# Lengthen your Bike Helmet Chin Strap?



## SuperWookie (Feb 5, 2020)

Hey everyone, just wondering if you know of any good ways to lengthen your bike helmet chin strap? I just purchased a POC Kortal helmet that fits my head amazing, but the chin strap is CRAZY tight even at full extension under my chin! 

I have a M to M/L head and normal defined chin/jaw line (and don't have this problem with road bike helmets), but for some reason, this POC helmets chin strap is SUPER short and cutting into my neck. And I even tried on a few other helmet brands and had the same problem! 

I got the POC, because it fits my head much better than any other MTB helmet I've tried before. Most MTB helmets seem to sit on top of my head and are very shallow in depth. Whereas the POC helmets are much deeper and almost touch my ears. Which is great, as it feels like I'm wearing a helmet, not a yarmulke. But the chin strap is just WAY too short. 

So does anyone know of any way of lengthening the strap with some sort of add on piece? Does anyone make an extender? Or would I just have to try and find some webbing material that is aprox the same width and thickness and then sewing my own new strap onto the buckle? Or, I was thinking of trying the next helmet size up (which is not in stock to try on)? The M/L POC size was perfect for my head. I'm just a little past half way on the adjuster dial towards fully open. So I feel like if I go with the XL/XXL size, that the head size might be way to big, just to get the chin strap to fit? 

Any ideas or thoughts on how to remedy this would be great, as I really want to keep the POC helmet as it fits my head amazing. Thanks


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## robbbery (Jan 12, 2021)

My first thought is that there must be something wrong with how the straps are set up. Is that at all possible?

If you do end up needing a longer strap I'd contact poc and see if they have any suggestions. I think sewing could work if you are competent at sewing, or if you can find someone who is.

Random sewing idea: instead of sewing a new piece of webbing directly to the existing webbing, you could craft an extender piece. Basically a loop of webbing with half a buckle at each end, and you use the extender to bridge the distance between the two buckle pieces that are attached to the helmet's main straps.

I would definitely steer clear of sizing up. The fit around your skull is important.


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## SuperWookie (Feb 5, 2020)

robbbery said:


> My first thought is that there must be something wrong with how the straps are set up. Is that at all possible?
> 
> If you do end up needing a longer strap I'd contact poc and see if they have any suggestions. I think sewing could work if you are competent at sewing, or if you can find someone who is.
> 
> ...


So yeah, nothing at all wrong with the straps, unfortunately. I checked everything multiple times, it's just a REALLY REALLY short chin strap. Like bizarrely short.

So I'm going to try a few options. I ordered the next size up helmet, and we'll see if it fits well and has a longer chin strap. If so, problem solved. If the helmet is too big, I'm going to then contact POC and see what they can do. And if they can't/won't do anything, I think my best bet is to find some 5/8" nylon webbing like the helmet uses. Cut out the current strap and just make a longer one and take it to a good tailor and have them sew the new strapping with the original buckle on, and sew the top part together that attaches to the Y strapping, and then problem solved. But I'd obviously rather just have it work right out of the box for 200 dollars! It's insane that a helmet manufacturer would make a helmet with SUCH a small chin strap.

My buddy and gf even put it on, and their heads are a smaller than mine, and still, cutting into the throat! This helmet must be made for people that have NO neck or chin or extremely shallow top to bottom head sizes. Anyways... hope the next size up works, so I don't have to get into a whole thing of customizing a stupid expensive helmet before I even wear it once


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## Taroroot (Nov 6, 2013)

The strap must be misadjusted, youd have to have an unusually long face for the strap to be too short, and you said other people tried it on and it was still too short.
I doubt youll get much help from POC for liabilty reasons. They will most likely say any modificatiobs to helmet are unauthorized and invalidates any safety ratings and cannot be condoned by them.
Ive seen seat belt extenders and that would be the safest concept, but i havent seen any for helmet straps.
But i think the strap needs to ge adjusted


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## BmoreKen (Sep 27, 2004)

POC fit is wack! I’ve never found one with chinstrap that clears my ears (funny as that sounds). 


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## Taroroot (Nov 6, 2013)

Taroroot said:


> The strap must be misadjusted, youd have to have an unusually long face for the strap to be too short, and you said other people tried it on and it was still too short.
> I doubt youll get much help from POC for liabilty reasons. They will most likely say any modificatiobs to helmet are unauthorized and invalidates any safety ratings and cannot be condoned by them.
> Ive seen seat belt extenders and that would be the safest concept, but i havent seen any for helmet straps.
> But i think the strap needs to ge adjusted


Looked at website pics of it and it looks pretty conventional arrangement. If youve adjusted strap all the way loose, i dont know what to say. If bought locally you could try another one and see if still too short, then id say they just dont fit you. Maybe there was a manufacting mistake though on the one you got.


