The same helmet and the same photochromic visor as the matt version, in the finish that can be repaired. That is the whole difference, and it is a bigger one than it looks: a gloss clear coat over carbon can be polished, and a matt one cannot. The rest is an FF805 Thunder GP Aero — 100 per cent carbon, 1,280 g declared, ECE 22.06 — supplied with the LS2 IRID Dynamic Clear, a screen that darkens in sun and clears again on its own.

Matt or gloss on a carbon shell: the real differences

Both finishes are clear coat over the same weave. What separates them is what happens to that coat when something touches it.

A gloss coat is smooth, so a light scratch is a shallow groove in a level surface and a mild polishing compound levels the surface back down to meet it. That is why swirl marks, glove scuffs and the grey mark a helmet picks up from a tank bag come out of gloss and stay in matt. A matt coat gets its look from a microscopically rough surface, and any compound that removes material also removes the roughness — you end up with a shiny patch that no amount of further work blends away.

Gloss also sheds dirt more easily. Insects and road film sit on the surface rather than in it, so they lift with a wet cloth and less pressure, which in turn means fewer of the marks the finish would otherwise collect.

The case for matt is aesthetic and one practical point: it hides fingerprints, and it does not throw a hotspot into a photograph. If you like the look, buy the look. If you expect the helmet to live in a garage, get carried by the strap and land on a workbench a few hundred times, gloss will age better.

Gloss over carbon, five years on

The failure mode is not scratching, it is yellowing. Clear coats amber slowly under ultraviolet, and over a dark carbon weave that reads as a warm cast rather than a colour change — most people never notice unless they park a new one next to an old one.

You cannot stop it, but you can slow it: keep the helmet out of direct sun when it is not on your head, and out of a car rear window entirely. A helmet bag is a UV filter as well as a dust cover, and the GP Aero comes with one.

The Dynamic Clear, in practical terms

A photochromic visor swings from 60 per cent light transmission to 20 per cent as ultraviolet hits it. LS2 quotes 0.09 seconds for the transition, 20 g for the visor, an integrated anti-fog coating tested to 120 seconds, and no batteries — the tint is chemistry, not electronics.

Two things to plan around. Its lightest state is 60 per cent, and a visor needs 80 per cent to be approved for use at any hour, so this is a daylight screen and the helmet's own clear one is what you fit for a ride home in the dark. And behind a tall touring screen it will darken less than in open air, because screens absorb the ultraviolet that drives it.

The shell it is all attached to

Carbon fibre throughout in a 6K weave, one outer shell size covering XS to XXL, and 1,280 g with a 50 g tolerance as declared by LS2. ECE 22.06. The FIM homologation in the FF805 family belongs to the Thunder GP PRO, which uses a 9K cloth over three shell sizes.

The single shell is the specification we would ask you to try on. Every size shares one outer volume and the fit is made in padding, which is generous in the middle of the range and less so at the ends.

Air path

Three intakes — chin, brow, crown — feeding channels moulded into the EPS, with the exhaust under the rear spoiler and a breath deflector behind the chin bar. All of it is workable with gloves on.

Double D-ring and emergency release

A double D-ring rather than a ratchet, because it cannot be fastened almost right, and cheek pads on LS2's Emergency Release System: red tabs that pull the padding clear so a helmet can be lifted off a rider without rotating the neck.

ECE 22.06

The current European standard, mandatory since January 2024. It tests eighteen impact points rather than five, at more than one speed, adds an oblique impact against an abrasive anvil to measure rotational acceleration, and assesses the Brain Injury Criterion. The visor mechanism and vents are certified as fitted.

What "ready for LS2 Intercom" actually means

It means the shell has been moulded with the recesses a communication system needs, not that one is included. There are pockets in the EPS for speakers, a channel for the microphone lead and a flat area on the shell edge for the clamp, so a unit fits without you cutting foam out of a new helmet.

Two caveats worth having before you order a system. Speaker depth is the thing that goes wrong: a race helmet has tighter cheek pads than a touring one, and a thick speaker will press on your ear over a long day, so choose the slim version if the system offers one. And on a helmet with this much airflow, wind noise sets the volume you will end up using — an intercom in a race shell at speed is for short exchanges rather than conversation.

Cleaning it without ruining it

Warm water and a soft cloth, always wet, never dry — a dry wipe drags grit across the clear coat and puts in exactly the marks you would then have to polish out. Soak insects off rather than scrubbing them. Keep solvents and household cleaners away from the visor entirely: the anti-fog and anti-scratch coatings are the first things they take off, and a coated visor is not repairable.

What this helmet does not have

• No FIM homologation — the GP PRO holds that in this family.
• No drop-down sun visor; the photochromic screen replaces it.
• A 60 per cent clear state, which is a daylight transmission rather than a night one.
• One outer shell size for six helmet sizes.
• No SHARP, ADAC or Snell result for any FF805 Thunder.
• No published noise figure.

In the box

• LS2 FF805 Thunder GP Aero helmet — Gloss Carbon
• LS2 IRID Dynamic Clear photochromic visor
• Carrying backpack
• Tinted visor
• Pinlock Max Vision 120XLT anti-fog lens
• Tear-off films
• Reflective stickers

LS2 issues one packing list for the GP Aero model and none for the Dynamic versions specifically; the list above is theirs plus the visor this reference is built around.

Size guide

Size	Head circumference
XS	53–54 cm
S	55–56 cm
M	57–58 cm
L	59–60 cm
XL	61–62 cm
XXL	63–64 cm

Specification

• Helmet — LS2 FF805 Thunder GP Aero
• Reference — 168058815
• Surface — Gloss Carbon
• Second visor — LS2 IRID Dynamic Clear, photochromic and homologated for road use
• Light range — 60 per cent down to 20 per cent VLT
• Certification — ECE 22.06
• Construction — 100 per cent carbon fibre, 6K, one shell size
• Declared weight — 1,280 g ± 50 g; the Dynamic visor weighs 20 g
• Chin strap — double D-ring, emergency release cheek pads
• Size range — XS to XXL, 53–64 cm
• Fog control — Pinlock 120XLT MaxVision in the box; the Dynamic visor is separately coated
• Switching — 0.09 seconds, no batteries, waterproof
• Airflow — chin, brow and top intakes, spoiler exhaust, breath deflector
• Lining — removable, washable, laser-cut foam

• 1x LS2 FF805 Thunder GP Aero helmet — Gloss Carbon + IRID Dynamic Clear
• 1x LS2 IRID Dynamic Clear photochromic visor
• 1x carrying backpack
• 1x tinted visor
• 1x pinlock Max Vision 120XLT
• 1x tear-off films

Size guide — all measurements