Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

so, i took several major hits on my helmet today at maytag, sweet composite, with a bill. thought it was superficial(although got my bell rung pretty hard). after looking at my helmet at home, i can see 5 seperate cracks, in 4 different quadarnts, along with some gelcoat scraps. will x-ray tomorow at the clinic(the helmet). what are the chances the helmet is still ok, vs. what would you replace it with? dale

I don't know what I would replace it with, but I'd like to see the x-ray.

Don't know what I would replace it with, but I am glad that you had it on.

If it did that much damage to the lid, and you're here to tell about it, I would think that brand and design seem to be at the top of the list. I wish I knew more on the remaining strength with the compromised structural matrix.

Just Say NO to crack. LOL

Sweet Rocker Fullcut, for sure.

I know for hard hats, you're supposed to replace them if they take a hit. I'm guessing the same thing would apply to any helmet. I'm probably going to be springing for a Sweet Rocker soon myself.

Scott, Cole and Ryan were all wearing the new Sweet Rocker Full Face helmets and they seem pretty stout. I thought about spending the extra $$ to get one, but then told Scott I don't paddle hard enough rivers to justify buying one. His comment to me was that I've broken my nose twice on a Class III river. I just thought it would be silly to have that type of helmet for the easier rivers I paddle, but now I think I might get one.

Think about those crumple zones on your vehicle. Sure, we could build a car that would be less damaged in an accident, but then more g-forces would be transmitted to your body. And once your car's crumple zone has done it's job - its done, new car time.

Same goes for some helmets. To me, the Sweet helmets appear to have been designed for higher impact sports, where significant protection is needed, but they do suffer damage to the helmet, serving the same purpose as a crumple zone in a car - absorb and spread the impact.

Send the x-rays to Sweet, and see what they say.

Yeah, I'd probably go with another Sweet - sounds like it did its job and turned major hits into something you walked away from.

There is an important difference between foam helmets used for climbing, cycling, and skiing and our paddling helmets. We, generally, do not need the high-energy absorption that those sports require, which is why our helmets look so different. Those crumple-zones in the car are there to decelerate the impact, and the foam in helmets does the same. We are more concerned with sharp objects and slower impacts. That said, any structure with cracks in it has already absorbed a lot of force, and will not absorb nearly as much force next time. Get a new one!

Shep

p.s. one of the advantages of plastic helmets over composite is that the plastic will be more likely to deform than crack, retaining more of it's original strength.

Tell us the story about taking multiple hits on you helmet (head) in maytag...... :} Mabe we can learn something helpful in case we end up in that situation...
Glad yer OK and didn't get hurt!

I'm thinking about jumping up to the sweet full face one. Pricey but I think my head and teeth are worth way more than that.

panicman wrote:I'm thinking about jumping up to the sweet full face one. Pricey but I think my head and teeth are worth way more than that.

Yep, that is one way to look at it! Guess I will be saving up for that! Scott just got one and it's pretty darn nice.

I cracked a carbon fiber sweet strutter a couple weeks ago during an a**-kicking at whiplash. I ended up buying pretty much the exact same thing to replace it. I figure that helmet did exactly what it was supposed to.

Dale, I really like my Sweet Wanderer. At least give it a look. Glad you're ok.