What’s a composite motorcycle helmet?

Motorcycle crash helmets are made in a wide variety of materials – but often they’re created using a mixture of different materials laid down in layers to form what’s called a composite helmet shell.

Technically, when you get more than one material involved, it becomes a composite fiber helmet: the helmet is made from a composite, or mix, of materials to create a new material that has the best characteristics from all its component parts.

As an aside, that does of course mean that fiberglass, carbon fiber and lots of other materials are technically composites. In these cases either glass fibers or woven carbon fibers are mixed with a resin (usually epoxy or polyester) to produce a new material.

Don’t worry, that’s as deep as I’m going to go!

Usually, though, if it’s not plastic (thermoplastic or polycarbonate), fiberglass or carbon fiber, and includes more than one of these materials, helmet makers will sell it as a composite helmet.

Are composite crash helmets any good?

Short answer – yep, they’re great.

Longer answer – composite fiber helmets are some of the best motorbike helmets on the market. They’re usually constructed from a combination of fiberglass, carbon fiber sheets or aramid (Kevlar).

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As you can see from the table, carbon fiber helmets are generally the best – the lightest and safest around if you look at SHARP testing stats. But composite fiber helmets are close behind, ranking next highest in terms of both weight and impact resistance.

Across all the helmets tested by SHARP, composite fiber helmets score 3.76 out of 5 for safety with an average weight of 3.2lbs (1.46Kg). That makes composite helmets the second best for safety and weight, but they’re also the second most expensive type of helmet.

Should I buy a composite crash helmet?

Yes – composite fiber crash helmets can be great and some manufacturers like Arai, Nexx and X-Lite specialise in making helmets from composite materials.

But like any helmet, there’s good ones and bad ones. So use the following links to find the best composite fiber helmets on the market today:

Check out all our composite fiber motorcycle helmets.

Or visit our Smart Filter pages, choose composite and whatever other helmet features you’re interested in.

Alternatively, view our top 10 Safest Helmets, Budget Helmets, Flip-up and Modular Helmets, Full Face Helmets, or top 10 All Helmets sections.

What is a dual-homologated or P/J homologated motorcycle helmet?

Good question.

The first thing to say is that it’s a term coined by the European ECE 22.05 motorcycle helmet testing legislation so doesn’t have any legal standing here in the US and relates to modular/flip-up helmets only.

It means a modular crash helmet that’s been tested and approved to offer protection (and be used) with both the chin guard down as well as up. And while it’s not legally-relevant in the US, it’s probably worth checking out because we all want our modular helmets to give decent protection in both configurations right?

It’s your call of course, but read on if you want more information on dual homologated helmets – plus we’ve tagged all helmets we’ve looked at that are dual homlogated here.

P/J helmets

Most flip-front helmets are designed to offer protection with their chin guards down, so they act as a full face helmet.

If it does, it’s given type P certification for protective face covering.

But some are also tested and approved to be worn with the chin guard up, worn like an open face or jet style helmet. That’s J certification.

If they have both, it’s called P/J approved or dual homologated.

It’s legally relevant for EU and ECE 22-05 countries only

Non-protective chin guards

Note, the very occasional modular is approved without P certification – in which case they should be clearly marked that the chin guard doesn’t offer protection and labelled NP (for non protective). But they’re rare. Much more common are modulars that are designed and approved to give protection only when used in full face mode, with the chin guard lowered.

So if you’re buying a motorcycle crash helmet outside of the EU or ECE 22-05 zone, you don’t legally have to concern yourself about dual homologation.

However, we’d say if you do buy a modular, you might as well go for one that the manufacturer is happy will work in both configurations – and are willing to put to the test.

What’s the best dual-homologated flip-up helmet?

You can find all our dual-homologated P/J helmets here.

There’s plenty to choose from but at the time of writing, we’d say the ones to watch are the AGV Numo Evo and Shark Evoline 3. They all score well for safety and are great, usable helmets from trusted manufacturers.

What is EQRS or Emergency Quick Release System?

EQRS is a system designed to help remove a motorcycle helmet without damaging a rider’s neck and spine.

When a rider has an accident, at some stage it’s going to be necessary to remove their crash helmet. Whether that’s at the scene to assess head injuries or at the emergency room to get the rider comfortable and do further investigation into any injuries – they’re going to have to get that helmet off.

As we all know, that’s sometimes easier said than done; even when we’re fully fit and doing it ourselves there can be a fair bit of tugging and wrestling involved!

So, for emergency staff removing an unfamiliar helmet from someone else, possibly in an awkward position at a highly-charged accident scene – that can mean there’s masses of potential for causing further complications to neck and spine.

Which led some helmet makers to add something called EQRS or emergency quick removal system into their helmets – to help making removing helmets easier and putting less strain on the neck.

How does EQRS work?

