"we had never heard of helmets for bicycles either"
I used to ride a bicycle 15 miles each way to school every day and yes, no helmets, elbow guards, knee pads, or all the other things deemed essential today.
I recall one time I went straight over the handlebars because I'd just fitted a fixed wheel sprocket and forgot when going down a slight downhill I stopped peddling.
Power assisted take-off. Fortunately on this occasion, because it was cold, I was wearing motorcycling gauntlets which took the brunt of the landing.