The Global Paddling Community

We started an ambitious project last year: to write independent Playak reviews of all kayaking helmets on the market. Team Adrenal started abusing them in Norway in July and used the winter stop to write down their findings. Today we start with the Shred Ready Shaggy. Many more to come during the next months! Stay tuned...

Independent Helmet Review: Shred Ready Shaggy

Manufacturer: Shred Ready
Website: www.shredready.com
Email: [mail address protected from spambots with javascript]

Vital Stats

Price:$109.95 USD ( $120 Super Hero)
Sizes:Small, Medium, Large
Certification: CE approved
Availability: Widely available from any good kayak shop.
2005 Colors:

• Matte Blue
• Army Green
• Inferno Red
• Gunmetal

Intro

Shred Ready is a small company located in Tallasee, Alabama, USA on the banks of the Tallapoosa and Coosa rivers. Starting out as a spare bedroom 73 helmet a year business in 1996 they have now grown into a 73 helmet a day internationally known brand. With a slogan of “Because rocks hurt” they should be heading in the right direction!

First Impressions

The first thing we noticed with this helmet was the color. Let's just say the blue glitter finish was a bigger hit with our female testers! This was a 2004 version though and luckily Shred Ready has a variety of cool new 2005 colors (see above) to suit everyone's taste on offer.

Construction

Shredlar Armid Fiber/fiberglass composite construction

Outfitting

Shred Ready set a new bench mark in helmet outfitting when they launched the HOG Lock system. HOG stands for Hand of God. If any of you remember Puma disc trainers you will have a pretty good idea what this is like. The HOG Lock is a cradle system that holds the back of the head and prevents the helmet from lifting.

The Hog Lock is made up of 3 main pieces. Two sidepieces attached to the helmet are connected to a third piece by a plastic cable that can be quickly adjusted by turning 2 discs. It is a very simple, very quick and very effective mechanism. The helmet inner is a material lined foam inner that has the option of extra Velcro pads to adjust the fit. The helmet comes supplied with all the pads to adjust the helmet from small the large so there is no chance of buying the wrong size and should your head grow it will still fit. Solid straps and buckle finish off this fine interior.

Test

The ease of adjustment made testing this helmet very easy. We got this lid on a lot of different paddlers and the number one comment (other than the color) was how good the HOG Lock system was. Not only is it quick to adjust the size you can also wear the peak at the front or back by simply sliding the HOG Lock across.

The doubt some of the testers had about the HOG Lock was how strong the plastic cable is. Because of this we treat the HOG Lock with very little respect including having a game of tug of war with Inca our team dog! The weak point we found were the blue lift up tabs on each disk that winds the cable in. If these are left open they could be snapped off. Another down side which isn't really the helmet's fault is the temptation to over tighten the Hog Lock, leaving you with a banging headache. The helmet offers reasonable coverage and can take a good knock.

Summary

This is a solid helmet with fantastic outfitting. The HOG Lock is so secure you could take a roll without the straps. A fantastic freestyle helmet.

Mark Burton
Playak / Team Adrenal