Hairnet Helmet

“I’m not sure this helmet ever had a brand logo on it,” said Michael Barry. “My father carried them in his shop. As with most of my racing gear, I was quite proud of this helmet and, with stickers found in the store, I put my name on the back and the club name, Bicyclesport, on the front. At some point, I had seen one of my childhood heroes, Laurent Fignon, with his name on his hat, so I thought it would be cool to do the same.”

The hairnet helmet was one of the earliest forms of head protection. It appeared in the 1900s. “Riders were still using them right up until the uci mandated hardshell use at the pro level – that was in 2003,” Barry said. “The design didn’t really change much over the years; the buckles improved, but for the most part, they were always leather, or pleather, filled with some padding.”

Barry used this helmet from about 1987 to 1989, from ages 10 to 13. “At the time, there were races almost every weekend throughout the spring, summer and autumn in Ontario,” he said. “The racing scene was vibrant. This was before Sunday shopping, so there were a good number of events at local shopping malls. The minute the laws changed, those races disappeared. My parents had a youth cycling club with dozens of kids signed up. We went all over the place to race.” Barry even wore this helmet in the Jeugdtour in Assen, the Netherlands.

“I never found these helmets uncomfortable,” he said. “Like a leather baseball mitt, they became better with use. Once the buckles were set up comfortably and the helmet was a little broken in, it was unnoticeable.”— Matthewpioro