Battito means heartbeat, and the artwork earns the name. A hummingbird rendered in turquoise, violet and magenta sits over each temple of this Pista GP RR S, wings caught mid-beat, with fine violet filigree trailing back across the shell and orange flame tips licking up from the chin bar. Underneath it all the carbon weave stays visible through the gloss, so the bird appears to be painted onto the structure rather than onto a colour.

What the Battito artwork actually does in daylight

The iridescent passages are the point of this livery. They are not metallic flake, which throws back a single colour brighter, but a layered effect that shifts hue with the viewing angle: the wing that reads turquoise when the helmet is level goes violet as you lean into a corner, and the magenta edges lift towards pink under direct sun and drop back to deep blue in shade.

That behaviour has a practical side. Shifting colours break up the outline of a helmet against a moving background, which is a different kind of visibility from a plain fluo panel. It is not high-visibility equipment, and nobody should buy it as such, but on a grey road it does catch the eye more readily than the matt carbon version of this same helmet.

The flames at the chin and the diamond markers along the lower edge are the only hard-edged elements in the design. Everything else is airbrushed gradient, which is why the artwork survives the compound curves around the vents without breaking up.

Looking after a graphic this complex

Decorated helmets are not more fragile than plain ones, but they show their wear differently. A scuff through clear coat on a Mono Carbon reads as a scratch; the same scuff across a hummingbird's wing reads as damage. Two habits prevent most of it.

First, never set the helmet down on its side on a tank or a pit-lane bench: the widest part of the shell is exactly where the artwork sits. Second, rinse before you wipe. Insect residue bakes onto a gloss surface and the instinct is to rub, which drags grit across the graphic. Warm water, a few minutes of soaking with a damp cloth laid over the mess, then a light wipe.

The structure under the paint

The shell is carbon fibre, one hundred per cent of it, moulded in four sizes, with a five-density EPS liner also produced in four sizes. The base of the shell carries what AGV calls the collarbone safe profile, a cut-back rear edge intended to keep the shell from catching the collarbone when the head is driven down in a crash.

Five densities of EPS exist because impacts are not all the same. A liner tuned only for a high-energy strike is too stiff to absorb a low-speed one, and a soft liner bottoms out in a hard hit. Varying the density zone by zone lets one liner do both jobs, and moulding it in four sizes keeps the crush depth correct across the whole size range rather than only in the middle of it.

190 degrees, and why a race helmet needs them

The Race 3 MPLK visor gives 190 degrees of horizontal vision and 85 degrees vertically, through 5 mm of optical class 1 material. Optical class 1 is the stricter of the two ECE grades for distortion: it means what you see through the edge of the visor is where the object actually is, which matters when the edge of the visor is where the apex is.

Vertical field is the figure people forget. Eighty-five degrees is what lets you keep your eyes on the road while your head is tucked behind a screen, and it is the reason a racing aperture looks so much taller than a touring one.

The visor runs on a metal mechanism, locks closed, and cracks open a couple of millimetres on a detent for demisting at low speed. AGV's patented Extra Quick Release System gets it off in seconds without tools, and a Pinlock 120XLT MaxVision insert comes in the box. Tear-off posts are fitted as standard, with a tear-off kit supplied.

Cheek pads that come out when they have to

Both cheek pads are built around a safety release system. Pull the red tabs at the base of the helmet and the pads slide out of their channels, which lets a marshal or a paramedic take the helmet off a rider with far less movement of the neck than would otherwise be needed.

It is a feature nobody wants to use and everybody should know how to point out. If you ride on track, show the tabs to whoever you ride with. They are also how the pads come out for washing.

ECE 22.06 in plain terms

The helmet carries ECE 22.06 and DOT approval, listed by AGV as E2206 DOT MPLK. The 22.06 standard has governed new helmets in the EU since January 2024 and is a genuine step up from 22.05: more impact points, several test speeds, an oblique impact against an abrasive surface to measure rotational forces, and testing of the helmet as an assembly with visor, spoiler and vents in place.

The price ladder, honestly

Graphic versions of the Pista GP RR S cost more than the plain carbon. Against the rest of our race shelf that reads as follows.

The price step from Mono to Battito buys paintwork and nothing else: identical shell, identical liner, identical visor, identical contents. That is worth saying plainly, because it is the one decision in this range where the answer is purely a matter of taste.

Ventilation and the spoiler

Five metal intakes at the front, two metal extractors at the rear, channels cut through the EPS. None of them closes on the move; a set of vent covers in the box blanks them off when the weather demands it.

At the back sits the new EVO Spoiler, the main change over the outgoing Pista GP RR. It is detachable, held by plastic screws, and available separately in five finishes including one matched to this livery. Plastic fasteners are a deliberate choice: a spoiler that shears off in a slide cannot snag on a kerb and turn the head.

Where this helmet stops

No FIM homologation. The Pista GP RR S is approved to ECE 22.06 and DOT, and that is not the same certificate as FIM FRHPhe, which a growing number of licensed race series require. Track days and fast road riding are unaffected; a national championship entry may not be. Ask the organiser.

No sun visor, no intercom preparation, no glasses channel, and a neck roll cut for a race suit collar. Wind noise is unmeasured on this model and we will not put a number on it, but open metal intakes and a racing aperture add up to a loud helmet. Plan for earplugs.

Sizing

Take a tape measure around the widest part of your head, roughly a centimetre above the brow line, and match the result to the chart linked on this page. The fit is deliberately close at the cheeks when new. The interiors customisation kit supplied with the helmet contains an alternative crown pad and cheek pads, so a fit that starts a little tight can be adjusted rather than returned.

In the box

• AGV Pista GP RR S helmet, Battito Iridium
• Race 3 MPLK clear visor, fitted
• Pinlock 120XLT MaxVision insert
• Interiors customisation kit: top crown pad, rear crown pad, cheek pads
• Tear-off kit
• Vent covers
• Removable nose guard and wind protector
• Helmet bag and documentation

Specification

• Model — AGV Pista GP RR S
• Part number — 21183D9017003
• Colour and finish — Battito Iridium
• Homologation — ECE 22.06 and DOT (AGV designation E2206 DOT MPLK)
• Helmet type — Full-face racing helmet, road legal
• Shell — 100% carbon fibre, four shell sizes
• Liner — Five-density EPS in four sizes, collarbone safe profile
• Weight — 1,500 g in the first shell size
• Sizes — XS to XXL
• Visor — Race 3 MPLK, 5 mm, optical class 1, 190 degrees horizontal, 85 degrees vertical, metal mechanism, visor lock, micro-opening, Extra Quick Release System
• Anti-fog — Pinlock 120XLT MaxVision included
• Ventilation — Five front intakes, two rear extractors, metal vents
• Retention — Titanium double-D ring

• 1x AGV Pista GP RR S helmet
• 1x Race 3 MPLK clear visor, fitted
• 1x Pinlock 120XLT MaxVision insert
• 1x Interiors customisation kit: top crown pad, rear crown pad, cheek pads
• 1x Tear-off kit
• 1x Set of vent covers