Someone I respect recently told me that in his experience, taking those head-bumps in a carbon fiber helmet was noticeably less of a thump than a plastic helmet. I think he has the Sweet Rocker (not the full face).

Be interested in other's experiences or opinions. I've only had plastic helmets (WRSI regular and a SR full face).

Thanks,

George B.

I've heard both sides, Some say carbon helmets are better, some say plastic flexes more and absorbs more impact.  I don't think there are any peer reviewed journal articles on this subject, but I'd like to see some real data and not just anecdotal on this subject.

Charles explained to me one day at Aqua Sports that plastic degrades over time, while a painted (UV protection) CF helmet could last a lifetime due to negligible degradation. Made sense to me. In Cali I worked for a company making bass and guitar necks from carbon fiber. We used a clear finish with UV inhibitors. I got into the CF thing a bit while there and spent some time picking the brains of the engineers who worked at the company tha supplied our raw material. Fun note, we used the same raw stock that was being used by GM for the more extreme Corvettes. Blah blah blah.....anyway, carbon is superior, though more costly for sure. The crossweave will not shatter like plastic, reducing puncture depth.

Something to consider that is as important as the shell is the foam between the shell and yer dome. I used a skateboarding helmet in WW for almost three years and it did fine. The foam lining wasn't meant to be wet a lot, but Pro-Tec did a fine job without knowing it. That helmet paid for itself many times both on boards and in boats.

When considering plastic, though, UV exposure combined with continuous hardening does lead to potential problems over time. Not to say that some binding agents (resin in CF and fiber glass) don't cure more over time, but that is why certain chemicals are chosen for certain applications, and why very strict tolerances are applied to the resin/media ratio. UV seems to be the worst thing for CF, and why we don't see much exposed weave on helmets. At Modulus (the company in Cali), we still reccomended that our instruments not see a great deal of direct sunlight because the inhibitors didn't block everything, just most of it by far. Didn't WRSI have a helmet with a clear coat over carbon weave? Probably the same deal. Probably the same deal to meet warranty requirements for automotive body panels (if they can be bought unfinished).

Sorry, sometimes I type too much.....

When I started paddling Protec was one of the few helmet choices.

Jimmy