Bell Helmets
| Headquarters | Rantoul, Illinois, United States |
|---|---|
| Parent | Vista Outdoor |
| Website | www |
Bell Sports, a division of Vista Outdoor, is an American manufacturer of bicycle and motorcycle helmets. BRG Sports, owner of Riddell football helmets, sold the Bell, Giro, C-Preme, and Blackburn brands to Vista in 2016.
The company started in 1923 as Bell Auto Parts, named for its location in Bell, California.Roy Richter began working for Bell Auto Parts in 1933, and, in 1945, purchased the store for $1,000. He produced its first race car helmets in 1954. The Bell Helmet Company was established as a division of his Bell Auto Parts store in 1956. Bell introduced its Star model, the first full-face motorcycle helmet on the market, in 1968. In 1971, Bell produced the first full-face off-road motorcycle helmet. Bell introduced its first bicycle helmet in 1975. Eventually, Bell would introduce helmets for skydiving, skiing, hockey, football, baseball, fire, police, and military anti-ballistic uses.
Bell's first production helmet was made in 1954, the result of months of research and development. Richter, with the help of veteran naval pilot Frank Heacox, reverse engineered numerous helmets including some used in military aviation. Heacox played a key role in developing Bell Helmet's first products, most importantly by using the helmets himself, both in races and on the street. These experiences with the prototypes led to many useful suggestions. That first helmet, named the Bell 500, featured a polyurethane foam liner insider a hand-laminated fiberglass outer shell. Laminating and polishing helmets by hand was relatively expensive but Richter believed it resulted in a stronger helmet.
Several members of the famous Bill Stroppe Lincoln Team wore the Bell 500 in the Carrera Pan-American Road Race in 1954. A Bell helmet was used in the Indianapolis 500 for the first time by Cal Niday in 1955. Niday crashed during lap 177 of the race and suffered several major injuries. Despite suffering a skull fracture Nidal credited the helmet for preventing even more serious injury. By 1956 helmet sales were far above projections. This resulted in the formation of the Bell Helmet Company as a subsidiary of Bell Auto Parts. The helmet operation employed at least four people working full-time producing helmets in a facility next door to the original Bell Auto Parts location.
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