Petrol — the blue-green sitting between teal and deep cyan — is the most quietly practical colour in the entire Rapid III range, and this is the version to choose if you want the Xtrem geometry without any noise.

1350 grams, and why that is the headline

🔵 If you are choosing between helmets on paper, weight and fit are the two specifications worth taking seriously. Everything else — vent counts, liner names, shell material — is harder to compare honestly.

This one weighs 1350 g ±50 g in a mid-size shell.

HPTT shell, three shell sizes and ECE 22.06

🔵 Under 22.06 the visor and vent covers are tested as part of the helmet rather than as accessories bolted on afterwards. A helmet cannot be approved bare and sold equipped.

The Rapid III's ventilation hardware is inside its approval.

No independent safety rating — and the trap that goes with it

🔵 The specific risk with a name like „Rapid III" is that a search collapses three generations into one set of results. Take the model code with you: this helmet is the FF820, and the rated one is the FF353.

They are not the same helmet and the score does not travel.

About the Xtrem black, blue and petrol graphic

Blue-greens occupy the part of the spectrum where road grime shows least, and that is not a small property on a helmet you will own for five years. The grey film a motorway leaves reads as an obvious deposit against white and as a dull haze against black; against petrol it simply does not register between washes. The practical result is equipment that looks maintained without your doing anything differently, which over several seasons is the difference between a helmet you are happy to be seen in and one you have stopped noticing. It also sits well above the black base on the value scale, so the coloured elements do real conspicuity work rather than purely decorative work — and petrol is genuinely uncommon, so you will not park beside another. 🔵 Ordinary gloss care: wash wet, dry soft, never dry-wipe. Of the nineteen finishes in this range, this is the one we would suggest to a rider who wants a helmet that still looks good in its fifth season without thinking about it. It is not the most visible and it is not the most striking, but nothing about it needs managing — and on a helmet that will be worn several hundred times, that counts for more than it sounds like it should.

What this helmet does not have: an internal sun visor

🔵 It is the first thing to check on any helmet in this price bracket, because it is where manufacturers economise most often. On the Rapid III there is no internal sun visor — LS2 says so in its specification and so do we.

The helmet is 200 g lighter for it.

Chin and top intakes, channelled EPS

Where ventilation actually earns its keep is not summer comfort but visor clarity in cold weather, and that is the chin intake's job.

🔵 It works better still with an anti-fog insert, which the visor is prepared for and which is not supplied.

Anti-fog — prepared for, not supplied

🔵 A note on visor care that matters more here than usual: never wipe a dry visor. Grit dragged across the surface leaves fine scratches, and they flare against oncoming headlights at exactly the moment you need clear vision.

Wet it first, every time. Replacement visors are available.

Lining, closure and everyday comfort

🔵 Speaker recesses: the Rapid III's lining is removable, which makes fitting a universal intercom straightforward, but check speaker depth rather than diameter before ordering — depth is what decides whether a speaker presses over a long ride.

No intercom system is supplied.

Where it sits in LS2's range

🔵 An affordable helmet that weighs 1350 g, uses three shell sizes and ventilates through channelled EPS is a genuinely good piece of value engineering.

It is also untested by any independent programme, and it has no sun visor. Both things are true at once.

Care and replacement parts

🔵 On a helmet with no internal sun visor, the outer visor does all the optical work — which makes visor condition the single most important maintenance item here.

Wet it before any cloth touches it, and replace it when it starts to flare against headlights.

In the box

• LS2 FF820 Rapid III helmet — Xtrem, Black, blue and petrol (HPTT shell)
• Clear outer visor, fitted
• Chin curtain, fitted and removable
• Breath deflector, fitted and removable
• 🔵 No internal sun visor — this model does not have one
• 🔵 No Pinlock insert — the visor is prepared for a Pinlock® 70 MaxVision™, which is sold separately
• 🔵 No second visor and no intercom — both are separate purchases

Size guide

🔵 Try the helmet on with the strap fastened rather than loose. An unfastened helmet always feels bigger than it is, and most people size up as a result.

Eight sizes, three shells, 2XS to 3XL.

Specification

• Model — LS2 FF820 Rapid III
• Part number — 168201129
• Colour — Xtrem — Black, blue and petrol
• Homologation — ECE 22.06
• 🔴 Safety rating — none. SHARP has no entry for the FF820, Rapid III or Rapid 3 (brand list checked directly). The 2-star result under „FF353 Rapid" belongs to the previous-generation helmet — different shell, different standard — and is deliberately not carried over. No ADAC or Certimoov result either
• Shell — HPTT injection-moulded thermoplastic; three shell sizes (2XS–S / M–L / XL–3XL)
• Weight — approx. 1350 g (±50 g), mid-size shell without accessories
• Sizes — 2XS to 3XL (eight sizes)
• 🔴 Sun visor — none. This helmet has no drop-down internal shield — unlike LS2's FF808 Stream II, FF811 Vector II and FF817 Challenger II. It is most of the reason it weighs 1350 g
• Visor — clear outer visor, scratch-resistant, tool-free change
• 🔴 Anti-fog — prepared for Pinlock® 70 MaxVision™ — the insert is NOT included. The pins are fitted; the lens is a separate purchase
• Ventilation — chin and top intakes feeding channelled EPS, with rear exhausts — two intake paths, one more than the FF817. 🔵 Assessed from the published construction; no independent airflow measurement exists
• 🔴 Wind noise — left unrated — no independent measurement is published for this model
• Retention — ratchet buckle
• Interior — hypoallergenic, antibacterial, fully removable and washable. 🔵 No branded wicking fabric (no COOLMAX or X-Static) and no magnetic wind deflector — both appear further up LS2's range
• Included — chin curtain and breath deflector, both fitted and removable
• 🔴 FIM homologation — none — a road helmet, not eligible for FIM-sanctioned competition
• Serviceability — visors, cheek pads in several thicknesses, complete lining, chin curtain, breath deflector and vent covers all available separately
• Replacement guidance — after about five years regardless of condition, and immediately after any impact

• 1× helmet
• Carrying bag
• Reflective stickers