clubman 

V1 Pro in about 83. Wore it until my punk friends pressured me to be cool and not wear it. Bought a mountain bike with slicks for commuting in '88 and was bunny hopping streetcar tracks, damp from the morning dew, lost it and knocked myself out cold. Came to, tried to sit up as I was treated by paramedics and the world started spinning. Suffered vertigo on and off for most of my life and wore a helmet ever since. The vertigo can also be triggered by viruses. I don't do plumbing under sinks or get under cars.

Sluggo

Time trialing, 1980-ish, in a Skid Lid. This helmet got intimate with the asphalt a few times and protected me from cranial road rash, but was not so good when my head ran into a tree during a practice cyclocross race.

Yacc

I was a teenager in the 80s. I never ever wore one or even saw one on a regular person (i.e. not a pro on TV) until about 1989. When I was a kid we used to crash our dirt bikes for fun and go flying off the front of them. Never hit my head -- what I really needed was knee pads...

djs42

My first helmet was the Brancale Sport. Pretty sure it was originally designed for Roller Derby.

dmanders

In a 1977 crash with a car I hit my head hard on the pavement. I bought a Bell the next day and have worn a helmet ever since.

jpdemers

I got one in the late '70s, when I started riding the hills between the South Bay and the Pacific (mostly route 84 to/from San Gregorio.) The Palo Alto Bike Shop carried them early on, and I picked one up the day after my first high-speed descent on a twisty (and a wee bit sandy) stretch of road, with my choice of boulders or trees to slam into if I left the pavement. I'd never ridden that fast, and it scared the crap out of me. (Still have the Raleigh I rode on!)
My housemate bought one of the very first Kleins - they were absurdly expensive at the time - and wrecked it on that same road within 6 months. (Klein actually replaced it.) He bought a helmet afterwards.

trailrnr

Western Flyer? I had one of those as a kid. I loved that bike, it took me everywhere!

REV160

I rode a bike to commute to graduate school in Boston in the mid-1970's and did not. I did crash going over streetcar tracks, but fortunately did not hit my head. It was rush hour, and I was more afraid of getting run over. In the mid-1980's, I bought my first good quality road bike and by then, everyone I knew was wearing a helmet.

twowheelies

Never wore one until the 90s, and then only in the city.

Can't tell you how many times I fell off, went over the handlebars etc as a kid isn the 60s and 70s on Long Island - and never hit my head. And no one I know ever did. We all rode around all day long, and I never knew one kid that got hit by a car or who got seriously injured in any way on a bike.

But I think drivers were a little more sane then. And there were fewer cars.

I live in NYC and always wear one when riding in the city... but not on a long open road out in the country. don't see the point really.

joeconn4

I got my first helmet probably around 1982 or 1983, a Bell Tourlite. I know I had it when I went to college, fall 1983. I was just a fitness rider back then, didn't get into racing until a few years later.

When I started racing in 1987 I got a bell V1Pro in black. That was the go-to helmet with the people I rode with. Then in spring 1989 I won a mountain bike race and one of the prizes was an Avenir helmet, one of the ones with a lycra cover after companies stopped using hard shells for their race helmet models. Used that for a couple seasons. Looking at pictures, in 1992 I must have gotten one of the new Specialized grey helmets that were foam only, with no lycra cover. Those kind of looked like the old hair nets, but in foam instead of leather.

sammymann

In my 62 years of bicycling...still haven't taken to helmets. I have certainly sustained my share of injuries. Including a head knocker as a sophomore in hi skool... Got 2 days relief from school. Faux sympathy provided me with make up exams. Where I came from. Stupid enough to hurt yourself, stupid enough to get failing marks. Do not pass go.

J28

My bike club was family-oriented. Helmets for all were required. Gloves were encouraged. Bikes' brakes and set-up were inspected. All this was before you were allowed to get a map of the routes.

I recall that the original Bell helmets had a design flaw and Bell changed their design and refunded some $$$ but I can't recall the specifics. Something about its performance in a typical header and damaging spines.

