Helmets became mandatory in professional road racing in 2003, following the tragic death of Andei Kivilev from head injuries sustained in a fall during Paris-Nice. With the adoption of that regulation died one of the most iconic images of professional cycling: the racer riding over the high mountain passes of Europe with their eyewear perched atop their bare skulls, cycling cap, or leather hairnet. That image may have died, but with the regulation came a massive push for innovation and improvement in helmet technology.
Prior to 2003, cycling helmet design took its inspiration largely from bowling ball technology; early racing helmets were spherical, heavy, and poorly ventilated. As a result, helmet adoption amongst professionals was spotty. When helmet use became mandatory, however, the pros insisted on lighter, better-ventilated designs – not to mention an improvement in aesthetics. (Which begs the question: are helmets today cooler because the pros wear them, or do the pros wear them because they are cooler?)
In addition to those problems came the question of what to do with eyewear; tucking unused eyewear into a jersey pocket is unpopular with sponsors who pay to have their products on display during a race, while placing them rearwards on the back of your head makes you look like you’ve suffered an accident at the hands of some kind of mad scientist. The solution was to design a helmet with large side vents capable of receiving the earpieces of eyewear in order to store them safely on the helmet while not worn over the eyes.
I have discussed in perhaps too much detail my obsession with cycling eyewear and my tendency towards claustrophobia set on by the feeling of overheating while having something on my face during physical effort. I suppose I have the option not to wear a helmet in training, but it could be argued that those who deem not to wear one perhaps have very little worth protecting in terms of the functional quality of their brains. For someone of my considerable intellectual capability, I would be doing the world – if not civilization at the evolutionary scale – a disservice by suffering a brain injury brought on by smacking my unhelmeted (and oddly proportioned) melon against the pavement.
With that, I feel justified in declaring eyewear-compatible helmet vents one of the greatest advances in bicycle technology.
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@Marcus
That Ludo helmet was unbelievable. If I didn't believe beer-mug insulators were illegal in Belgium, I would postulate that is what they are made of, but obviously that's not the case. What a stud. That guy turned Pro at like 35, didn't he?
@Omar
I'm speechless. It's perfect. You are ready for the trials, my son.
Being myopic, I never want my eyewear anywhere other than in front of my eyes. Even in Tourmalet mist. So the whole vent-as-storage-device thing is of little significance to me. And having the fashion sense of a dead snail means aesthetic advances in helmet design are also a little lost on me (though I am hopeful that continued study of the Rules will, in time, address this - and may even result in me removing the Mirror Brett Sold Me). But I do think the change in helmet-wearing attitudes is interesting. When I was a kid in the 70's, we used to ride (and frequently crash) our skinny-wheeled "Raleigh 20" bikes on the dirt tracks in the hills behind us long before those crazy Californians thought up mountain biking. We never wore helmets, and our parents never suggested that we should. When I lived in London in the late '80's I used to cycle through the city, frequently scared shitless, but always lidless. By the early 90's helmet-wearing had become universal in the NZ MTB scene, and I think it became compulsory around then for all cyclists. Once it was compulsory, it was virtually universal. And now going without feels so deeply wrong that no-one I know would do it. It's a bit like wearing seat-belts. And not smoking in bars. Once it becomes compulsory, pretty much everyone complies - and then they rapidly internalise the requirement to such an extent that the compulsion is almost not needed any more (because people will just do it anyway). And that's what I think will happen with The Rules. Pretty soon, everyone will Obey the Rules instinctively and without question. No-one will need reminding or chastising, because no-one will even want to think about getting on a bike without being fully Rule-compliant. I have a dream ...
@frank
I think it started with the Giro Boreas. To be fair to Giro their lids have always held glasses well in the vents. I just stopped buying them when they became Armstrong apologists.
The stowage method that Bertie used was employed by Cuddles back in at the Giro. Although if I put glasses anywhere other than the vents, I prefer the method of placing them on the back of the neck. However, being a contact lens wearer, like Geof, my glasses tend to stay in front of my eyes unless I can no longer see through them due to dirt.
@Marcus
what about the monstrosity that Rebellin is wearing in the San Sebastian picture.
@Good Geofelephant
I remember watching that finish and thinking that little Tommy V took off his specs for the finish but was then told by his team car to put 'em back on - hence the apparent fumbling. If you can be bothered, watch it again - he clearly looks back in annoyance.
