Davida Helmets: the history, the reality

Photos: Ben Part

The sharpest looking lids come from the Birkenhead docks, across the Mersey from Liverpool. Davida’s rocker heritage has been admired – and copied – by fashionistas and outlaws the world over. Check out the exquisite paint jobs on offer: the pudding basin classic race series resembles a sequence of objects d’art. Their promotional imagery is simply different class. Partly because of their style, partly because they’re England’s sole surviving helmet manufacturer, Davida justifiably hold a special place in Brit Bike Culture – augmented by Fid the Lid, their charismatic MD. Party animal of legend and resourceful culture vulture, Fid established Davida’s incredible visual archive, and curated the motophoto exhibition, based on historic press material. It’s exactly the kind of project you would associate with the Birkenhead crew.

Editor’s note: this article was written by Nick Berkeley, a freelance journalist and photographer based in England and a longtime friend of Hell For Leather. All the photos come from Sideburn’s Ben Part. 
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