Davida Creates Rolling Stones Motorcycle Helmets

The Rolling Stones + Davida = Rock and Roll Helmet

Since the days of Elvis Presley and his Triumphs, Hondas, and Harley-Davidsons, rock ’n’ roll and motorcycles have been tightly entwined. Bob Dylan’s mysterious withdrawal from the music scene in 1966 had a Triumph T100 component. Few who have seen it will forget the 1969 photo by Terry O’Neill of the Rolling Stones with Keith Richards astride a chopped Harley-Davidson at Stephen Stills’ Laurel Canyon home.

Davida, an open-face helmet manufacturer on the Irish Sea, just southwest of the Isle of Man, has produced a new open face motorcycle helmet that features The Rolling Stones’ iconic Tongue and Lip Design logo created by British graphic designer John Pasche. The logo made its debut on the “Sticky Fingers” album in 1971, which was designed by famed pop artist Andy Warhol.

The Davida helmets have been painted at Davida’s Birkenhead factory, just across the River Mersey from Liverpool, initially for display at the Rolling Stones Exhibitionism show at the Saatchi Gallery in London until September. In November 2016, the Exhibitionism show moves to Industria Superstudio in New York.

In addition to the Tongue and Lip Design logo being painted using the original colors from the 1970s, there will also be editions using the Rolling Stones Exhibitionism event colors—magenta replaces red, and turquoise is superseded by black.

Using the Davida Jet helmet, the Rolling Stones helmets are fully legal in Europe and meet the ECER22-05 and ACU Gold Label standards. Because they have not been submitted for DOT certification, the helmet cannot be sold in the United States. However, no one will stop you from anteing up the £400 price in cities such as Berlin, London, Paris, Sydney, and Tokyo and bringing one home. It won’t be legal to wear when motorcycle riding, but to paraphrase a famous song, it’s only rock ‘n’ roll and we like it.