A Helmet History: 25 Years On Top
A HELMET HISTORY: 25 YEARS ON TOP
LEAF THROUGH AN EARLY ISSUE of CYCLE WORLD, one of '62 or '63 vintage, and, just like today, you'll encounter all kinds of motoi~cyc1e advertisements. Some are for familiar brands, like Honda, Triumph, Bultaco and BMW, while others sing the praises of rarer stock of the era, such as Rab bit, Centaur, Tohatsu and Capriolo. But regardless of the company, there's something wrong to the modern eye, something missing: If a motorcycle is shown in action, its rider invariably is helmetless.
This only reflects the innocence of the period; most street motorcyclists in the early 1960s went without safety helmets. Only in competition were helmets a regular part of the riding gear. Turn the pages of any early CYCLE WORLD and you’ll see riders in European competitions wearing pudding bowls (half helmets with leather earflaps), both at roadrace GPs and in off-road events. A small visor added to the off-road helmets distinguished the two. In American races, the pudding bowl was absent; instead, the riders wore jet-style openface helmets, often a Bell 500TX or early Magnum. The jet helmets came by their name honestly: They had been inspired by the safety gear worn by fighter pilots of the 1950s. By 1962, they had largely taken over in U.S. racing.
What the best-dressed heads have worn
25TH ANNIVERSARY
STEVE ANDERSON
As motorcycling boomed in the Sixties, so did interest in motorcycling safety, and helmets were presented as an effective way to minimize the dangers. Motorcycle ads began to show helmeted riders, and riders pictured in magazine tests of new bikes were so equipped, as well. State governments took their own interest, and many passed laws that mandated helmet usage.
The Sixties also saw the single most significant design innovation in motorcycle helmet history: Bell’s original Star, the first successful fullface helmet. With its fixed faceshield, it was often ridiculed as a “welder’s hat” or as something that should be worn by an astronaut, not a motorcyclist. But as GP racers in Europe soldiered on in pudding bowls, more and more American racers began wearing full-face helmets, with street riders soon to follow. The helmet boom was on.
Over this magazine’s 25-year history, we’ve seen helmets change and improve, evolving from mainly competition use to something that most street riders wear (or at least own). What follows is a pictorial record, an admittedly non-comprehensive account, that hits a few of the highs and lows that motorcycle headwear has hit over this last quarter-century.
