Yakkay helmet looks great, feels ... eh

For my birthday, I got the Yakkay helmet I've been stalking for three months. It's adorable.

It also doesn't feel very good on. There's just about no padding in it. Which might be understating it. So it doesn't really hurt to wear, but it's not at all comfortable. And I'm wondering how much impact it will absorb if I fall. It's just hard as a rock inside.

Two questions:
1. Did I by some chance get a defective helmet?
2. What kind of padding can I put in the helmet to make it more wearable?

The helmet seems amazingly cheaply made for such a pricey helmet - though obviously the covers are the thing. I'm going to write to the company and I'm going to see if the covers fit a Bell or something.

Ideas? Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Ironika Leigh on November 28, 2011 at 6:16pm

I saw that but it's expensive to buy - squirrel some away, if you don't mind! Something has to be coming up.

Chainlink holiday party?

h' said:

I have taken to just using velcro stickyback hook and custom-cut sections of softstrap, and it works very well.

Softstrap:

http://www.pattersonmedical.com/app.aspx?cmd=get_product&id=56153

Lots of little scraps around work that would otherwise be thrown out. If there's an event coming up you plan to be at I can get some to you.

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Permalink Reply by Allen Wrench on November 28, 2011 at 6:27pm

the padding in a helmet isn't what absorbs impacts - it's the hard foam or similar that's underneath it. I think the Yakkay already looks larger than a regular hat so they must have tried to limit any additional bulk. The lack of CPSC sticker is more of a problem than the lack of fit foam I think.

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Permalink Reply by Allen Wrench on November 28, 2011 at 6:29pm

yakkay not yucky.

Ironika Leigh said:

I will. Thanks! (I saw a suggestion on another site to use maxi pads - the feminine products kind - and I'm not really that desperate yet.)

Thunder Snow said:
You might want to look at foam rubber pieces sold at a hobby or craft store. Cut them to size and glue them inside the lid.

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Permalink Reply by Chris B on November 29, 2011 at 5:01am

I looked into these for my S.O., but was worried that the fabric would harm the ability of the helmet to slide on the ground. Helmets sticking and not sliding can cause rotational neck injuries (which is extremely rare). I am not sure if the fabric would increase the chance of this. Of course, I have a camera on top of my helmet, I am pretty sure this hurts the ability of my helmet to slide :)

Some new motorcycle helmets have a "skin" on them that allows the helmet to slide even more, SuperSkin is one of the band names for the technology.

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Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on November 29, 2011 at 5:30am

Quite right, Chris, about the safety in sliding rather than having your head or neck jerk as your helmet "sticks" to the pavement in a fall via a non-slippery helmet. It's more of an issue in a high speed motorcycle fall, where you slide for a dozen yards or more, but nonetheless. I think that the Yakkay fabric covers aren't fastened that well to the underlying helmet and would fall off pretty easily in a sliding crash, but it's still something to consider. Spiky "pro racer" bike helmets have a similar problem; the prevailing wisdom looks for smooth bowling ball shaped lids like skate helmets that have little to stop a skidding head--skidding dissipates energy, stopping abruptly snaps necks and bounces brains against skull cavities.

Hadn't heard about SuperSkin; sounds like a good improvement.

Chris B said:

I looked into these for my S.O., but was worried that the fabric would harm the ability of the helmet to slide on the ground. Helmets sticking and not sliding can cause rotational neck injuries (which is extremely rare). I am not sure if the fabric would increase the chance of this. Of course, I have a camera on top of my helmet, I am pretty sure this hurts the ability of my helmet to slide :)

Some new motorcycle helmets have a "skin" on them that allows the helmet to slide even more, SuperSkin is one of the band names for the technology.

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Permalink Reply by Allen Wrench on November 29, 2011 at 4:48pm

You are right about the risk, but as far as I know it's theoretical, and wearing any helmet is probably much better than not wearing one at all.

Same issue applies to those children's helmets with animal ears or similar stuck on them (Raskullz etc). There is a discussion of them on the bhsi website and there's a page about sliding resistance there too.

They don't seem to have any complaint about the Yakkay.

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Permalink Reply by MK on November 29, 2011 at 5:05pm

I'm not sure that's true, but also don't want to start a helmets vs not debate. This guy has some interesting ideas if you were going to debate it though http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07o-TASvIxY

Allen Wrench said:

and wearing any helmet is probably much better than not wearing one at all.

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Permalink Reply by Zoetrope on November 29, 2011 at 5:39pm

As long as we're not debating, I thought I'd add my two cents. I was never really sure what to think about the helmet or no helmet debate until someone put it in a way that just made sense: helmets aren't necessarily meant/proven to save your life, as much as they are meant to prevent a head fracture. Avoiding a trip to the hospital is all the incentive I need to wear one.