Jeremy wrote:
For the sake of offering an opposing view...

Wilko wrote:
-Decide on how much you want to spend on a helmet. (If you have a 20
dollar head, get a 20 dollar helmet. :-) )

This one is very popular to state, but I'm not convinced it has any value.
For many whitewater helmets, the high price goes to support nice paint and
hand-made, small production runs. That doesn't translate to added safety.

That's not what I meant... For example, you can get an ACE "helmet" that
is supposedly designed for whitewater but that offers hardly any better
protection than a baseball cap for maybe 15 or 20 US$. You can also
invest a bit more (let's say 60 US$) and get a helmet that offers a lot
more protection than the ACE. I see no need to pay hundreds of dollars
for the most expensive models and brands, but there is definitely merit
in spending more than what gets you the cheapest helmets if you want
decent protection! (I think I paid 60 US$ for the Shred Ready helmet.)

Motorcyclist Magazine had an interesting article on the subject recently.
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ge...helmet_review/
While the helmets they examined are not suitable for whitewater, some
of the same observations probably apply.

The big problem with motorcycle helmets is that they are designed for
dealing with one massive blow after which they need to be replaced. One
flip in whitewater can easily give you a number of heavy blows,
preferably without the helmet failing after the first hit. I'm convinced
that requires a different design approach. Add the kind of contact for
which the helmet is designed (transferring energy when hitting a flat
surface like the asphalt at high speed, or hitting something sharp like
a rock with a lot less speed) and I think that we're talking about
apples and oranges here...

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/