Hats & Caps
Click on the pictures below to see more details of that item.
Motorcycle Caps
The motorcycle cap has its roots deep in invest in this country. You can find the cap style as far back as 1839 with the Dragoon Horsemen (CAVALRY). There are many other examples of it in the mechanics’ or the workmens’ hats of the 1850s. The ground work cap would be laid down for Albert Augustus Pope with his Wheelman in 1876 (Bicyclist) for the new century. By 1903, Pope Motorcycle, Reading-Standard, Thor, and Henderson are some types of hats that we think of as motorcycle cap. By the time of the Great Depression, the big motorcycle makers needed to get into the clothing and parts business in a big way just to survive. Contrary to what everyone thinks, that big motorcycle company up in Milwaukee did not invent the motorcycle cap, they just popularized it.
The motorcycle cap is the iconic image of what we think of as a motorcycle rider of the 1930s to the 1960s in this country. For this time a man would not be dressed if he did not have a hat on when he left the house. So why this style motorcycle cap? The answer is simple: It is a damn good design for a motorcycle. The wind whips around it and does not rip it off your head when you are riding.
