MT-Helmets Stinger 2 Baldur B15 Full-Face Helmet – Matt Graphite / Red

Matt graphite and black, with red and orange flashes stepping down the flank and BALDUR and KINETIC lettered along them. It is the sober version of MT's Baldur design, and the helmet on which the closure is worth talking about properly.

MT-MDTC: why a double tooth

The strap closes on MT-MDTC — Micrometric Double Teeth Closure. A ratchet, with two sets of teeth engaging rather than one.

The standing objection to ratchets is real: a strap fastened on a single tooth can walk loose under vibration, and it does so quietly. A second engaged tooth is the structural answer, and it keeps what makes a ratchet worth having — one-handed operation, in gloves, on a helmet you fasten and unfasten several times a day.

The comparison people reach for is the double-D ring, which is more secure in theory and requires two bare hands and a deliberate movement. In practice a ratchet that is always fastened properly beats a D-ring that is sometimes fastened in a hurry.

Getting the size right

Measure the head at its widest point, about 1–2 cm above the eyebrows, and take that figure to the table below.

Between two sizes, take the smaller. The comfort padding compresses two or three millimetres in the first hours of riding and then stops; the EPS liner behind it does not compress at all until it is crushing in an impact. So a helmet that is slightly firm on the cheeks when new ends up correct, and one that is comfortable in the shop ends up loose within a month.

Two tests before the first ride

With the strap fastened: put a flat hand on the crown and turn. The skin of your forehead should move with the helmet — if the helmet turns and your scalp stays still, it is too big.

Then take the rear edge in both hands and try to roll the helmet forward off your head. It must not come. This roll-off test is the one most people skip and the one that decides everything: a helmet that leaves your head in the first tenth of a second protects nothing at all, and no strap setting compensates for a shell that is too large.

About the Baldur B15 finish

Matt throughout. The shell is a graphite grey laid over black, with a series of red and orange flashes stepping down the flank and a fine hatched texture worked in behind them. BALDUR runs along the lower rear, KINETIC sits above the visor mechanism, and the chin bar is black.

A dark helmet with warm accents is the version of this design that goes with everything and shows nothing. Matt hides the handling marks a helmet picks up from being carried and set down; the red does the work of stopping it looking like something handed over a rental counter.

ECE 22.06 · no DOT

The current European standard, mandatory since January 2024: 18 impact points instead of the 22.05's five, several impact speeds, an oblique strike against an abrasive anvil measuring rotational loading, and a Brain Injury Criterion ceiling. No DOT marking is published for the Stinger 2.

No sun visor

There is no drop-down shade on this model. A smoked MT-V-28B as a second screen is the route to a tint, and MT-QVSS makes the swap a matter of seconds — but the screen has to be with you.

MT-QVSS and the screen

The MT-V-28B releases with two buttons and no tools, in gloves. It is prepared for Pinlock DKS435; the insert is not in the box.

On spares: MT sells the cheek pads, the crown liner and the visor as separate items for this model.

It matters more on a cheap helmet than on an expensive one, and for a counter-intuitive reason: on a €115 helmet the temptation when something wears out is to replace the whole thing, which is wasteful when the shell has three good years left. A fresh set of cheek pads costs a fraction of a new helmet and makes an old one fit like new — and it is the padding, not the shell, that goes first on a helmet ridden daily.

The one thing you cannot replace is the EPS liner. When that has done its work — once, invisibly, in a single impact — the helmet is finished, and no amount of new padding changes that.

The Baldur name across the range

MT uses the Baldur graphic on several Stinger 2 colourways — the same stepped flashes, the same BALDUR and KINETIC lettering, over grounds ranging from white to this matt graphite.

The drawing is not what changes between them; the ground is. On this one the dark base pulls the flashes back into an accent, which is why it works with a black jacket and a dark bike in a way the white version does not.

The shell

HIRP injection-moulded thermoplastic at around 1,600 g. Heavier than a composite of equal strength and far more consistent from unit to unit, which at this price is the more useful property — and the reason a helmet costing this much clears exactly the same standard as one costing five times more.

Interior

Hypoallergenic, removable and washable, with a slot for a universal UCS intercom's speakers. Hand-wash in lukewarm water and dry away from radiators. Never in a machine or a dryer: the foam in a cheek pad is closed-cell and comes back from a spin cycle permanently flatter, which quietly turns the helmet into a size too large.

What it does not have

• No sun visor.
• No DOT marking published.
• No safety rating. Not tested by SHARP; no ADAC or Snell result.
• Matt cannot be polished, and no Pinlock insert is supplied.

In the box

• MT Stinger 2 helmet — Baldur B15, matt graphite and black with red
• Protective bag, user manual and MT Helmets stickers
• Clear MT-V-28B fitted; no sun visor on this model.

Size guide

Specification

• Model — MT-Helmets Stinger 2 · Part number — 1334D76B152 (XXS–XL: …02 to …07)
• Colour / finish — Baldur B15 — matt graphite and black with red flashes
• Homologation — ECE 22.06 · no DOT published
• Safety rating — none; not in the SHARP database
• Build — full-face road helmet, entry class
• Outer shell — HIRP thermoplastic, weight around 1.6 kg
• Head sizes — 51 cm (XXS) to 62 cm (XL), six steps
• Screen — MT-V-28B with the MT-QVSS two-button release
• Anti-fog — Pinlock DKS435 ready · not supplied
• Sun visor — none on this model
• Retention — MT-MDTC micrometric double-teeth closure
• Interior — hypoallergenic, removable and washable
• Communication — universal UCS intercom slot; no system supplied
• Manufacturer — MT Helmets, Spain
• Fitting — rotation test and roll-off test with the strap fastened, before the first ride
• Care — hand-wash the lining in lukewarm water; never machine wash or tumble dry
• Replacement — immediately after any impact, otherwise after about five years