# Did you wear a bicycle helmet as a kid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 27, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953 "2009-08-27T20:38:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/1 "2009-08-27T20:38:14Z")
It seems some people are now jumping on Obama for not wearing one. > **[Obamas' Martha's Vineyard Vacation Day 5: President Bikes Without A Helmet,...](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/obamas-marthas-vineyard-v_n_270603)** > > Obamas' Martha's Vineyard Vacation Day 5: President Bikes Without A Helmet, Family Visits Gay Head Lighthouse (PHOTOS, POLL) Anyway when I was growing up (1980s and early 1990s in the Midwest) nobody wore a bicycle helmet, and if you did deign to wear one you’d instantly be labeled a pussy. And we did some crazy shit too. In my town riding around an old quarry was especially popular. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/2 "2009-08-27T20:39:49Z")
Not as a kid, but in college in the late '80s-early '90s and after, Midwest as well. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/3 "2009-08-27T20:40:39Z")
No. Probably should have, but didn’t. I frankly am not sure where you even would have bought a kid’s bicycle helmet in my town in the '80s. Maybe a cycling specialty shop? ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/4 "2009-08-27T21:12:41Z")
No bike helmets for us in the Seattle suburbs in 70s & 80s. Always wore one on the dirtbike, however. Between smoking, drinking and riding with no helmet I can’t believe this guy isn’t more popular amongst the idiocracy. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/5 "2009-08-27T21:14:38Z")
Mid-to-late 70s, you may as well wear a “please kick my ass daily for the foreseeable future” sign. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Awesome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Captain\_Awesome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Awesome)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/6 "2009-08-27T21:20:53Z")
I don’t think there’s a great deal of necessity in wearing one on a beach (no cars, soft-ish surface) where Obama was cycling. I did wear a helmet as a kid outside of my back garden. Children’s helmets have to be relatively over-sized to be effective so I doubt I was one of the cool kids. I had enough of an incentive, since one of my sister’s school friends ended up with brain damage and later died due to an injury, which might have been mitigated if he had been wearing a helmet at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/7 "2009-08-27T21:22:12Z")
Nope. That was long ago and there weren’t such things. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/8 "2009-08-27T21:29:26Z")
Yeah, the _motorcycle_ helmet had barely been invented when I was a kid '60s and '70s. I remember getting my first bike helmet in 1990. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/9 "2009-08-27T21:33:39Z")
I guess they expect Obama to set an example. > [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Between smoking, drinking and riding with no helmet I can’t believe this guy isn’t more popular amongst the idiocracy. If you think those things are all that the “idiocracy” values, perhaps you should reconsider who the real idiots are. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/10 "2009-08-27T21:35:20Z")
I didn’t then, I don’t now. And I’m a frequent bicyclist! :eek: How long before I’m dead? ---
**Author:** ![that\_darn\_cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/59ef9b/32.png) [@that\_darn\_cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/that_darn_cat)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/11 "2009-08-27T21:41:01Z")
No, does it show? 😉 Seriously though, as a child of the 80’s, no one I knew wore one. I remember once wearing an old motorcycle helmet while goofing around on my bike. That was the one time I fell and hit my head, that I recall. Of course, maybe I only remember it because of the helmet. I have one now and wear it for 2 reasons; 1. I have a child I need to be a rolemodel for. 2. I need to not bash my brains out for his sake. ---
**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/12 "2009-08-27T21:42:49Z")
Nope. Still don’t. I’m 37 today! Could it be my last birthday? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/13 "2009-08-27T21:47:49Z")
70s. I was not even aware they existed. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/14 "2009-08-27T21:50:16Z")
Bicycle helmets weren’t invented back then. A bicycle was my primary mode of transportation for many years - rode it to work, school, the bar - good thing I never had a wreck. I briefly wore a helmet during the 80’s when my kids were of bike-riding age. Good example and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/15 "2009-08-27T22:33:59Z")
As a kid (1970s and early 1980s) I didn’t because they weren’t available. When I bought a bike mid-1980s for my primary getting around town method, my folks paid for a nice helmet. Worn one ever since and they have saved my skull more than once. I saw a photo of the President riding sans helmet and my first thought was “He ought to be wearing a helmet”. GWB is a mountain biker and he wears a helmet as tons of photos show. > **[Bicycling](https://www.liveabout.com/bicycling-4688107)** > > No matter what your age or fitness level, bicycling can help you get around locally, explore nature, and get in shape. Use these resources to learn more about techniques, equipment, training, and bike culture. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/16 "2009-08-27T22:57:00Z")
No. Nobody wore them when I was first learning to ride a bicycle; they came in when I was in my teens (early '90s), and by the time I finished high school, there was a local ordinance requiring kids under 14 to wear them. (I actually got stopped for this once, by a police officer who refused to believe I was seventeen.) Come to think of it, it’s amazing that they went from “unheard-of” to “mandatory” in the space of less than a decade. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/17 "2009-08-27T23:05:51Z")
Of course not, we didn’t know there was any such thing. Considering some of the accidents I had, though, it probably would have been a good idea. The one time I witnessed a really serious bike accident, near the end of high school, it was fortunately a serious cyclist wearing a helmet. He pretty much landed on his head and the helmet certainly saved his life. He didn’t look like his back was in very good shape, though. (He had been whizzing down a shallow grade, in the bike lane, when someone opened a car door right in front of him.) ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/18 "2009-08-27T23:08:53Z")
Nope (80’s and early 90’s). But, I don’t think bike helmets are a bad idea. I don’t go around thinking “I didn’t need one as a kid, why do people have to wear them now?” To me they are one of those things that are un-obtrusive and might as well be worn. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/19 "2009-08-27T23:09:47Z")
Chiming in from someone the president’s age…no. Even had they been available in the itty-bitty midwestern town where I grew up, it likely wouldn’t have been a priority at our house. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953/20 "2009-08-27T23:28:27Z")
No bike helmet and no riding helmet as a kid. I haven’t been on a bike in a long time, but I do wear a helmet when I ride horses now. StG [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-wear-a-bicycle-helmet-as-a-kid/507953.md?page=2)