jon c. 

I wore one of the padded leather strap helmets in the 70s after suffering a concussion in an accident. Wore it into the 80s. Then I stopped riding for a few decades and when I returned I bought a real helmet.

Wileyone 

I was to buzzed in the 80's I couldn't tell you if I was wearing one or not.

Chuck M 

I never raced our toured, but I rode the hell out of my bike in high school. In my little town, I think I was the only person to have a lugged frame, alloy wheels with high flange hubs and quick release skewers and toe clips with leather straps. And when I rode that bike, I had to have my padded fingerless gloves and white cycling cap. I don't think I saw a helmet until people started making kids wear them around here in the 90s. Now I wear a helmet like my life depends on it.

I think I'll hit up Amazon now to find a cycling cap to wear when I ride my steel bikes.

tgot 

The summer of 1985 was when I signed up for a 1000 mile bike tour around Michigan organized by the YMCA. I'd never knowingly ridden more than ~10 miles. But the trip rules required a helmet, so I got one for training and for the trip.

I wasn't resistant to it either, because a buddy had suffered an over-the-bars that spring. His front wheel fell out of the dropouts, and he got some bad facial rash.

I should have worn a helmet before that, BMXing in the Oakland CA hills. We'd go a ways up the hill on a paved street, fly down, across the uncontrolled intersection with Skyline Blvd, and up a six foot dirt jump with a landing by a trailhead. Some hard landings, but the only time I hit my head was when a buddy threw a stick into the mags of my front wheel as I was cranking towards a jump in a vacant lot. Just dirt.

Duragrouch

I started with a Bell Biker II in about 1983, improved design from the original Biker and with adjustable visor. Required for a college bike class (easy credit), but that was the best lesson from the class, everything else I knew. I still have it someplace, after it started to loosen inside from the open-cell foam fitters getting old and me upgrading to a lighter thin-shell model in the 90s, the Biker II became perfect to fit over a fleece hat or mask, so perfect for cold weather and also used for snowboarding and skiing after seeing stars after catching a heelside edge on my first outing on a snowboard. Same thing the next time out with helmet, no harm, just divot in snow. Only a few years later, Sonny Bono died during a ski accident with no helmet.

JoeBass

That's some buddy you had there. Come to think of it, I had a few buddies like that when I was a kid, too.

tcs

I saw two fit, prematurely gray guys wearing SkidLids riding matching chrome Schwinn LeTour 12.2s in West University Place in the fall of '76. First time IRL I'd ever seen cyclists wear helmets.

BikeCentennial, 1976:



Count the helmets! Before the depth of field goes fuzzy, I see two Bells, two Skidlids and either the very first Bailen Bike Bucket ever sold or perhaps a motorcycling half helmet.

tcs

1980s? 1880s! The immortal Thomas Stevens:




Fun fact: Mr. Stevens credits his helmet for saving him from injury.

tcs

Racers may have eschewed helmets, but the there's a long history of cycletourists wearing helmets. Off the top of my head (pun - ouch!) there's Frank Lenz in the 1890s, Kazimierz Nowak and Jim and Elisabeth Young and none other than Fred Birchmore in the 1930s, and Heinz Helfgen in the 1950s.

Frank Lenz for the win:



Fun fact: the Bowler hat was originally a riding helmet!

daoswald

I never had a helmet riding as a teen in the 80s, as a pre -teen (80-82), or young kid (70s). I didn't know anyone else who used them either, at the time, except one friend who took up road cycling in the mid-80s; he had one.

I got out of the habit of riding in the early 90s, but then around 2000 got back into it, and helmets were standard equipment by then. So sometime in the 90s is probably when mass adoption of helmets came about, at least from my recollection.

I don't consider riding without one now. It just feels right, to have it.

Chinghis

Late 80s, when I started riding for more than just putzing around. Some big ol' Bell thing. These days I feel pretty naked without a helmet.

crewdog

I started riding with a helmet in the mid-80s when I got caught riding my bike in uniform (Air Force) without a hat, by my wing commander no less. I decided to go with a helmet (which was the only other alternative) because my flight cap would not stay on. It was the red Vetta hardshell in the video and it probably saved my life later on. I was riding home from duty one afternoon and I decided to jump a large puddle on my road bike. As soon as I jerked upwards on handlebars, the front wheel came loose and I came down on the forks ends, causing me to go over the bars. I remember thinking that this puddle was much deeper than I thought it was. Needless to say the fork was really bent and I hit so hard on my back that it instantly cramped and I could barely move. I don't remember hitting my head, but the helmet had a pretty big scrape on top. I ended up calling a taxi to take me and my bike home that day. Since then I never get on a bike without wearing a helmet. The same goes for motorcycles. I also have been riding with a Rhode Gear brake hood mirror since they first came out.