Essentially, it’s a system to make pulling-out some of the pads inside the helmet easier – and to do it while the helmet’s still being worn. Usually, that means pulling the cheek pads out of the bottom of the helmet without removing the helmet first.

Removing the cheek pads means there’s more space available to carefully remove the helmet, minimising the need to move the head around too much and cause injuries.

You can see if a helmet has EQRS by looking at the bottom of the helmet. There’s usually a couple of red tabs at the bottom of the lining which can be grabbed to pull the cheek pads out of the helmet. There’s also usually small notices stickered on the outside of the helmet to notify emergency staff and paramedics, pointing out that EQRS is fitted.

Here’s a video from Shoei showing how EQRS works.

Which helmets have EQRS?

There’s an increasing number of helmets with EQRS – especially sportsbike and motocross helmets where injuries are most likely.

Some makers don’t call it EQRS and have their own name for it. But here you can find all the helmets that feature EQRS or their equivalents that we’ve looked at so far.

What is a micrometric motorcycle helmet fastener?

The micrometric (or micro ratchet, or plain ratchet) fastener is a relative newcomer to motorcycle crash helmets. It might be new, but it’s a real goodie.

It’s uses a small hard plastic or metal curved strip with teeth on it on one side of the strap. On the other, there’s a corresponding slot with a spring-loaded ratchet mechanism. Insert the strip into the slot and the ratchet grabs onto the teeth, securing the strap.

That means it’s really simple to close and lock micrometric straps; but it’s also easy to open them too. Just pull the red tab connected to the ratchet and it releases the mechanism, unlocking the fastener. Couldn’t be easier.

The strength of a micrometric fastener is in its simplicity to use and, within limits, means that you re-tighten the strap every time. Oh, and in its cheapness to produce.

But it does have a weakness. And that’s in the fact that you only have an inch or so adjustment – the length of the ratchet strip in fact. That’s fine when the strap’s adjusted correctly, but when the strap stretches over time (which it probably will) it’s all too easy to have a micrometric fastener that’s not quite tightened enough.

And that, dear friends, could give you a chance of being one of the 8% of fatal motorcycle accidents where it’s reckoned the helmet comes off!

So, if you ride with a helmet fastened with a micrometric or ratchet strap, if it doesn’t feel tight enough, take a moment to adjust the buckle on the strap itself and not just the micrometric fastener.

Other than that, micrometric’s are great.

Pros of micrometric fasteners

• Really easy to fasten & release
• Safe as houses if adjusted correctly

Cons of micrometric fasteners

• Limited amount of adjustment
• Need periodical strap adjustment

If you’re wanting a micrometric fastener on your new helmet, you can find all our helmets with micrometric fasteners here.

Fiberglass was the wonder material of its age. Originally developed in the 1930’s it was their carbon fiber moment.

It’s a cheap, light weight, strong and mouldable material that’s very suited to making into motorcycle crash helmets and has been the go-to material for heaps of manufacturers over the years in their quest to make the best helmet.

Indeed, many older dudes (like me!) still equate fiberglass helmets with top-of-the-range lids.

And with good reason – because in many cases it still does. Arai still uses it, so does Shoei and Scorpion, for example. But mostly, fiberglass is used as one of a number of components in a composite fiber helmet. These usually include other materials such as carbon fiber and kevlar in the mix.

In the picture, you can see an early stage of making an Arai helmet – creating a ‘straw hat’ of high-grade fiberglass (what Arai call superfibers) to form into the helmet shell before layering in other materials.

Fiberglass can be used as ‘ordered’ mats similar to carbon fiber weave. But, as you can see in the picture, it also has multi-directional strength when used in the ‘chopped strand’ method where fibers are chopped then laid down in random directions before being set in resin. This gives it great stability and multi-directional strength.

So don’t let fiberglass put you off – it’s an excellent material that displays lots of the properties we like to see in a helmet – light weight, strength with tunable flexibility and abrasion-resistance being but four.

And as you can see from our helmet materials table, fiberglass helmets are only a smidge heavier on average, and a tiny bit poorer SHARP safety performing, than composite helmets.

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Visit our fiberglass crash helmets section to see the wide variety of top-performing helmets that are sold as fiberglass helmets (or as composites containing fiberglass).

Carbon fiber is a composite material usually made up of a carbon fiber weaved fabric set in a resin – usually plastic.

The great thing about carbon fiber, as far as we’re concerned, is that it looks cool when you make a crash helmet out of it. Oh, and it’s very strong for its weight!

This last part is why helmet manufacturers have been keen to use carbon fiber in the construction of their top-end crash helmets for the last ten years of course. But it does have a downside.

That’s because crash helmet shells need to have a certain amount of flex in them to try and absorb energy and stop it passing through to the brain. And carbon fiber is very strong and stiff so very resistant to flexing.

Which can present a challenge to a helmet maker.

