Hi Sean, As former wearer of a hairnet helmet (patent leather/black/made by Cinel li etc), back when I was racing in the 70's, I can tell you that these h elmets (which changed little from those in earlier decades) probably wou ld not have helped at all had I (or any of my fellow racers - also requi red to use them by the USCF) had a serious impact fall onto the pavement , etc.
We always heard rumors to this effect, and that these helmets would prim arily help us only if our heads dragged along the ground or we fell ever so gingerly on these lightly padded "helmets" (fortunately never had ei ther happen).
As you probably know, European road racers from the late eighties on bac k, rode helmetless, and only went so far as to use the hairnet (with or without cloth cap on top), on rougher roads and cobbles, such as Paris-R oubois. Track riders generally always wore hairnets as a rule from I thi nk the 30's until more recent times.
As much as it seemed there was a machismo factor with European racers no t wearing helmets (my life is not as important as winning this race), I think there was mainly the factor of there not being a helmet made that was light enough to not be a distraction or cause neck fatigue. Of cours e the introduction of the Giro helmet changed all that. Hope this helps. Bill Ungar Torrance, CA USA
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