Helmets · New technology

The shell
that lets go

AGV's new MotoGP helmet carries an outer layer that rolls and breaks away in a crash, to take rotation away from your head. Here is how Sphera and RLS work, and what the six-fold concussion figure really means.

AGV PISTA GP R3 · SPHERA · RLS
FIM FRHPhe-02 · ECE 22.06

See the Pista GP R3 →

Misano, 11 September 2026

The whole AGV grid switched overnight.

From Friday practice at the San Marino Grand Prix, every AGV rider in MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 lined up in a new helmet. The Pista GP R3, or R Cube, keeps the shape of the helmet that has defined race lids since 2011. Underneath that shape, AGV calls it the biggest step for the Pista platform since its launch. The reason is a layer you can see: the matt or gloss panels on top of the carbon shell.

Sphera · exploded view

Why rotation

Your skull turns first. Your brain follows a moment later.

Most crashes do not hit the head straight on. In an angled impact the helmet and skull are set spinning, while the brain, floating in cerebrospinal fluid, follows with a slight delay. That relative rotation is what causes the most serious brain injuries. The FIM made oblique impacts a focus of its new racing standard, and AGV built its answer into the shell: an outer layer, separated from the carbon by a grid of microspheres, designed to come away in a controlled way.

AGV Sphera powered by RLS

Four things to know about the system

Roll

The outer panels glide on micro-bearings in several directions and follow the path of the impact with very little resistance.

Release

Under enough load the panels detach from the structure. The movement grows and part of the energy leaves with them.

Protect

Less of the twisting force reaches the head, which is the part of an oblique impact that EPS alone handles worst.

Replace

Once panels have released in a crash, the helmet has done its job. Like any helmet after a real impact, it should be replaced.

The R3 in four numbers

6×Lower concussion risk in lab tests

3Impact directions averaged: 0°, 90°, 270°

5 mmMaximum visor thickness

100+New moulds for the helmet

Slow motion · lab rig

In the lab

The same drop, without Sphera and with it.

AGV filmed the same oblique impact twice on a test rig: once on a helmet without the technology, once with RLS fitted. Keep an eye on the peak rotational velocity counter at the top of each clip. It is the clearest way to see what the outer layer changes.

Reading the claim

What the six-fold figure does and does not say

The number comes from laboratory tests at the Aragon Institute for Engineering Research (I3A), University of Zaragoza. The lab ran a frontal impact and impacts from the right and the left, converted each result with the Brain Injury Criterion (BrIC) into the probability of an AIS2+ injury, the medical level that covers concussion, and averaged the three. According to AGV, the comparison is against the same configuration without Sphera. That makes it a clean measurement of what the system adds. It is still an average of three defined lab impacts, not a promise for every crash on the road, and that is how we quote it.

Up close

Hundreds of microspheres between carbon and skin.

AGV speaks of a grid of hundreds of microspheres. MCN counted more than 1,600 of them, each about 2 mm across, sitting between the carbon shell and an outer skin of polycarbonate. RLS, the British start-up behind the technology, has its roots at Oxford University. According to MCN, AGV and RLS spent around three years and more than 28,000 hours developing it.

Everything else

What else is new on the R3

HomologationDeveloped to FIM FRHPhe-02, plus ECE 22.06 and DOT for the road.
ShellFull carbon fibre, with the Sphera layer on top. AGV says the R3 keeps the weight of its predecessor.
VisorUp to 5 mm thick with a stronger retention mechanism. A new visor generation: Pista GP RR and RR S visors do not fit.
AeroWind-tunnel and track work focused on the head turned into the corner, where side forces are highest. New spoiler shape.
VentilationIntakes in Grilamid, a plastic and carbon composite, and new rear exhausts that pull heat out faster.
InteriorA snugger, more ergonomic liner with a small chin deflector. Fully removable and washable.
SizesXS, S, MS, ML, L, XL and XXL, with medium split into two steps.

The first time I saw the Sphera tests, I was completely amazed.Luca Marini, Honda HRC

At Inter-Pace

Tried on in Forstern, not ordered blind

We sell the Pista GP R3 in our store only, with a personal fitting. A race helmet with a new MS and ML size split should be fitted on your head, not guessed from a chart. On the product page you can reserve a fitting: choose your size and your preferred day, and we hold that size for you or let you know as soon as it arrives. We expect the first helmets in early 2027.

What AGV has not published yet: the weight in grams, the vent count and a European retail date.

The R3 has no SHARP rating yet either; the five stars there belong to the old Pista GP R. We add each point as soon as there is a reliable source.