Having said that, they mostly seem to have overcome this problem because, as you can see from our comparison of helmet shell material versus SHARP helmet safety score in the table below, carbon fiber helmets overall perform superbly well. They seem to manage to be lighter, stronger and offer fantastic shock-absorption qualities all at the same time.

That’s probably because most helmets that use carbon fiber include it as part of a composite – often including layers of fiberglass, kevlar, plastic and other custom-designed materials working alongside carbon fiber. This allows helmet makers to tune the performance of the shell to give as close to the right set of characteristics they’re looking for. Even many ‘pure carbon’ helmets on sale today are actually composites. Which is no surprise really because carbon fiber itself is a composite material.

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The way carbon fiber is made is by creating a carbon thread then weaving it into a material. Doing this gives it strength in two planes. This is then set into a binder – usually a thermoplastic resin (the stuff that thermoplastic helmets are made out of) which gives it three dimensional strength. Using multiple layers together multiplies that strength further.

It’s not quite so straightforward though because there are lots of different grades of thread quality, weaves and binders, all offering a multitude of material characteristics and available at exotic and startling price points!

For example, the Bell Pro Star race helmet, uses a special flatter, stronger carbon fiber called TeXtreme which partly accounts for it’s higher price. Its sister helmet, the slightly cheaper Bell Race Star uses a 3K carbon fiber weave which is slightly bulkier and has a different finish.

You’ll often hear terms like 3K and 6K carbon fiber. This refers to the number of carbon fiber filaments in each carbon thread. So 3K carbon fiber has 3000 filaments and is the ‘workhorse’ good all rounder type of carbon fiber, whereas the 6000 filament 6K carbon fiber is slightly cheaper and with a thicker weave.

Of course, because carbon fiber is expensive to buy and use, helmet makers tend to use it mostly in their top of the range helmets. And those helmets tend to have more care and attention and better quality materials lavished on them anyway – hence their better overall performance.

However, the fact of the matter is that if you were wanting to buy a safe crash helmet and are going to base your buying decision on helmet shell material alone, then you’re probably best going for a carbon fiber helmet.

So there you go. Carbon fiber isn’t just pretty, it’s strong (and pricey) too. And it allows helmet manufacturers make some great looking, great performing and lightweight motorcycle helmets to keep our heads safely cossetted doing what we love most.

So if you’re in the market for a carbon fiber helmet, then visit our carbon fiber crash helmets page where you can read all our carbon fiber helmet reviews and previews.

What are photochromic shields?

Photochromic means something that changes colour in response to light. So, in the case of shields, that means a shield that will darken in response to UV light.

Which means it’ll stay light when indoors (indoor lights don’t transmit much UV apparently) or when it’s dark or a dull day. But when it gets sunny, then the shield will start to darken. And when it gets really sunny, it’ll do it quickly and get really dark – Lazer quotes an 80% tint for its Lumino shields.

How quickly do they change?

Well, photochromic shields are known to darken more quickly than they lighten and the speed it takes is slightly temperature dependent too. But, if it’s a really bright and sunny day, they’ll typically reach max darkness in about 20s – or about the time it takes to get on your bike, put your helmet on and set off. Which is pretty cool.

How do they work?

Most of the photochromic shields on the market today use technology developed by a company called Transitions – including those available from Shoei, Bell and Lazer (see below).

Transitions lenses use a light-sensitive dye to either impregnate or coat the surface (depending on the material). When exposed to UV light, the molecules in the dye change structure, causing the shield to darken.

For more info on how it all works, here’s a link to Transition’s technology page.

We’re great fans of photochromic shields – especially when helmets come with them in the box like the very reasonably priced Bell Qualifier DLX full face and Lazer Monaco flip-up (that’s SHARP 4 star rated too).

You’ll find helmets that come with photochromic shields in the box here on our photochromic shield page. Or read on…

Which helmets come with Photochromic shields?

At the time of writing, the following manufacturers either offer their helmets with a photochromic shield as standard fitment, or have one available to buy separately.

Bell

Bell produces what it calls their Trinsitions SOLFX ClickRelease shield. The following helmets have one available to fit:

Bell Qualifier DLX – comes as standard with one in the box.

Bell Star, Vortex, RS-1 and Revolver – all ClickRelease compatible but not included.

Lazer

Lazer’s Lumino shield system is their photochromic shield brand that also uses Transitions technology. Lazer say that at it’s maximum it is 80% tinted (i.e. gives 20% light transmission). It blocks 100% of UV and is anti-fog coated too.

The Lazer Monaco comes with a Lumino photochromic shield in the box. However Lazer also say you can also buy photochromic shields for the Kite, Falcon, Osprey and Kestrel helmets.

Shoei

Shoei produces a Transitions adaptive shield for their CWR-1 shield shape which means it should be available for the X-Fourteen, RF-1200 and RF-SR helmets. Note none of these helmets come with a transitions shield in the box.

To read reviews and previews of all the helmets that either come with a photochromic shield or have one available to buy separately, visit our helmets with photochromic shields page.