Please note: sale to France is prohibited.

Basalt is a dark, slightly warm grey named after volcanic rock, and it does something none of the other neutrals in this range manage: it reads as a deliberate colour rather than as an absence of one, while still being a grey.

What MOTORRAD measured, and how

🔵 One clarification, because it is a common confusion. This helmet's independent result comes from MOTORRAD (issue 21/2025), not from SHARP — the British programme does not rate open-face helmets — and not from the ADAC, which has not run its own helmet test since 2018 and republishes MOTORRAD's work.

The verdict itself is „very good", from a twenty-helmet comparison with TÜV Rheinland laboratory support.

About the Basalt Grey finish

The problem with dark neutrals on a helmet is that most of them are simply diluted black, and under a flat sky they collapse back into it. Basalt avoids that because it carries a trace of warmth — enough that in overcast light the shell still shows tonal variation across the crown and temples rather than going flat. On an open-face helmet that matters more than on a full-face, because the shell is a smaller, more sculpted object seen against your face and shoulders rather than as a single mass. Practically it is among the easiest finishes in the range to keep: road film is grey, and a warm dark grey sits close enough to it that a wet commute registers as used rather than dirty. It also avoids the one thing pure black does badly, which is showing every water spot.

What an open-face helmet does and does not do

Worth understanding what ECE 22.06 certification means for an open-face helmet, because the badge looks identical to the one on a full-face. The standard has separate requirements for each type: the shell, the retention system and the visor are tested comparably, but the chin impact test that a full-face must pass simply does not apply.

🔵 The J-Cruise 3 is a properly certified jet helmet. It is not a full-face and does not claim to be.

AIM, three shells, and a buckle that will not open by accident

Multi-density EPS deserves more than a line. The impact liner is not one uniform block but several grades assembled together, each with different absorption characteristics, placed where each performs best. On a compact shell like this one, where there is less material to work with overall, that placement matters more rather than less.

The outer shell is AIM: fibreglass composite of several fibre materials.

CJ-2 and QSV-2 — and the Pinlock that is not in the box

The QSV-2 sun visor deploys steplessly rather than in fixed positions, which is the difference between setting the tint where the light actually is and choosing between too much and not enough. It covers almost the entire usable field of view, and the slider that operates it works with gloves on.

The outer screen is the CJ-2 panoramic, distortion-free into the periphery.

Three in, three out — the rebuilt ventilation

Heat and humidity are separate problems and the second one is what riders actually suffer from. Moving air removes water vapour from around the head, which is what keeps a scalp comfortable on a long stage and what stops the interior becoming clammy in traffic.

The reworked system — three intakes, three exhausts — is aimed at both, with a substantial increase in extraction over the previous J-Cruise.

Interior, ear pads and talking to the helmet

Communication on an open-face helmet is a different proposition, because ambient noise reaches your ears unimpeded. That makes speaker placement and microphone quality matter more, not less — and the COMLINK interface here positions the SENA SRL3 Mesh in pre-routed channels rather than clamped to the outside.

🔵 The SRL3 is sold separately as a Shoei accessory.

Where it sits in Shoei's range

A hundred euros separates the solid finishes from the graphics in this range, and it is fair to say what that buys: multi-stage masking and printing on a compound-curved shell, which is slow and difficult. It buys nothing structural.

If budget is the constraint, a solid J-Cruise 3 is exactly the same helmet underneath — same shell, same visor, same ventilation.

Around 1400 grams, and the rest of the honest list

An open-face helmet is a warm-weather instrument, and it is worth being straight about the winter case. Air reaches your face through the aperture regardless of what you close, your breath rises directly onto the visor, and the sun visor does nothing about cold. A jet in February is a deliberate choice rather than a comfortable default.

Add the Pinlock DKS105 if you intend to ride one through winter — it is not supplied.

When something wears out

🔵 The Pinlock EVO DKS105 is the part most J-Cruise 3 owners buy first, because the helmet does not come with one and an open-face fogs readily in cold weather. Worth ordering with the helmet rather than after the first cold morning.

It has a service life of its own — the silicone bead hardens over a couple of seasons — so a helmet kept for five years will need a second one.

In the box

• Shoei J-Cruise 3 helmet — Basalt Grey
• Helmet bag
• Instruction manual and ECE approval documentation
• 🔵 No Pinlock® lens — the visor is DKS105-ready, the lens is sold separately

Size guide

Specification

• Model — Shoei J-Cruise 3
• Part number — 13.10.028.2
• Colour — Basalt Grey — Basalt grey
• Homologation — ECE 22.06, open-face category
• Independent verdict — MOTORRAD „very good" (issue 21/2025, twenty-helmet jet comparison; laboratory work at TÜV Rheinland, noise measured at 100 km/h in Schuberth's wind tunnel)
• 🔴 Chin protection — none — this is an open-face helmet and has no chin bar
• Helmet type — Jet / open-face
• Shell — AIM (Advanced Integrated Matrix) fibreglass composite; three shell sizes (XS–M / L / XL–XXL)
• Weight — approx. 1400 g
• Sizes — XS to XXL (six sizes)
• Visor — CJ-2 panoramic, distortion-free into the periphery, blocks over 99 % of UV, spoiler edge, lock against unintended opening
• Anti-fog — Pinlock® EVO ready — DKS105 lens available separately, NOT supplied
• Sun visor — QSV-2, integrated, stepless, covers almost the entire usable field of view
• Impact liner — multi-part EPS whose elements absorb differently
• Retention — stainless steel micro-ratchet, one-handed, with a minimum release angle against accidental opening
• Ventilation — three intakes and three exhausts, roughly 70 % more extraction than the previous model
• Interior — fully removable and washable; removable ear pads for noise reduction
• Head shape — intermediate oval
• Communication — SHOEI COMLINK with pre-routed cabling for the SENA SRL3 Mesh (sold separately)
• Serviceability — visor, sun visor and all padding available as separate parts

• 1x helmet
• 1x Shoei helmet bag
• 1x set of spare Pinlock pins
• 1x maintenance tool
• Shoei logo stickers and silicone oil