Category: Back In The Day

Back in the Day: Another Bell helmet

Like everyone else who read the “Back in the Day” Bell Star piece, I greatly enjoyed Gresh’s blog.  I never owned a Star, but I bought one of the modern Bell helmets Joe referenced about 10 years ago from my good buddy Mike over at NoHo Scooters in Hollywood.  It was a lightweight, inexpensive full-face deal with artwork that made it an instant “I want” item.   The Boss was with me and she gave the nod, and Mike gave me a good price, so I bought it.

Not politically correct. But cool. I liked it. Bombs Away!

The helmet had a World War II aviation motif. It’s not politically correct, so if you’re going to get your shorts in a knot over the artwork, my advice is this:  You’re young.  Go to your safe space and take a nap.  You’ll probably get over it.

The military theme worked perfectly, I think, with a CSC motorcycle Steve Seidner (CSC’s CEO) built.  He called it “The Sarge” and it was his personal bike.  I liked both the motorcycle and the helmet so much that as soon as Steve’s bike came together (and he wasn’t around) I raced off to a spot I knew would make for a good photo…

The Sarge and my Bell helmet.  The motif worked.  For me, anyway.  Cue in the music from “Off We Go, Into the Wild Blue Yonder…”

I wore that helmet all the way down to Cabo and back on the CSC 150 Baja run.  It was a nice hat.  I really liked it.  It made me taller, thinner, and faster.  Better looking, too, if I kept the visor down.

The Bell on my CSC 150. I called my bike the Baja Blaster.

They say you are supposed to replace a motorcycle helmet every three years (“they” are the guys who make helmets, of course).  I don’t know if that’s really necessary, but it’s what I do.  After three years the insides of my helmets get pretty funky, and in my case aromatic reasons drive the need for a new lid.

But the three-year rule wasn’t what ended my relationship with the Bell you see here.  It was a different reason:  The outside surface got tacky.  Not in the good taste or politically correct sense (if that’s what you’re thinking), but tacky in an adhesive sense.   It got sticky to the touch, like flypaper.  I think it was because the adhesive bonding the wrap (the thin layer of artwork) to the helmet’s shell seeped through to the outside.  Whatever.  It would stick to my hands when I picked it up and I don’t like a clingy thingy.  A Bell guy told me he knew of the problem and it had been fixed, but they no longer offered the helmet I had come to love.

I sure wish Bell still made that helmet.  I would buy a new one and it’s what I’d be wearing today.

Back in The Day: The Bell Star Helmet

Different versions of the Bell Star. As the design evolved, the window grew and the helmet added a flip-up visor. They were the ultimate in cool.

In the early 1970’s I worked at The Art Colony, an art supply and picture-framing store on Westward Drive. Back then I fancied myself a sort of artist and I got discounts on oil paints, brushes, and different sizes of the pre-stretched canvas we made on site. The place smelled great. They had clay and water color supplies but I never messed with that stuff because I felt those materials were inferior to oil painting. Oils were good enough for the Old Masters so they were good enough for me. Even at 15 years old I didn’t like anything new.

Motorcycle vandalism was a problem at our school. Any nice-looking bike would be attacked in the school’s parking area. You’d get your seat cut or a bunch of rocks in your gas tank if the vandals were in a good mood. If they were in a bad mood your chain might be welded solid (the motorcycle parking area was next to the metal shop, a tactical error on the school administration’s part) or sugar poured in your tank. At the time I was riding a sweet, red Honda SL70, fully street legal and had a learner’s permit to ride in the daylight hours. I never took the bike to school. I’d ride to Carlson’s house, leave the SL70 there and walk to school.

After school I’d ride to The Art Colony and work a few hours until they closed. I earned fifteen or eighteen dollars a week, which was plenty to keep the SL70 in gas and tires. At least until Wilson got a Bell Star helmet. Damn, that helmet was cool. The rest of us had open face, jet-style lids that either slid back on our head and tried to choke us or pushed down onto our nose blocking most of the road. It was probably a fitment issue but we used whatever helmet no one else wanted. Buying a helmet was an unknown concept.

Wilson’s Bell Star fit his head and had a flip down visor that was great for riding in the rain. It rained a lot in Florida. Naturally, everyone started getting Bell Star helmets and whoever bought one became instantly cool. I had to have one. Murray Auto, in Hialeah had the best price on Bell Helmets: Fifty-one dollars out the door. This was a huge sum of money back when you could buy a running Japanese motorcycle for thirty-five bucks. Regardless, I had to have one. I wanted to be cool, too.

I beavered away at The Art Colony making frames, stretching canvas and skimped on everything I could. It took about two months before I saved enough to buy a Bell. Since I was working and couldn’t get to Murray’s during business hours I handed the money to Wilson for the helmet (he had an XL70 which was nearly the same motorcycle as an SL70) and he went to Murray’s to get the lid.

He brought the helmet back to the Art shop and when we opened the box the thing positively glowed. The paint was flawless, the interior was made of an exotic brushed rayon material. It was so clean. It was like the Playboy Mansion inside. Sliding the Bell onto my head was like entering another world. The intimate view from the Star’s porthole framed a world that had changed. I felt invincible wearing that helmet. I could batter down doors, go into space or ride through the worst rainstorm safe and dry inside. If you didn’t count the rest of my body.

Bell Helmets as I knew them went out of business. I don’t know what happened. I heard lawsuits killed them off. Another company bought the name and started making all sorts of Bell-branded stuff. Mostly for bicycles. You can still buy Bell-branded helmets, they even have a cool Star Classic model.

As for me, I’m back to wearing hand me downs or freebie helmets. I got a good deal on a twenty-five dollar no-brand helmet at Pep Boys. I feel my head is worth less and less with each passing day. Back when I was 15 I had my whole life ahead of me, a quality helmet was a good investment. Now, even with inflation-adjusted money I’ll probably never spend what that old Bell Star cost on another helmet.