Born '74, never wore one, biked frequently until I was 18.
Based on my accidents, my lack of kneepads was the bigger problem.
Nobody did in the 1970s. Though it would, obviously, have been a good idea.
I’ve had one since the early 90s.
My brother was riding around our townhouse complex, fell over and hit his head on the corner of the communal mailbox. After we got home from the hospital trip (he had a concussion) Dad took us out the same day to get helmets. I’ve worn one ever since and feel weird if I don’t. Which is part of the reason I haven’t ridden my bike in awhile (no helmet, I keep saying I should go get one and never do but now Velociraptor is getting older and I should get one for me and a bike and helmet for him.)
Nope. I’m 42 and was a kid in the last 60’s and the 70’s. I should have. Still have scars from some wrecks.
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Riding home from the community pool. Hung my towel and wet suit in a plastic bag from the handle bars (those high handle bars they had in the 70’s). Bag got stuck in the front wheel. I was launched over the front of the bike onto the pavement. Still have scars on my left eyebrow. In fact, half of the left eyebrow never fully grew back after being scraped off.
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Showing off popping a wheelie on that same bike. Fell into a fence. Scratched up the left side of my face and ripped out much of the hair on that side. Mom got quite a talking to by the doctors after taking me to the ER. Seems the scratches looked like I’d been raked by fingernails and the lack of hair looked like someone pulled it out.
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Tried to jump a curb and somehow fell head first onto the sidewalk. Was knocked out for some time while my friends panicked. Didn’t tell mom and dad because I didn’t want to get into trouble. That worked fine until I went to bed that night and freaked out. Seems I had a concussion.
Yeah. I’m surprised I survived childhood. The bike was only part of my general foolishness. I probably should have worn a helmet at all times.
No. They didn’t exist. And bicycles had one big wheel and one small one.
No and I rode in the back of pick ups going down the road.
Not from day 1. 'round about when I got my 2nd mountain bike at the beginning of junior high (~1990). It’s still around at my parent’s house as a spare helmet, and I’d have to describe the early style as “kinda dumb”. (Makes you look like a big purple mushroom).
I once “used” it on a freeway overpass walkway while coming home at about 12:30 AM from my job as a gas jockey, and I’m glad to have gotten just some scrapes, and not a restful night’s unconsciousness until someone happened to find me.
My cycling equipment these days is a helmet + gloves. (Unless I’m doing downhill, where it’s full helmet + armpads + leg pads, with optional mouthguard.) If nothing is handy while I’m tuning my bike up, I’ll do test rides w/o a helmet, but it feels like taking a walk naked.
IMHO anyone out not wearing at least a helmet doesn’t understand something about what they’re doing.
Early-80s, 90s, 00s. I did. This probably has some relation to the time I went face-first through a rock wall on a sled.
(No, I’m not joking.) Saved my life twice, too.
Through the 70s the only helmet was the leather hairnet style.
First picture. Bicycle Helmet History
They were pretty much unheard of when I was a kid (60’s and 70’s), but back then a good old fashioned concussion and a night in the emergency room was just another character building experience.
Looks like Barak’s never worn one:
(From the same link as Bush above…its a list of famous people on bikes…kinda cool.
ETA: Shoot…the next picture in the list is Barak…with a helmet.)
No, why would we? I was a kid in the 1980’s.
Do different states have different laws for this?
Me too. I lived out in the country, where there was no protection from anyone or anything.
Half the roads didn’t have anywhere to walk, except balancing precariously on its edge. But then, as it was one car every ten minutes on many of the roads, it probably wasn’t a big risk anyway.
No, I never wore one as a kid riding his bike all over the neighborhood in the 70’s.
I had one of those long, orange flags on my bike though.
I did not wear a helmet as a kid. Nobody did. Not for biking, not for skiing, not for–well, anything. Well, the girls in the chi-chi horseback riding class had to, but the rest of us just wore cowboy hats or nothing when we set out to see how high/far our horses could jump.
I don’t wear a bike helmet now. I don’t wear one when I rollerblade, although I do wear knee and elbow pads. Those were also the joints that I messed up as a kid on a bike.
I did make my youngest kid wear one until middle school. He doesn’t wear it anymore, but would if he went dirt/mountain biking, I think.
My dad made my older sister and me wear them in the early/mid-eighties. We kept them on until we were out of view of the house and stashed them somewhere. Nobody else wore them.
I got teased a lot for wearing one. But, you know, the rock wall thing scarred me for life. Literally, actually. And the time the guy on the Vette thought the bike path was actually a highway… well. Glad I wore it.
No helmet for me either, and I rode my bike without knee pads, gloves, the works. I ran with scissors, played with toys of questionable quality, and when I was very young, ate mud pies.
No kidding. Those wheel-wells made the perfect seats for tom-foolerly while facing your friend/sibling. As a wee-lad, I used to sleep in the window-well of a Dodge Polara convertable while on the road. Designed just like a hammock. Never touched a “car-seat” till my kid was born in 01.
Bike helmets? WUSSY!
I don’t care how many celebrities off themselves skiing, I’ll never wear a helmet while doing that, either.
Yes and it saved my life.