Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute

HighBar strap for bicycle helmets

Summary: HighBar has developed a plastic strap for bicycle helmets that has some unique characteristics.

The HighBar strap and suspension system is a thick, stiff plastic anchor with a thinner but still stiff plastic strap that folds up to the brow of the helmet, folding back down under your chin when you put it on. It has a dial-fit wheel that you have to adjust each time you put it on. It is coupled with a suspension system with rear stabilizer/fit strap. It has some unique advantages and disadvantages.

Few have tried to replace nylon straps for helmets. The old Skidlid had loops covered with plastic tubing that hung down on each side, with a rubber chinstrap linking the two. And Bell's Truefit helmets had a plastic piece that hung from the liner under the helmet to move the straps' anchor point downward, but then used conventional nylon straps. The HighBar design has a V of very stiff plastic hanging down just in front of the ears, with a pivoted piece of lighter plastic that fits under the chin and is snugged in place with a ratchet wheel similar to the ones on occipital stabilizers. The HighBar ratchet is the strongest one we have seen, and has to be to pass the calibrated yank of a CPSC strap test.

The HighBar strap has a bend molded in that keeps at least part of the strap away from a narrow face. Your face may vary. That bend will straighten under a strong pull, making the strap looser. But the CPSC standard has a limit on how much the strap can elongate during the calibrated yank. If the strap is away from your face it might be cooler, but might be less aerodynamic than a nylon strap flush with your skin. We look forward to some third party testing of that. And a HighBar interview at the 2024 Sea Otter Classic noted that the straps can be a little heavier than nylon.

The first head we tried a HighBar helmet on showed the weakness of the one-size-fits-all approach to helmet straps. When fastened on that particular head we could push the helmet brim up until it exposed the rider's entire forehead, not exactly what you would want for that second impact on the pavement. As with the True Fit helmets, heads are not all within the design limits, so you would want to try this one on your own head before using it. The plastic straps appear well-made and nicely finished. The durability of the straps and the pivot is of course not known with a new product, although the manufacturer believes it has been tested for that and will be fine. The adjuster under the chin is much thicker than a standard buckle, but that may not matter. The plastic is less likely to absorb sweat the way nylon does, loosening as the fibers are lubricated and tightening up again as the sweat dries.

There is a sticker on the Canyon helmet with HighBar that we bought that says:
"This product can expose you to chemicals including (name of one or more chemicals), which is [are] known to the State of California to cause cancer. For more information go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov."

The uninformative sticker was placed there by the manufacturer who made the helmet for Canyon, not by HighBar. That manufacturer makes millions of helmets every year, and perhaps all of them have the same sticker and California allows them to be sold. But we have no idea whether the helmet, liner, MIPS structure or the HighBar straps required the warning. In any event we would not want that helmet next to our sweating head without knowing.

As a bottom line, we are very pleased that a new company is making an effort to introduce a new and innovative design for the helmets we wear. It simplifies fit for those with compatible heads, and the industry has needed that. It could spur the industry to work harder on new products.