jonwvara 

If I soak my Raleigh frame in OA solution, is it going to wreck my headbadge, which seems to be made from sheet brass? It's the standard heron headbadge with a really nice patina--frame is a 1976 Gran Sport. If the OA is likely to cause problems, could I protect the badge by giving it a thick coating of grease before the OA treatment?

toytech

My Raleigh's headbadge ended up thinner and devoid of any paint after an overnight OA soak. I think if I did it again I would carefully drill the rivets and remove it first, then re attach with small screws.

randyjawa 

Remove the badge! Then soak rather than risk being sorry. And...

For what it is worth, I have access to the rivets used to attach head badges. They are tucked away somewhere. I should look for them and let you guy/gals know what to purchase when you need the correct looking round head rivets. Oh, they are stainless steel but not all shiny and they look just fine.

realestvin7

Yes, let us know.

I removed mine buy cutting the portion of the rivets that protruded to the interior of the head tube. As to not take chances of inflicting damage to the badge.

jonwvara 

When I soaked my Dawes a few years ago, I drilled out the old rivets and reattached the head badge after with some correctly-sized drive pins from McMaster-Carr. I think the pins were a few cents each, plus 8 bucks for shipping, or something like that. It's a nice neat job, and really looks original, though someone who knows what original is supposed to look like on that bike could easily tell that it's not.
I was hoping others had tried the "coat the badge with grease" trick, and could tell me for sure that it works. How could it not? Yes, better safe than sorry and all, but I really dislike removing and remounting head badges. If I do feel brave (or foolish) enough to give it a try, I'll report back on whether it works.
JV