Bell Sports

Bell Sports
Headquarters Rantoul, Illinois, United States
Parent Vista Outdoor

Bell Sports, a division of Vista Outdoor, is an American manufacturer of bicycle, auto racing, and motorcycle helmets. Vista also owns the Giro bicycle helmet brands.


History

Bell motorcycle helmet

The company started in 1923 as Bell Auto Parts in Bell, California.[1][2] It produced its first race car helmets in 1954. The Bell Helmet Company was formed as a division of Bell Auto Parts in 1956. It introduced the first full-face motorcycle helmet on the market in 1968 the Star.[3] In 1971 they produced the first full-face off-road motorcycle helmet.[4] It introduced a bicycle helmet in 1975.

In 1980 the company was merged with Riddell to form Bell-Riddell Inc. In 1991, Bell-Riddell's motorcycle division was sold and became Bell Helmets, Inc. The remaining company was renamed Bell Sports, Inc. In 1999, the auto racing division was sold and split into two separate companies called Bell Racing Company (North America) and Bell Racing Europe (Europe, Asia and Africa). Bell Sports reacquired Bell Helmets in 2002, creating Bell Powersports.[5] In 2005, it reacquired Bell Racing Company,[6] and was itself merged into Easton-Bell Sports, Inc. in 2006.[7] Vista Outdoor acquired the company in 2016.

Corporate affairs and operations

Bell is headquartered in Rantoul, Illinois, with a factory at an industrial park which used to be Chanute Air Force Base. Bell Racing USA is a subsidiary of Bell Racing Europe; they use the Bell trademark under license and are headquartered in Champaign, Illinois and in Saintes, near Brussels, Belgium respectively.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bell Helmets - Bell Timeline". Bell. Archived from the original on 2009-12-28. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
  2. ↑ "About Bell Racing".
  3. ↑ Henning, Ari (May 2016), "OLD MEETS NEW", Motorcyclist, p. 52
  4. ↑ >"HISTORY & FACTS". Bell Helmets. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Bell Sports acquires Bell motorcycle helmets, forms new powersports division". 2002-11-04.
  6. ↑ "Bell Sports Acquires Bell Auto Racing Division". 2005-01-07.
  7. ↑ "Easton And Bell Announce Merger". 2006-02-07.

External links

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