at ebay, and with a few seconds work with the Dremel to remove the pin on the back and some silicone glue, here's the result.....

It's a small touch but it looks OK. I already had a few people asking me where I got the cool "Vitus saddle" on my bike......

KonAaron Snake 

Chombi - VERY cool. Also very clever. How do you like the saddle?

Chombi

Thank you,
The Gilles Berthoud Galibier saddle is great! It pretty much performs as advertised. A lightweight leather saddle (It actually weighs less than my Selle Italia Perforated Turbo saddle) that employs new technology, but also provides the comfort that only a leather saddles can. It did take a bit of time and miles to break it in but I do prefer harder than usual saddles anyway s I get more feedback from the bike and they feel more stable under me, so the extended break in was no big deal to me.

KonAaron Snake 

After a lot of consideration, I think I prefer the shape of a B-17, but the Berthoud is pretty dang awesome (and much lighter, with a better retention and tightening system). They really are very clever.

poprad

Really nice OP. I recently cracked the dried out plastic stem cap on my Fuji, it's the cool Shimano 600AX stem. Turns out some dude in Poland makes 'em special and $20 got me a lifelong alum version.

[IMG]Custom alum 600AX stem cap by Mark, on Flickr[/IMG]

And I love Jen's stuff. This one's graced several bikes at this point:

[IMG]P1010412 by Mark, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]C'dale 09 by Mark, on Flickr[/IMG]

As has this one:

[IMG]Infidel Bike 020 by Mark, on Flickr[/IMG]

And great saddle detail Chombi; I love this kind of small touch to really make a bike special.

old_dreams

A couple of years ago I was in need of a 3ttt stem cap. I made a stab at some aluminium etching which came out not too bad. I managed to cut out the shape below but before I could find a way of getting it to sit in the stem securely I picked up a genuine cap for a couple of euros. I may finish this out one day.

poprad

That is super-cool and just begging to be made into a bottle opener.

old_dreams

It may just work for that as there's a big hole now where the bottom one was cut out.

Brewsmith 

[QUOTE=old_dreams;18191420]A couple of years ago I was in need of a 3ttt stem cap. I made a stab at some aluminium etching which came out not too bad. I managed to cut out the shape below but before I could find a way of getting it to sit in the stem securely I picked up a genuine cap for a couple of euros. I may finish this out one day.
/QUOTE]

Super cool, what process did you use for the etching if I may ask?