Here’s the lock with the cable looped through my helmet and the handlebars. The locking carabiner dangles in between.

Having some way to secure your helmet to your bike when you park somewhere is essential. Sure, I know a lot of people leave their helmets with the bike, unsecured, and even I do that at times, but there are other times when I just don’t feel that trusting.

Years ago it seemed most bikes came with helmet locks as part of the bike. I know my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom has one. But then there’s my 1999 Kawasaki Concours: it has one but it is located such that it is essentially useless. Whose idea was that? No matter, I have long had a third-party helmet lock that has worked great.

I have not had a helmet lock for my 2006 Suzuki V-Strom 650. So when I was contacted by Big Pantha asking if I would be interested in testing and reviewing their helmet lock I jumped at the opportunity.

This device is really simplicity itself. It is rubber-coated cable with a loop at one end and attached to a locking carabiner at the other end. You run the cable through your helmet and around something on the bike and then connect the two ends with the carabiner. There is a combination lock element and once you have closed the carabiner you move the dials to secure it. When you’re ready to go you set the dials back to your combination and disconnect. As compact as it is, Big Pantha says the cable can be unwound to stretch as much as six feet.

As a former technical writer creating user guides I am a strong believer in the concept of reading the instructions. Nevertheless, this seemed so simple that I started fooling with it without doing so. I was immediately confounded by the difficulty I had trying to reset the combination. That is, to change the default combination to something of my own choosing. Doh! Read the instructions.

The lever to open the carabiner is obvious. What is not so obvious is a second lever on the inside that you need to depress in order to reset the combination. Press that and voila!

The biggest difference between the Big Pantha lock and the one I have on the Kawi is that the one on the Kawi is seriously connected to the bike and moving it to another bike would be quite a pain. The Big Pantha lock is not connected to the bike at all, and it is quite small, so it is very easy to just slip it in your pocket and use it on any bike you want at any time. Or you could use it to lock anything else you might need to secure.

Now, as with the lock on the Kawi, the weak link in the system would appear to be the cable. Make no mistake, someone with a pair of bolt cutters could chop through either of these cables in an instant. But how many people do you see walking around carrying bolt cutters? I’ve used the lock on the Kawi for close to 10 years and have never had the slightest problem. Let’s face it, a dedicated thief can defeat just about any protective device. These devices are more about preventing someone who just happens to walk by and take a fancy to your helmet from taking it home with him.

And unless you have one of those really expensive helmets, it’s likely that no one is going to want your helmet anyway. Who wants to wear someone else’s sweaty helmet? But it’s still comforting at times to have it secured to your bike rather than just sitting there.

So OK, here’s the deal. Big Pantha sent me this lock as part of a partnership arrangement whereby I get a small payment for each lock sold to people coming to purchase via my site here. That’s not a big deal for me because I would have been happy to do a review just for receiving the lock. But it does matter to you if you’re interested because if you do click through on this link you will get the lock for 15% off the regular price. What you will need to do is, when making your purchase, enter the code “KENP797U” in the appropriate field. (That’s a clarification from what I previously told you–now that Big Pantha clarified it to me.)

If this is something you would find useful, by all means, click away!

Biker Quote for Today

I’m a free spirit. Either admire me or ride with me, but never try to cage me.