Repairing a Shark Visor Ratchet with a Milk Bottle

Finally got some helmet cleaner for my 3 year old Shark motorcycle helmet and gave the helmet a clean. It smelled like wet dog after all the rain Brisbane has seen over the wet season, so it was well overdue.

I noticed that the Visor flops down when I ride over 65 km/h. So when I had the visor removed for cleaning, I inspected the ratchet mechanism on the helmet. Turns out that the plastic flexible ratchet has broken at the outer edge, which means the visor doesn't have the required amount of mechanical friction resistance to stay open at highway speeds.

Because I'm short on cash at the moment and can't afford a new helmet, I had to think laterally about how I was going to fix this. Superglue might have fixed the ratchet mechanism for a short while, but the nature of the ratchet mechanism would see the same fault reappearing if superglue was used.

The solution I devised was to strengthen the ratchet mechanism by providing mechanical back-pressure with...

...some plastic milk bottle.

Ghetto!





























Prerequisites:

• Any plastic milk bottle, washed.
• Sharp scissors.

Procedure:

1. Cut a small rectangle of milk bottle. You should only need about 7cm by 1.5cm of plastic.
2. Fold the plastic over so you have two layers.
3. Remove the visor from the helmet.
4. Helmet ratchets work using a ratchet system. Locate this on the ratchet plate attached to your helmet.
5. Test the gap by inserting the unfolded plastic into the void as shown in the picture.
6. Fold the plastic over enough times to push the broken ratchet back to its correct position (the parts separated by the break should be touching again).
7. Trim the plastic so it sits flush with the helmet ratchet plate, and doesn't rub on your visor plastic.
8. Repeat for the other side.
9. Refit the visor to the helmet.

Result:

Your visor should be as stiff to move (if not stiffer) than it was when you purchased it. You can now ride at highway speeds without your visor flopping down and scaring the hell out of you ;)

For those worried about the appearance of plastic milk bottle, you can hardly notice it. Get some black plastic if you want the aesthetics.

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