Brancale...yes
Unlike a lot, I guess the skidlid bashing for the crowd I ran with in the late 70's early 80's wasn't derigeour ...many of us used them, they were not uncommon in the crits and road races that I was at then, and "plain folks" I knew (including myself) who used them and had the unfortunate experience to actually need them....never were hurt because of them. In fact, every person I know who conked their head with a skid lid was glad they had them. In the face of all the decades-later criticism, m'thinks that 8 or 9 people (myself included) really really ran against the odds....and if the veracity of CR criticism is valid, those 8 or 9 people (myself included) BEAT the odds.
That said, I remember far more criticism of the early Giro helmets - that the foam could "snag" ----but the orange-sized flat spot on my old one was testament to the fact that a round, albeit not "hardshell" surface isn't likely to snag on flat asphalt.
Dale Phelps Longmont CO
ternst <ternst1@cox.net> wrote:
Who remembers the Brancale helmet?
Ted Ernst
Palos Verdes Estates, CA
> In a message dated 5/27/05 6:11:51 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
> classicrendezvous-request@bikelist.org writes:
>
>> <>
>
>
> I rode across the US part way with Kevin Montgomery in 1976. His Dad
> invented the Skid Lid and he and his two girlfriends wore them. We used
> to kid him
> about it but he just made fun of the guys whose Bell Bikers were serving
> as
> sleeping bag protectors because they were too hot to wear. Fast forward
> to 1977
> when my friend Barbara crashed in her Skid Lid and sustained a concussion.
> They really were about as useless as a leather hairnet, and lasted way too
> long
> on the market. We used to say, they are fine if all you are going to do
> is
> skid, but if you are going to crash, you need a real helmet.
>
> I think it was the Bailen Bike Bucket that was the original Sweat Bucket.
> It
> had no holes at all. You could actually carry water in it. The Bell
> Biker
> actually wasn't that bad. I had one when they first came out, serial no.
> 1176. Rode it all the way across the US and then for a few more years.
>
> And the MSR helmet cannot be put in the same lot as the Biker. Although
> it
> came out about the same time, it had a nylon strap suspension inside, and
> no
> foam at all at first. That only came a few years later. It was good for
> deflecting small rocks that fell on you when you were climbing, but would
> not do much
> for a 25-lb head being propelled into the pavement by a 175-lb body at 35
> mph.
>
> Bob Freeman
> Seattle
>
> "Those who don't wear a bike helmet have nothing to protect"
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
_______________________________________________
Dale B. Phelps, 303 939 6967 303 208 8664 pager
"Never be afraid to try something new. The Ark
was designed by amateurs. The Titanic was
designed by professionals." - R. Buckminister Fuller
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