When John and I invented a helmet mount for video cameras

In February of 2007 I broke down and bought a small digital Nikon. I mentioned to my neighbor/friend, John, how I wish I could use its video function on motorcycle rides. One of us came up with the idea of fabricating a mount. Our discussions became exciting as we discussed where the best place would be to mount one on a motorcycle.

Handlebars seemed obvious, but would the field of vision be the best? We decided putting a camera on a helmet would be cool because it would see what the rider saw. But would that be safe? I had a history of making aircraft parts of aluminum, but would I want a piece of metal on my head if I crashed? John was more familiar with plastics and suggested Lexan.

Could we form that into a shape that would fit snugly, but could break away instead of penetrating the helmet or face shield? That took some thought and experimentation.

After driving all over the area looking for suitable materials, we eventually decided on Lexan and bought some samples of various thicknesses, Velcro strapping, soft adhesive buttons, Nylon screws with knurled heads and soft rubber washers.

I had recently sold a motorcycle to Cycle World Magazine, which participated very favorably in a comparison of cheap rides (1000 miles for under $1000). I called the Managing Editor and asked it they had any spare helmets. We needed something we could potentially destroy in testing with minimal cash outlay. He graciously invited us to their offices and let us pick through a stash of brain-buckets they were no longer using.

Neither of us wanted to destroy our cameras, so we strapped a prototype mount to the helmet’s chin bar and substituted a 2x4x4″ block of Douglas fir. John climbed a ladder to the peak of my garage roof and I stood by recording the attempts on video. John would drop the helmet/mount/faux-camera from the peak onto the concrete driveway. IT SURVIVED and so did the face shield.

We kept repeating, adding spin and height until we were convinced that the camera and mount would tear away without spinning the helmet, potentially breaking a rider’s neck, but would hold the “camera” securely despite vibration and normal riding shocks and vibrations.

We were in business and actually sold a few to motorcyclists across the country and received praise. But wouldn’t you know it! Along came GoPro and the rest is THEIR history!