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## BmoreKen (Sep 27, 2004)

Contact POC as it could be a QC issue. 


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## Finch Platte (Nov 14, 2003)

BmoreKen said:


> Contact POC as it could be a QC issue.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Also, YEU, v/s LOTI BNTU as well.


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## SuperWookie (Feb 5, 2020)

Emailed POC a week ago now and still NO response, as typical from most larger companies. Absolutely pathetic. I can understand a few days to return an email if you're super busy. But it seems like almost any larger company these days either never responds, or sends you some sh*t corporate response that doesn't even answer your question or help you out at all! That's why I have tried to buy as many parts for my custom bike build from smaller rider run companies as I could (NSB, OneUp, Deity, Ride Concepts, etc). As they actually take customer service seriously and are a pleasure to buy from and work with.

I'll be returning this helmet and I've already ordered the New Fox Speedframe Pro. Hopefully it fits well, fingers crossed

Edit: Also ordered the next size up, which was a XL/XXL and it was FAR too big. I had to cinch the adjuster down all the way, and it still didn't fit! And the chin strap was HUGE compared to the next size down. I measured it, and it was about 1.75" longer!!! So either POC has no clue how to make a helmet that fits, or this one I got had a defective short strap. Either way, they never responded to resolve the issue, so I'm out and on to the next helmet.


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## DormerHarpring (Apr 1, 2021)

Huge bummer! I have a POC that fits great, but the fact is that people have pretty wide variation in head shape, so it's totally understandable that you'd have it fit right around the crown and not under the chin...


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## SuperWookie (Feb 5, 2020)

DormerHarpring said:


> Huge bummer! I have a POC that fits great, but the fact is that people have pretty wide variation in head shape, so it's totally understandable that you'd have it fit right around the crown and not under the chin...


It is understandable that the helmet can fit a variety of head shapes and sizes based on each size. Which is why it makes NO sense that the chin strap material isn't longer. It only fits super tiny heads up to M/L. Why not just make the strap longer? That way more people can fit in the helmet and no problems? It's not like the extra inch or two of material is going to cause problems?! Soooo stupid.

So I got the Fox and it's EVEN WORSE! It's literally choking me just to click the chin strap on. So I returned that and I'm just going to buy some similar Nylon webbing and have a tailor sew on the new strap and be done with it! I don't have time to go around ordering 15 different helmets just to see which one fits. And pay hundreds of dollars in return shipping fees. And I tried on my road bike Specialized helmet and it fits AMAZING and has 1.5-2" of leftover strap under my chin and that is with it lose already! And it's the same size helmet as the POC and Fox. So something is clearly wrong with these MTB chin strap sizes


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## robbbery (Jan 12, 2021)

What the heck, how did this happen twice with two different helmets? And how are you paying hundreds in return fees??


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## mtnbkrmike (Mar 26, 2015)

SuperWookie said:


> ...I have a M to M/L head and normal defined chin/jaw line...


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## Cleared2land (Aug 31, 2012)

My POC helmets have an abundance of strap length. My initial thought would have been to seek a swap helmet with wherever you bought it. But...


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## eatdrinkride (Jun 15, 2005)

OP attempting to try on helmets at the LBS....


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## Crank-Shaft (Jul 31, 2020)

SuperWookie said:


> Hey everyone, just wondering if you know of any good ways to lengthen your bike helmet chin strap? I just purchased a POC Kortal helmet that fits my head amazing, but the chin strap is CRAZY tight even at full extension under my chin!
> 
> I have a M to M/L head and normal defined chin/jaw line (and don't have this problem with road bike helmets), but for some reason, this POC helmets chin strap is SUPER short and cutting into my neck. And I even tried on a few other helmet brands and had the same problem!
> 
> ...


OP - Did you ever got a response from POC? I picked up a Kortal today and found the exact same thing.


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## SuperWookie (Feb 5, 2020)

Crank-Shaft said:


> OP - Did you ever got a response from POC? I picked up a Kortal today and found the exact same thing.


No, no response ever. I just ended up buying some exact replica nylon webbing, took it to a local tailor, and they just made the whole thing an inch longer. Bam, done! Works perfect and actually has even better stitching now than the original helmet. Helmet fits great and can barely tell it's even on!


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## robbbery (Jan 12, 2021)

Very resourceful! Gotta love a happy ending.

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