C-Forum

What is your favorite brand and model of helment?

Kevlar SEDA. They do not make them anymore

You mean "hellbent" don't you? That's what Louie wears.

Seda is a nice boat, don't see how it protects yer hed.

Jay they use to make helments,life jackets, and boats.

Bell Sidecut. No longer in production. I'd gladly pay double the original MSRP for another red small/medium in new condition.

Paddled for years with a Grateful heads Carbon Kevlar edge, just bought a Head trip Polo Last week and Its real comfortable.

Fond of my Shred Ready - Have had many favorable results, with no lasting impact. Worth a look at... they're functional, come in a wide range of designs, and price is acceptable.

Ace!

Lidds NATO. No longer in business. Maybe a ShredReady Full Mental Jacket next.

Some good helmet "thinking" :

http://www.biothinking.com/paddle/helmets.htm

I really like the Hand of God lock system that Shred Ready uses.

http://www.shredready.com/products/hog.html

i like the shred ready shaggy. i've got a long narrow head and they are the only helmet that fits me well.
A lot of people around here like the sweets, but I've seen a few of those looking real bad after a little hit. My SR has taken a few bell ringers and is holding up well.
FNA is another good one.

hi all, not sure if it ok for kayakers types to post here, but since i started out in a 16' mohawk in '78 if figured it was ok.

also since the topic is helmets i thought i might throw in my two cents on evaluating helmets from an armchair: ie no lab to crush them in and since i try and turn helmets in to cash for living.


I think the two of the most important considerations for purchase of a helmet are
1) liner material
2) fit

Liner materials:
we use either VN or EPP both are very good at managing impact energy and have memory (aka multi-impact).
A good unscientific "home" test to compare foams is to drop a golf ball from the same distance onto the two foams. Which ever bounces higher is less effective in impacts.
Also try and find the thickest liner you can that is appropriate for the sport. of course the thicker the foam the better since you will have more space to slow the your noggin down before the foam bottoms out on an impact.

Lots of foams have memory, and just because it is grey don't make it mini cell. There are many different densities of foam with in a family as well.

Mini-cell: aka Cross linked PE- we started with this and will not use it any more.

EVA: Ethel Vinyle Acetate (sp?)- ok it will pass the CE test and it is soft and comfy.

VN: Vinyal Nitrile PVC foams (hockey helmets/ soft cushy football helmets. very good but temperature sensitive (i.e. get s harder in cold cold temps. and is a bit on the heavy side.

EPP: Expanded Poly Proplyene: also in Hocky helmets and now in football helmets, multip impact snow sports helmets, some skate helmets, some bmx helmets-

EPS: Styrofoam Expanded Polystryene: Bike helmets> One hit only and replace. By far the best stuff for energy managment but not good in water, and are only good for one hit.

In my personal opinion: either VN or EPP are the choice materials for water helmets, though not as comfy as EVA or mini cell. all of the above have memory so in helmet slang they are called Mulimpact foams.

Caveat: even multi impact foams loss their abilities to manage energy after repeated impacts. by the third or fourth big hits from what research i have seen shows the impact absorption decreases.

Fit: buy a helmet that fits you and stays in place, no matter how good the materials are, if it is not covering your head then it cannot serve it purpose.

Since i know this will come up
plastic vs. composite shell:
From what we have seen with some limited lab comparisons of plastic shells vs composites shells there is very little difference in the total Gs on impact between our plastic shells and composite shells. Composite shells with thinner liners seemed to be able transmit similar g's to the head form as plastic shells with thicker EPP liners.
That is not to say there is not a difference though since we only tested to a limited range of impact velocities. I.E. there might bigger differences at higher velocities.

In this test we compared VN (thinner liners in composite shells) against EPP (thicker foam in plastic shells) so we have three variables (shell material, liner material, and liner thickness) that were not controlled, thus there might be differences if we had controlled for liner thickness and liner material.

Coverage would be the next feature i would look at after those two. good back of head coverage and temples.

There is my two cents, I hope that helps in your purchase of a new helmet. That is the short and skinny on helmets and i see this post has gotten quite long....
Not sure you wanted all the info, but now you have it. Hope it helps with your helmet purchase.

tom sherburne
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I'm still in my now desheveled looking 2007 Sweet Rocker H/C

I had an ancient and battle-scared Sweet Strutter too, a handmedown from my ex gf... but it got run over by a taxi, and the front of the peak broke off in a really sharp edge.

I'm definately a Sweet fan, my next helmet will probably be a Rooster

shredhelmets, thanks for posting. Information on whitewater helmets is much appreciated.