Sidekick: How to Operate This Clip?

[Go Navy]

Happy owner of a new Sidekick. I'm planning to use it as an EDC alternative to my Medium Cafe Bag when I don't need as much volume.

The Sidekick shoulder strap comes with two attachment clips (don't know what they're called) that look secure enough to tow a trailer with, or connect a jet pilot to his ejection seat. It takes a lot of finger strength to open and close them. Can't seem to get them in the right position to get any leverage. I have strong hands, so that means I don't know the ideal technique here.

The good news is that it is unbelievably secure. The bad news is that it is unbelievably secure!

Can anyone explain how to open and close these clips/hooks without generating a stream of profanity and broken fingernails? Picture of said ejection seat clip is attached, so everyone will know what I'm asking about, while not knowing the terminology.

By the way, notice, in this limited picture, the usual excellent construction quality of a Tom Bihn bag. It is virtually impossible to find any flaws. The quality control is first rate.

[Aeon]

Hold the sides of the silver clip/connector and press down; it will pop/spring up to disconnect. You do not have put any leverage on the black prongs when you disconnect. When you want to reclip/reattach the silver clip, press the black prongs together and fold the silver clip over the hook. This part is the hardest for me b/c I always mis-time letting go of the black prongs before the silver clip is definitely underneath the hook. I swore there was a YouTube video by maverick explaining this, but I can't find it. I hope I explained it well for you.

[G42]

Those are Gatekeeper clips

maverick did a video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqUU9-Mn2jw

The trick is to press the silver clip down slightly to unlatch it (if you look carefully, the sliver clip sets into a notch) before slightly squeezing the black sides together so that the silver clip can spring open.

Aeon - my experience is that brand new ones are fairly stiff and do need a bit of a squeeze, but YMMV

[moriond]

Go Navy, Aeon is correct that there is a (very old )YouTube video that @maverk made that I’ll embed

or as a link:
Using the Gatekeeper Clips on your Tom Bihn Bag - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqUU9-Mn2jw
I’ll also point you to one of the threads in which I included this video and where there was discussion about how to use Gatekeeper clips:
Gatekeepers, which way up?
01-14-2016, started by @Kshni
https://forums.tombihn.com/forum/tom...s-which-way-up

Here’s the key point:

It may seem a bit counterintuitive, since many people’s first impulse is to squeeze the plastic ends of the gatekeeper clips together to release the catch for the clip. In fact, that action makes it hard to undo the clip. If you just push down on the metal clip so that it disengages from the hook end of the plastic, you can then easily press the plastic end of the clip in a bit so that the metal end of the clip slips over the hook end and disengages/opens up.

Since the Side Kick strap attaches sideways, you want to lightly hold onto the double gatekeeper clip with one hand, while you press the metal clip to the left (away fron the zipper head visible at the front of your Side Kick). Once the clip has disengaged from the hook at the bottom you can squeeze the sides slightly and pop the end off the hook

[Tonya]

Can anyone explain how to open and close these clips/hooks without generating a stream of profanity and broken fingernails?

I've dealt with these clips for years, watched the videos, read all of the user instructions and tips, yet I still can't mess with one without eliciting all of the above. But hey, you're right... they're unbelievably secure!