How to lock your motorcycle helmet or jacket on your bike

Image by J.R. Ball

If you’ve ridden for any amount of time, you’ve probably experienced this familiar scenario: you’re out for a ride on a 75° or 80°F day, stop for lunch or to sightsee, but don’t feel like lugging an 8 or 9lb. leather jacket around. If your bike doesn’t have locking hard bags, what do you do?

One approach is to simply drape your jacket over the bike…

…but that hardly seems wise unless you’re out in the middle of nowhere. And if you’re using a quality helmet, leaving it sitting on your bike is an invitation for someone to lift it.

There are many solutions for locking a jacket and/or helmet to your bike, and several are reviewed in this link from Frank Gates’ “Motorcycle Rider Basics” blog.

One of the items Frank mentions is the Bolt Lock, shown in this video from Cruiser Customizing:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TD0yeNjF30]

The Bolt Lock is certainly a nifty device, but it costs $59.99 - plus $9.99 for the 36″ cable, plus shipping. The total including shipping to my zip code is $78.10 Is there a simpler, less expensive but no less effective solution? Of course…

One option, assuming you have some modest storage capacity on your bike (on mine I have a small toolkit - you can see it directly beneath the jacket in the 2nd picture above) is to simply carry a locking cable designed for locking up bicycles. In the photo below I’ve run the cable through one of the sleeves on my jacket and one of my rear shocks, and then locked it:

This particular cable lock is keyed, and I just carry the key to it on my MC keychain. This lock cost less than $20; here’s a link to a similar lock sold at Wal-Mart for $14.56 Of course you can run the cable through the D rings or strap of your helmet too. These locks feature braided steel cables sheathed in Kevlar, and they’ll stop casual thieves in their tracks. (A determined pro with a heavy duty set of bolt cutters is a different matter - in this case I’m just trying to prevent someone swiping my jacket or helmet when the bike’s parked in front of a restaurant or on the street.) In combination with the security system on my bike, I’m confident I’ll never have an issue.

kc 7/5/08

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