The Golden Boy 

I never wore a bike helmet until... say 2012 or so. I'm aware of how fragile the skull is, but I still only wore it if I went beyond the neighborhood, a few years ago I started wearing the helmet all the time, even down the block to the gas station- I think my age and my realization that my cat-like kung-fu reflexes and my ability to execute a proper Parachute Landing Fall have dulled over the years. Then, like 2 years ago, I fell down when I shouldn't have fallen down and I hit my head on the pavement. My helmet was old, and it made this sharp, awful "CRACK" sound when I hit the ground. I had to mentally go though myself, check for blood- "am I OK- I mean really OK" before assuring myself that the helmet did its job. But a young lady saw me fall and asked if I was OK. As fine as I was, my pride was wounded. Big. I went helmet shopping that day. Got myself a super sweet Bern. It matches nothing I have. I love it.

New Hat by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr

New Hat by Dave The Golden Boy, on Flickr

WongaTaa

I read the same Bicycling! article, and told my mom, "THAT's what I want for Christmas!" The helmets were pretty expensive, and she told me not to expect much else under the tree. A couple of days before Christmas, looking out the living room window, I saw a delivery truck pull up, and out hopped the delivery guy with a brilliant white box with red stripes in a peculiar pattern - I knew then that I would get my wish (and socks, stationery, etc.).

I wore the lid every time I rode. What a dome! Rivalled only by the Northland Stan Mikita hockey helmet I later wore, in the absurdly-large-cranial-protection department.

Still have the Bell - four-digit serial number! I vaguely recall the white-strapped type somebody else mentioned here. I think, after the Bicycling! article, they geared up production.

My sister tried to get me to promise never to wear it while riding. We compromised - I'll only wear it for nostalgia / eroica rides.

rustymetal

I worked in a bike shop in the early part of the 80's and don't even remember seeing them in the showroom. I think we may have ordered one for someone once or twice but they weren't common. The first I remember seeing them was in the mid 90's or so, but mostly just for kids.

I've ridden motorcycles all my life, on and off road, and wouldn't ride without one but have never ridden a bike with one. I've been down on a bike a few times but so far I've not had anything worse than a scrape or bruise here or there. I've always felt there's a big difference between going 55 mph or better on the highway vs. going 10-15 mph on a bike around the block. I've fall down the stairs more than I've fallen off a bike over the years.
I do remember back in the 70's one riding club or group wouldn't let you ride with them without a helmet but they weren't using bike helmets, they were some sort of white plastic sports helmet from something else.
The few times I've tried on a helmet in recent years the thing sat so high on my head it felt like it wanted to slide off sideways, or the straps wouldn't reach. (I had bought a new bike and the shop offered a free helmet with the bike but they didn't have anything my size and I never went back to get the one they ordered for me. I just bought a new m/c helmet, its a 3X, but i can get away with a 2X if I shave my head and beard, but that's not going to happen.

jdawginsc 

I bought a Bellish type helmet at age 14-15 for use during the Pepsi Cola Marathon in NYC (I was told they were required)...maybe 1982. After a few laps, I actually latched onto John Howard's contingent for a few laps at a distance. That was the year before the record setting 24 hour ride, I believe.

tcs

I still have a Skid-Lid brochure. The verbiage indicates it's the alpha and omega of helmets, with advanced design based on military flight helmets and features other helmet manufacturers haven't even thought of. I really want the new rotational force mitigation helmets to be an advance, but I remember that Skid-Lid brochure and remain skeptical of manufacturer claims.

mkeller234

Well, 1980s I might have been wearing a kids sized bell helmet. I was born in 83.

I know I wear one today. My skull is worth more than anything I own. I’m taking no chances. I’m probably due for a new helmet... mine is a mid 2000s trek something or other.

Manny66 

A helmet in the 80's ? Rarely and Only for USCF or Cycling Events that required them. I never wore a helmet on training rides and I hardly remember anyone else wearing them. Around 1988ish is when they were becoming widely used, I think it was because of the GIRO lightweight helmets introduction.


This was around 1983,No helmet.

tgot 

I got him back though: after catching my breath, and chasing him around a bit (he was faster), I ghost-rider'd his bike down a steep hill into a massive patch of poison oak.

No hard feeling the next day.

Darme

I must confess didn’t wear a helmet while training. Was required when racing back then. These are the helmets I work back then. The leather helmet was I believe outlawed by USCF in 1982-1983 I think ..

djs42

My first helmet. Entered a Triathlon in the mid 1980's and found out helmets were mandatory. Was all I could find the week before.

DiabloScott

Well not exactly - they instituted a requirement that helmets in racing had to be SNELL or ANSI certified, and leather helmets didn't pass.
My first helmet was a V-1 Pro in 1985, and that was just before the new rule and it didn't have the sticker, so I had to get a Vetta that did.

The thing no one remembers about those old helmets is how minimally adjustable they were - no head bands with click tighteners, impossible chin strap adjusters... they really wiggled around on your head.

I know this is a zombie thread but I love posting my old racing photos. This is the Sonoma State Criterium 1988. I had shorts with a leather chamois and nail-on cleats.

grizzly59

Pretty fly rocking one of these in the early 80's. Protect yer noggin from rednecks throwing d-cells and canned goods.

Darme

ok to be exact the uscf rule for hard shell (snell or ansi z-90.4 approved) helmet rule when into effect January 1st 1986 .. me bad it was so long ago ..