Massive respect to the DS for taking care of the sponsors. Le chouchou should have known better...
Being semi-old dude, I remember back when no one wore helmets. As a kid in the '70s, spent many hours jumping fake BMX bikes off stairs, or buzzing 'em though the woods - no helmets. I rode dirt motorcycles at the time also, and for that, full gear MX gear. Kind of ironic.
During my bike shop days of the early '80s, we rarely sold a helmet. Not exactly the world of choice either. I think at the time, the original Bell Biker was the most common - the one that looked like a white turtle shell on you head. I also remember a Pro-Tec looking helmet that sat on the shelf unsold for months. It actually glowed in the dark - no lie. Someone occasionally donned it to run around the dark parking lot like a mental case, while we all laughed our asses off.
I remember buying my first helmet in 1986, a Vetta hardshell model, lame indeed. I bought it for mountain bike racing, and only for racing. Training and fun rides, still no head protection. I hated wearing it. A few years after that, one of those Specialized deals with the lycra cover. At that point I started wearing a helmet most of the time. I now dig Giro helmets and wear it almost 100% of the time. I do at times cruise the neighborhood or goof around at local schoolyard on my mountain bike without a helmet - jumping steps like I'm still 14 years old.
Interesting to see how the entire culture has changed. Riding without a helmet now is like driving without a seatbelt. Maybe a bit of overkill, but still not a bad thing. I had a friend in the '80s fracture his skull test riding a bike in a parking lot. Freaky, but true. As he was laying on the pavement, said he knew something was wrong - double vision and heard something dripping in his ear. Yikes. He did recover.
I'm rambling here....oh yeah, eye wear in helmet vent holes. Not only convenient, but damn pro looking as well. After going months without eye wear, after breaking my Rudy Projects, I picked up a pair of Wileyx shades, only to discover they will not stay in the helmet vents - at least not securely. Lame. I may keep 'em for casual wear and pick up another pair for riding. Bummer.
In vents always seems a bit insecure, or maybe that's just me or my choice of eyewear. Back of head is safer and freaks out the folks behind you after you have HTFUed, fired your guns and left the non-'Nati quivering in your wake on the lower slopes.
In fact, what really annoys me are riders who only have glasses stuck in their helmet vents and never seem to actually wear them. If you don't like glasses, don't fucking have them, it will make them cheaper for those of us who have to pay for them.
@frank
Thank you for the praise. Rule-worthy maybe?
Oh, and what are these "trials" you speak of?
@jarvis
I agree. I almost never take my shades off while I'm riding unless it's one hell of a long climb.
@Good Geofelephant
Voeckler, certainly not. To be honest, I thought he looked like a bumbling idiot when he was fooling with his shades. His ample serving of Rule 5 does help out his case, however.
The marriage between the multi-vent helmets of today, and cycling specific eyewear is quite possibly as nearly sacred as anything we have seen in the modern age. Those who abide by it, will look back in generations to come like we look back on Coppi and his glasses and drinking as he rides.
The glasses can come and go in the vents at will, used and placed back at will. It indeed couldn't be better in any way.
BTW-I would say howerver that the glasses must be in the vent upside down. Naturally the earpiece then provides as a hook superiorly into the vent hole, providing natural stability & ease of mind that they will not fall out during the remaining effort. In doing so, its a natural flip from the nose to the helmet.
@Roadslave - I love how watching the pros leads to adoption of the most avant-garde cycling delusions. Witness, I had observed the Grand Faboo's repeated reliance on the 'phantom TT bar' whilst grinding the rest of the field into a paté of mixed and broken DNA....you know the elbows / forearms resting on the bar tape either side of the stem with hands lolling lazily in the breeze?
Anyway, I was out last night, further expunging the excesses of the weekend when I found myself in mild competition with some other rouleurs. Wishing to adopt a high pace but with a degree of nonchalance, I decided to attempt this most laid back of positions. All I can say is....make sure your cables are the right length and your headset adjusted properly. While I acheived an uncomfortable equilibrium at rest, piling on the coals in an attempt to diesel off the front sent me into a knee trembler that damn near pitched me over the bars @ 45kph. Most embarassing.