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If you own a Jet style helmet with a ratchet type strap rather than the D type strap then it can be a challenge to secure these using the strap.
It’s not something I have needed to do frequently but in some locations I really want to leave the helmet on the bike. For example renting a scooter in the Philippines and Thailand it is hassle to walk around the mall carrying helmet when everyone else has attached theirs to the clip under the scooter seat. And arriving at a temple where I will be well away from the bike my bag is always secured and cable locked but my helmet just left on bike. It’s never been a problem and I deliberately have stuck a bunch of stickers on my Nolan N43 helmet to make it look cheap, but my mind would be more at ease if it was better secured.
T-Bar for ratchet type helmet straps
So after years of procrastinating I got around to getting one of the t-bar type parts that make the ratchet type helmets easier to secure.
And this is how that fits/works.
It is made by Kijima Japan and cost about $9 AUD delivered via Amazon.
Now I know the strap can be cut but I am not aware of that being a big problem in situations I am referring to. A new helmet is as little as $20 in SE Asia and it would cost more than that to have a repair done to fix a new strap but if you had some $1000 fancy brand item that screams money then you might want to keep that with you.
Mine blends in and the brand is not one that people might want to steal.
As a side note there has been talk that ratchet type straps are not as good as D type but like so much helmet mythology there is zero empirical evidence to support that and I have never read any report of these coming apart in a accident.
I shall report back on this after my upcoming rides where I will put it to test on both bike and scooter.
Update: OK well not every scooter is easy to attach a helmet to and the one I rented in Philippines did not work with this. Attaching to a motorcycle in Thailand worked ok but depends if the model has a helmet holder. However the item itself functions as expected.
Using a cable lock to secure
I’ve since found how to loop a thin cable lock through the clip and then secure the helmet to motorcycle with cable and find this is more versatile. (this is for jet style helmets, obviously regular helmet you can loop around chin bar)
Simply make a loop of the cable then thread that through the ratchet same as the tbar then bring the end of the cable lock through this loop, now it can be attached to anywhere on bike.
