In the 80's every safety conscious cyclist wore a "helmet" that basically where a set of leather sausages held onto your head with a set of straps in either nylon og leather.
Does anybody know what I should search for to find them online, "helmet" does not work. Or even better, where I can find me some?
by Cows_are_nice
33 Comments
Leather “hairnet” helmet.
Somebody forgot to glue their tire.
Are we not going to talk about what’s happening in this photo? The fuck?
I’ve seen goaltenders at soccer games wear a similar “helmet”. If you’re looking for something contemporary, that might be an angle to search for.
That said though, [a quick Amazon search for “soccer goalkeeper helmet”](https://www.amazon.com/soccer-goalkeeper-helmet/s?k=soccer+goalkeeper+helmet) is turning up a bunch of things that are more “genuinely helmet-like”, where it actually covers most of the head, rather than just being some strappy thing. I only looked through the first page or so of search results though; maybe there’s more similar ones further down the list.
Blue Lug sells a version of these.
What a terrifying picture
Edit: ~~this is 1954 btw~~ actually that’s a different caption but it’s definitely older than the 80’s
[It’s 1957](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=323186032555645&id=100063782573616)
[Armin Von Buren](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armin_von_B%C3%BCren)
1957 ~ Swiss cyclist Armin Von Büren wins the Swiss national track championship beating multiple national champion Oskar Plattner.
When he crosses the finish line his wheel collapses in the middle of the high speed sprint probably due to a broken spoke. The photo captures the split second in which Von Büren’s front wheel collapsed and he prepares for the fall.
Source: [https://www.facebook.com/heroesonbike/posts/1957-swiss-cyclist-armin-von-b%C3%BCren-wins-the-swiss-national-track-championship-be/323186059222309/](https://www.facebook.com/heroesonbike/posts/1957-swiss-cyclist-armin-von-b%C3%BCren-wins-the-swiss-national-track-championship-be/323186059222309/)
They are definitely a nostalgic item from the time. Unfortunately they offer very little in the way of protection.
BRN still make one called the “Veloce Vintage”.
I wonder what rating it would get from Virginia Tech.
those were abrasion helmets. protect skin not bone
Why? They are not really protective, maybe a bit better than no helmet but don’t think about it as helmet but as a hairnet.
The Skid Lid
By lunch time your helmet was half gone.
For real go look at old timey TDF pics. Those guys hydration consisted of coffee, wine, and beer. Real men.
They were called hairnet helmets. We also called them skid lids because all they really did is protect your head from damage from skidding down the pavement. That was probably not a common term.
I’ve also seen them listed as “danish helmets” there’s a seller on eBay who still makes them, they look nice, but the seller in Thailand or somewhere like that. I found one for $10 on eBay last year. I never wear it
The 80s? Pic looks like it’s from 50s or 60s. In the 80s anyone who wore a helmet had a white styrofoam one.
I found several quickly on eBay, even NOS
I have an old patent leather hairnet that I used to wear all the time when I was a young hip dude piloting my track bike around the city in the 90’s. But now I’m fully Gray and definitely not cool enough🤪
Yes, the “Hairnet”. Interestingly, when the hard shell helmets were introduced, the Snell standard was used to rate helmets. They couldn’t even test the hairnets because it would damage the testing equipment. They provided no protection for your head!
Yep, older cyclist here and had one of these. Pretty ridiculous.
I still have my old Cinelli leather skull basket somewhere. Sonewhere is where it where it is staying since we can buy helmets that actually provide protection and help with cooling that work about the same.
That tack pic the OP posted is from the 70’s I believe. Looks like the guy on the top of the banking didn’t glue his front tub on properly. It looks devoid of glue let alone multiple layers of shellac. Guy set himself up for failure – just like someone buying an old helmet today.
The dude in the white jersey just rolled the tire on his front wheel. Can’t imagine he gonna stay upright much longer.
In the 80s there weren’t many safety conscious cyclists. So few people wore helmets. I remember guys complaining they were required to wear a helmet for a race. Helmets weren’t required in the Tour de France until the 2000’s
In Germany, they are called „Sturzringe“.
And you can still buy them – even on Amazon.
search for “cycling hairnet” on Ebay
I’ve seen a lot of cinelli branded ones floating around, it may be worth just searching “vintage Cinelli helmet” on eBay.
I have one for sale
any ideas/knowledge on the lower limit of width in mm’s of the middle butted section of spokes available in ‘57?
Hairnet. Crashed at about 40mph wearing one, amazingly didn’t even get knocked out and it was fairly scuffed. Salt baths to deal with the huge amounts of deep road rash were horrific though…
I’m cringing at the thought of his right hand hitting the deck 😣
I had one of these helmets in the 1970’s.
I was a kid when little league soccer first started in the US.
There were so few kids playing we had to play mixed boys and girls teams.
I was smart enough to wear a cup, but we didn’t know what shin guards were and never had them.
Can we take a moment to admire the photographers skill in getting this shot, inside, under lights, at speed?
Oh that’s a harsh flashback. I’ve experienced life-changing concussion while wearing one of these. Which was destroyed in the crash. Go figure, it was in September 1977, and when I got out of hospital and went to my LBS, the ‘Bell Biker’ helmet had come into stock. My racer buddies looked at me a bit oddly when I showed up with it, but I explained that I wasn’t going through that again. Within a few years it became normal and everyone was wearing modern helmets. I am very happy about that. Protect your heads, folks.