The Global Paddling Community

ShredReady Super Scrappy

The Super Scrappy is a price-point version of the popular ShredReady Shaggy helmet with a shell made from ABS plastic instead of composite and an EVA foam liner. The "killer app" on this helmet however is definitely the new "Hand of God" occipital lock system which can be worn in both directions.

First, let me touch on safety for a moment. I did a lot of research on helmets when I did my first review of Lidds helmets, including a call to David Halstead at Southern Impact Research, an independent equipment and safety testing firm. There is to this day no American standard for whitewater helmets, which means Ralph Nader isn't covering your back on this. If you want to throw yourself off a 60' waterfall with nothing but a wool cap, there is no American government agency that is going to tell you that any manufacturer selling you a wool cap as adequate protection is selling you a false bill of goods. There is the European standard, but it doesn't have a lot of respect in these here parts because it allows for rotational energy transfer - so it's good to have CE approval, but not as strong of a guarantee as it could be.

Whitewater helmets are designed to protect the head in two ways - first by distributing energy away from the point of impact with the shell, and second by mitigating energy with a "crush zone" - basically the foam liner. On a lesser scale, helmets protect against low impact hits and abrasions as well, but those are only relevant to kayakers in that the helmet should be able to withstand multiple such impacts - they are the most frequent. Most helmets will protect you against the majority of the impacts you experience on the river. But the one to watch out for is the high energy impact that will concuss the brain and render you unconscious or worse. So what do you look for to protect you against "the big one"? A good stiff shell and the best liner you can get, and the best material for whitewater helmets right now is EPP (i.e. Expanded PolyPropylene) which is similar to EPS (expanded polystyrene - styrofoam) except that it re-expands after impact instead of just compacting, so it can take multiple high energy impacts.

While the research I did for the Lidds helmet was done out of my own personal curiosity, someone actually got paid to write an outstanding article for Paddler Magazine on this very subject which is available online at http://www.paddlermagazine.com/issues/2001_4/article_123.shtml If you are skeptical about anything I'm telling you here, read this article and see if it backs me up (remember: most if not all the listed manufacturers buy advertizing in Paddler).

So with all that said, let's go through the Super Scrappy.

SHELL

ABS plastic is plastic, therefore it won't distribute high energy impacts very well. It does seem to be a bit better than what I remember the Pro-tec helmets being like, but still not up to the old Riot R1 and R2 which were the best plastic kayak helmet shells.... ever. As a low energy "bump and scrape" shell, I'm sure it's adequate, but not for high-energy impacts. The shell alone relegates this helmet to light use, not creeking and waterfall.

LINER

EVA (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate) foam is not ideal for high energy impacts, but it does a good job absorbing energy from low energy impacts. Where an EPP liner feels hard against the head and tends to transfer energy when you bump your head, EVA and Minicell tend not to. Again, EPP is designed to protect against crushing blows. EVA is a good liner for light usage, bump and scrape impacts.

OUTFITTING

Is excellent. The Hand of God (HOG) system uses two ratcheting dials through which plastic cable is passed to tighten the occipital lock to the back of the head. The HOG is a lot more comfortable than the Lidds occipital lock because it doesn't have a strong back and all the parts that come into contact with the head are lined again with EVA foam. The only problem with this? It doesn't have a rigid system for preventing blowback. You can definitely fit the helmet to your head as tightly as you feel comfortable with, but there is nothing solid (like the shell design or an occipital lock like the Sweet Strutter) preventing blowback of the helmet. Having a tight fitting helmet goes a long long way to prevent blowback in the first place, but it still isn't likely to be as safe as the Lidds occipital lock in my opinion.

SUMMARY:

Very comfortable, very stylish, and a good price around $60. There's no question in my mind that as a price-point, light use helmet, this is probably the best one on the market right now. If you are getting started kayaking and don't want to invest in a serious helmet right from the get go this helmet meets my personal minimum requirements (thus it's the least I would personally spend) for a basic, light use playboating helmet. The good news: you can get the same helmet in composite and EPP foam with the Shred Ready Shaggy, and you should seriously think about investing in that model if you kayak class IV, waterfalls or particularly shallow playspots.

I would happily use this helmet in the playpark, but for something like this 20ft. drop, nuh-uh.

Personal note: the matte black shell looks really cool.

Note: The comments and ideas expressed in this article are my opinion. They are not intended to be a warranty or guarantee of safety, but hopefully they will make you a more educated consumer. Though not specific to kayaking, here's another good site for information: http://www.bhsi.org/ and another: http://www.asme.org/mechanicaladvantage/September2002/helmet.html Stay in school.