Fifty Plus (50+) - why not "D" rings?........

Don't know if motorcycle helmets still use D rings on the straps, but why don't bicycle helmets use D rings?
D rings seem much easier to use, can be done and undone with gloves on, and allow for "micro-adjustment". Think I'd rather had D rings than the snaps on bike helmet straps. Wonder why they aren't in use now.

Easier to use? I don't think so. I guess that's why they have both chocolate and vanilla.

Easier to use? I don't think so.

I second that! I ride a motorcycle and "D" rings are a pain in my arthritic fingers. I put a quick buckle available in motorcycle shops on my motorcycle helmet so I didn't need to fight the "D" rings or ask someone to help me take it off on cold days.

I suspect that D-rings require an amount of skill to use properly that the helmet companies cannot entrust J. Q. Public to have. Liability issues will follow.

I thought a D-ring was going to be a fourth ring up front...making a triple into a quadruple... :D

Then an O-ring makes me shudder.

I suspect that D-rings require an amount of skill to use properly that the helmet companies cannot entrust J. Q. Public to have. Liability issues will follow.
My thoughts, exactly.

I seem to recall that the first bicycle helmets had D-rings. Or maybe they were O-rings. Back in the '70s, I bought a Bell Biker helmet for myself and one for my girlfriend. They had hard shells, weighed a lot, didn't fit all that well and didn't have a lot of ventilation but we were young. I think the new helmets work better all the way around and I like the quick clip because you adjust it once and you're set. I recall having to tug on the strap every now and then with the Bell Biker.

Or maybe I'm making this all up, because I have CRS these days. :eek: :p

-soma5

Don't know if motorcycle helmets still use D rings on the straps, but why don't bicycle helmets use D rings?
D rings seem much easier to use, can be done and undone with gloves on, and allow for "micro-adjustment". Think I'd rather had D rings than the snaps on bike helmet straps. Wonder why they aren't in use now.

my full face helmet has D rings, but i doubt that helps you

I suspect that D-rings require an amount of skill to use properly that the helmet companies cannot entrust J. Q. Public to have. Liability issues will follow.

Now wait a second. "Liability issues will follow" puts the cart before the horse. The clasps bike helmets use are more secure and thus much safer. How often do you actually need to adjust your helmet strap while on the bike? When helmets don't fall off, they work better. When they work better, people are safer. It's not a liability issue, it's a safety issue.

And yes, I am a lawyer.

Getting in the time machine and going back to when I wore a Bell Biker Helmet:
How about those foam pads of different thicknesses to get the fit "just right"?
And the strap with d-rings? Sucks compared to plastic quick-connects from The Future. The Lawyer is right.

Answer = "Consumer Products Safety Commission", i.e.: The Nanny State.

Tyson

I also had a Bell Biker with the D-rings. Had no trouble using it even with gloves on. The modern helmets with the fastex type buckle WILL pinch your neck if you're not careful... never had that happen with a D-ring.

Now wait a second. "Liability issues will follow" puts the cart before the horse. The clasps bike helmets use are more secure and thus much safer. How often do you actually need to adjust your helmet strap while on the bike? When helmets don't fall off, they work better. When they work better, people are safer. It's not a liability issue, it's a safety issue.

And yes, I am a lawyer.

You may be comparing people with a modicum of mechanical skill and those for whom the plug on the end of an electrical cord is a lethal object. You can call me jaded but after 61 years its my opinion that one can never be too far off by underestimating the publics ability to do something right...:)

I honestly think that if D rings were on helmet straps the routing of the strap would be so complicated for many people that you would see more unfastened helmets.

There are two ways manufacturers of consumer products are compelled to make them safe - either government regulation or marketpalce regulation, i.e. through lawsuits. The fear of getting sued creates a wonderful incentive to make a safe product. If you remove the fear of lawsuits (as advocates of "tort reform" would do), you create an incentive to sell cheap, unsafe products (lead paint from China, anyone?) Lawsuits against the manufacturers and sellers of unsafe products add signficcantly to the price, but the price is well worth the increase in safety. If you sell a million electrical cords, you're going to sell some to morons who will hurt themselves. You can't make them foolproof, but you can make them so they don't break when you pull them out wrong.

The best example of this point is the inflation valve used in pool toys. When I was a kid, you could pull out the plug and the air would come out. It was simple and easy, excpet more than a few kids drowned when the valve opned in the pool. When I started buying pool toys for my kids, they all had those pain-in-the-a** squeeze valves that you had to squeeze just right when inflating to get the air in. But, you know, kids don't drown using those toys. The valves cost a few cents more, but the toys are much safer. Thank a lawyer.