He's wearing a "proper" helmet.

Oh, I see. They're going to making fun of you anyway, no matter what you wear on your head .

He needs to flip it too.

. Sometimes the last sound you hear.

Had my "bell rung" a couple of times in my life, and it did sound like a big bell going off in my head....."BONG!"
I agree that it will be realy really bad if you hear "KUCHARIK!" instead....

If he was riding a bike with a pervious generation stem it would look pretty good to me.
Eddy still has a decent amount of drop from the saddle to the bars, I hope I can do the same when I get to his age.

It was definitely the sound my clavicle made when it snapped after I went over the bars one time. Egad.

One of the reasons I still own and ride a classic steel road bike is that it looks beautiful. I wear retro jerseys (amongst others) because they look cool. But I wear a modern Giro helmet because IT WORKS. Apparently there is technically still a debate about this, but having put a dent in a car door with my head and having the helmet crack to be unusable afterwards, I'm willing to believe I made the right choice in wearing it.

(Actually I think the Giro helmets look pretty good anyway, and they're very comfortable.)

Most health insurance plans will reimburse you at least partially for the cost of a helmet. I bought 5 new helmets for everyone in the family Last year and was reimbursed $25 for each of them. A $40 helmet for $15 is a bargin.

I've always thought that was just a line from the manufacturers to get you to buy a new helmet more often.

F'instance, I've got a foam helmet that I've crashed twice, both times my head the dirt pretty hard (hard enough to really hurt and possibly concuss, had I been bare-headed) but apart from the slight dent and scraping on the exterior, no damage to the helmet. The foam didn't noticeably crush and after checking it thoroughly in good light, I can't see any cracks or anything. I don't see why this helmet won't protect me just as well the next time I go down.

That Casco Attack is a month's worth of paychecks! Wow! Mucho dinero!

yes, but it's great helmet. i've been wearing them since 2009, i'm on my second one actually. (the first was cracked in a crash)

That means you really didn't hit very hard. If the foam had collapsed then you'd need a new helmet.

Glad you didn't need a new one!

The Kucharik helmet is somewhat better than a bare head or hat if you slide your head against pavement or gravel, but it offers little protection if you whack your head on the ground. It does offer a very cool retro look, common to the 60's and 70's; just don't count on it to protect your head in a crash.

I bought a Bern. If I ever wear it, it will be the first bicycle helmet I've ever worn. I was always uncomfortable with anything on my head. It got me a lot of grief when I was in the Army. Besides, at my age people will assume that I'm bald and I'm not.

I am not saying not to wear a helmet, but we all rode without helmets for years. Racers, commuters, Sunday pedalers, all have pedaled every darned where without helmets.
Many areas its law now, and thats ok.
And there has been some tragic bicycle accidents I don't doubt, where helmets could have made a difference.
So now everyone is paranoid about falling on their heads. A hairnet has a bit of padding should you hit where the hairnet is lol.
Got a hairnet? Have some fun one Sunday and go ride retro. Add some wool.
Just don't wear your lime green while you're doing it, or you may be confused for a cross dresser.

I went riding with a buddy a few weekends ago that doesn't like helmets..after a rain...I had told him I crashed hard in a rain over the summer...he said you are not a serious rider unless you break your collar bone....he crashed.... and broke his collar bone.... and got a concussion.... and took a good amount of skin off down one side and head...his head bounced off the ground which probably would be wide open if shoulder did not hit first.

It was hard to feel sorry, I was actually mad at him but kept to myself although I think paramedics could tell. I just knew it was coming for him. I didn't want to be there when he wrecked.Very conflicting and not cool to put that on someone. He now has a metal plate in his shoulder and can't ride for 6 months. If he rides, I guarantee he will want a helmet.

I hated helmets too. Bikes helmets are not that cool looking, but you get used to it.

My tandem stoker/wife and I each wore WHITE Kucharik helmets in the late 1970s.
John did a limited production for Schwinn of white helmets at that time with the Schwinn logo.
Wore them in good health and even managed to crash at 30+ miles an hour on our tandem.
Yup, we are still alive and that helmet likely saved us from a concussion.
Used to wear the old Cinelli 'hairnets' and the Kucharik was a definite improvement.
Also, living in sunny Arizona the white helmet was a bit cooler when the temps got up to 110 degrees than the black Cinellis!
Agree, today's foamy hardshells give a bit better protection.
Have cracked a couple of them and still pedalin' at ages 83 and 81.
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

I just regret throwing away my perfectly good, unused Kucharik when we cleaned out everything and moved to a condo. I never trusted to use it as a helmet, but as a vintage showpiece, well, that's different.

My first helmet 40 years ago was a hairnet I got when I bought my first real road bike in 76, a Trek TX900, little did I know it didn't offer any protection but fortunately I never had to use to find out! I only had that hairnet thing for year and threw it away when I sold the bike.

Yup and perhaps part of the reason you are still pedalin' is because you are an early adopter of safety technology as you clearly demonstrated by wearing hairnets when they were new and continuing to wear helmets that have protected you on multiple occasions.

Helmets are great and the technology is better than ever.

Looks like wrestling headgear...LOL

Talk about lack of protection. I wore a Cinelli for a while, back in the day.

It's your head. I recently spent some months in a physical rehab place with a broken leg. Some of the people there were there for brain and neck injuries. I came to realize how fragile and vulnerable we are to a debilitating injury. The guy in the next room was a cop who had just retired. He was working out at the gym and fell back and hit his head. He is now learning how to stand up and walk again.

I don't remember anyone in the USA ever wearing a hairnet except during a race, when helmets were required... a few guys had hardshell helmets in races too. Just out riding though, it was either hardshell or nothing.

I remember the rule book at the time said something like "helmets shall not be just useless straps of leather, they must have some padding to them"... LOL, obviously no testing standards to reference back then.

Helmets were also required in Belgian races when the rest of Europe didn't require them - so you can look at an old photo and tell that it was a Belgian race - this one is Het Volk I think.



As mentioned earlier, they do offer some protection against skidding abrasions... assuming they have some padding to them.