Ever since I got my Speedster on the road I've been plagued, like a lot of you, with spontaneous hat removal. It may happen more because I have a wind screen in the roll bar, but I've heard others complain of spontaneous hat ejection in their cars, too.
You know - You get out on the road and as soon as you get it up over 40mph, what happens? Your hat tries to fly off. This doesn't happen with all hats or with all cars, I'm sure, but it certainly bugs me and it's a PITA! I have to keep pulling my hat back down every few seconds! And I like my baseball cap, rather than the jaunty look of an Irish cap, well, just because. I've also found that if I wear a MUSBJIM-style sun visor with no top to the cap, it won't fly off, but a regular cap is gone every time.
I needed a solution that would work with a variety of hats, was very quick to use and provided a positive hold on both the hat and my head without stitching the cap into my scalp. 😵💫
So I tried a few different methods of keeping different hats on with little success until I tried this:
I got a couple of small "Alligator Clips", used for electrical jumper wires, that had wire crimp ends that just fit the plastic end of a heavy duty boot shoestring if you really pressed it in there. Using one shoestring, I crammed each end hard into each clip and that was enough for a tight press fit. You could also crimp them on for something more permanent, but I didn't do that (yet). This also shows how it is attached to the cap. Super simple.
Next, I slipped a hat chin cord adjuster over the loop of shoestring at the far end. This is the adjuster from Amazon, but I got this from a beach bag that was headed to the trash:
https://www.amazon.com/25-Pack...&sr=8-2&th=1
Attach the alligator clips to both sides of a Baseball Cap, slip the cap on normally and then cinch up the adjuster to the chin and you're done - Badda Boom, Badda Bing.
Here's my Geriatric professional model, posing with the product, looking like he wishes he could patent it:
So how effective is it? I made a run through all sorts of back roads and never touched my hat once. Then I blasted up RT 146 from the Rhode Island line to my neighborhood racing along at 80-ish 🙄 at times and still, never had to touch the cap. I would say that is a success.... The damn thing really works!
I am not making these up as kits.
Go find your own boot string and chin adjuster.
Make one up and never lose your hat at speed again..
