Cafe Racer, Retro and Vintage Motorcycle Helmets

Cafe racer helmets, also sold as retro or vintage motorcycle helmets, bring back the shapes of the 1960s and 70s, with round shells, few hard edges and period colours, but with the protection and approval of a modern helmet. They are the natural partner for a neo-retro, a scrambler, a cafe racer or a restored classic, and they look just as good on a scooter. Here you will find full-face and open-face helmets in this style from NZI and By City.

Where the cafe racer look comes from

In late-1950s and 1960s London, rockers stripped their British bikes of everything they did not need, fitted clip-ons and rearsets and raced between roadside cafés. They wore open-face helmets, aviator goggles and leather jackets, an image that neo-retro bikes have brought back to the streets. The first full-face helmets arrived at the end of the 1960s, with round shells and wide eye ports, and they are the other great reference in this section.

Retro full-face or classic open-face?

Retro full-face

Full protection with the look of those early full-faces. The NZI Street Track 4, made in two shell sizes and Pinlock-ready, has the widest choice of designs; the Flat Track 2 takes its name from dirt oval racing; and the Mad Carbon and By City The Rock have fibre shells, carbon in the case of the NZI. Some versions of The Rock also take a peak. This is the choice if you ride on main roads or want shelter from rain and cold; the rest are in our full-face helmets.

Classic open-face

This is the purest version of the style. The NZI Rolling 4 Sun, which makes up more than half of this section, pairs the lines of a sixties open-face helmet with an internal sun visor that saves you wearing sunglasses; the Zeta 2 Optima, Capital Vision Plus, Vintage 3 and By City The City complete the range. If you want the open-face-and-goggles look, choose a helmet with a wide opening and check that the goggle strap stays put on the back of the shell. More open models are in our open-face helmets.

Finishes with a story

On a retro helmet, the finish matters as much as the shape:

• Matt finishes and period colours: bone, cream, khaki, burgundy or green, as on the Rolling 4 Sun Boss, Creamy and Linien or the plain Street Track 4 models.
• Aged effects: oxidised black on the Mad Carbon and Street Track 4, worn red on the Rolling 4 Sun Linien and brass on the Street Track 4 Latón.
• Named graphics, such as Tank, Diana, Bello or Aeronáutica, combining two or three tones.
• Exposed carbon: the Mad Carbon in carbon finish shows the weave of the fibre.

Retro yes, genuinely old no

Some riders look for a real vintage helmet, the kind that turns up at a flea market or in the family garage. To display, great; to ride in, no: it does not meet current approval, and after decades its materials no longer absorb an impact as they should. The helmets in this section are new helmets with a period look and an ECE label sewn to the strap. Check on the product page whether it is 22.06 or 22.05: the carbon By City The Rock, for example, comes in both versions.

To finish off the look, vintage and cafe racer gloves are the obvious partner. If you ride a cruiser or a bobber, also see our custom helmets; retro models in small sizes are in our women's motorcycle helmets, and By City, a brand devoted to the retro look, has its own page of By City helmets. How to measure your head and which standard to look for are in our guide to motorcycle helmets.