I used to give seminars on bike safety. I always wore one to set a good example. One day I went up a driveway with a 1" ridge off the pavement while going too slow and at the wrong angle. I was down on the concrete before I knew what was happening. Despite my Bell, I was out for a while and woke wondering how it happened I was cheek-to-pavement.

It still annoys me when I see some idiot riding against traffic with no helmet. I live in a college town. In non-covid times we lose three or four a year including some brilliant people.

SkyWave

They were not available in 50's and 60's when I learned to ride as a child and I did not wear one UNTIL I had CHILDREN in the 1980.s.
How else can you encourage them unless you set an example. I have always worn one since, city or country, cruising or riding hard.
I also wear a helmet when I downhill ski and ride motorized recreational vehicles.

Each person thinks it wouldn't happen to them, but rather it is only a hope it will not happen to them.
For those that do see the point, it only takes that one moment when your head hits the ground and end up with an ABI - acquired brain injury.
I have cracked one helmet, no injury. Unfortunately the broken leg(hip) and separated shoulder were more serious so my wife would prefer full body protection.

sammymann

I live in what was once 'The most corrupt little city in the United States Of America', Bell, CA 90201..... I do love the fact that Bell Helmets and the Bell brand came from our infamous little city. Decent city to ride a bike. Being very cautious is still a priority.

SlowJoeCrow

I got a Bell Biker around 1980 because AYH was requiring helmets for youth tour groups. Also around that time a friend witnessed another rider taco a wheel and leave long streak of plastic from his helmet shell on the road.

Bill in VA

+1!
Yes, those were the days! There were less cars and they were car height.

More sane? Maybe, but drivers then were definitely not poking at GPS units, touch infotainment screens, or talking and texting on phones, all while looking down at a bicyclist from the higher SUV. At least now you do not get the cigarette butts thrown out the windows so much as back then.

OldsCOOL

I sure didn’t and even until 2011.

davester

Ha! I remember that. Did all those city officials end up in jail or did they all get away to a tropical paradise with their ill gotten gains?

Roypercy

It was a tough bike. My parents bought it for me when I wasn't tall enough for it ("you'll grow into it!") so it survived a lot of crashes.

sammymann

Actually the city manager Robert Rizzo and his assistant received fairly long prison sentences. I believe Rizzo is still serving his. I don't know about the assistant. I know that the mayor had to return some $350K + Everybody else that was arrested spent some time in jail, under a week for the most part. If restitution was due I suspect it was collected.

RichThom

I had a skid lid in the mid 70s. Luckily I've never a head injury.

steelbikeguy

a snapshot (literally) of what the racers were wearing in 1982 in Durango, Colorado at the Iron Horse Classic.
i.e. lots of leather hairnets, with just one hard shell helmet visible.
Trivia question: can you find the guy who raced in the Tour de France? (I only know of one, but maybe Davis Phinney or Bob Roll is hiding in the pack?)



as for myself, I think it was around 1980 when my mom got me a Bell Biker. I was stationed in Yuma at the time, which is too stinkin' hot to be wearing a heavy, poorly ventilated helmet.
I did wear one at work now and then, though...



I was fixing the avionics, but got a ride in the backseat a handful of times. Very fun.

Steve in Peoria

sabele

I still have my Bell helmet with a helmet-mounted mirror from 1981. I used to pick up and drop off my daughter at the baby sitter in the spring/summer

gear64

No. I can't recall ever noticing anyone wearing a helmet until I was travelling around the country for work in the 90s and one of my colleagues traveled around with MTB and wore one. I never knew anyone in the 'sport'. We just rode String Ray knock-offs, then BMX for fun/transportation, then I was the only one that continued to ride consistently on a 10 speed for fun/transportation as everyone else was getting into cars. When I got an MTB to ride with colleague I ended up getting a helmet after first mishap. Once I had it I started wearing it all the time. One of my old friends liked to call me bucket head when he would see me around.

EVFreewheeler

My first helmet was a leather heavily padded helmet by John Kucharik, started wearing it in the late '60s. My next helmet was the Bell Biker in the mid '70s, followed by the Bell Micro in the '80s. I am now on my 5th or 6th helmet, all of them made by Bell.