Titan is the classic racing tricolour applied to a touring shell — an odd pairing on paper that works better than it should, because the palette was never really about racing.

An HPFC composite shell in three sizes

🔵 A homologation is a threshold rather than a ranking. Every helmet legally sold in Europe clears ECE 22.06, so the plaque tells you the Challenger II met the requirement — not by how much.

For that you would need an independent rating, and as the next section explains, this helmet does not have one.

No independent safety rating — and nothing to borrow

🔵 Roughly one helmet in ten on sale in Europe carries a SHARP rating. The Challenger II is one of the nine that does not, despite LS2 having several rated models in the same catalogue.

Its approval is ECE 22.06, recorded on a metal plaque on the shell.

Airflow from the top down — and no chin intake

🔵 Compare inside LS2's own range: the FF820 Rapid III runs chin and crown intakes into channelled EPS, one path more than this helmet.

What the Challenger II gives up in airflow it takes back in sealing and quiet, which is the correct priority on a touring shell.

About the Titan white, blue and red graphic

This combination has outlasted sixty years of changing helmet fashion for a functional reason. It was arrived at by people who needed to tell one rider from another at speed and at distance: white carries the value, blue and red supply the contrast, and the banding gives the eye a hard edge to lock onto rather than a smooth surface to slide across. All three of those properties transfer directly to a driver resolving you at a junction — which matters more on a touring helmet than a track one, because a touring helmet spends its life among traffic rather than among other bikes. That it also looks right is a consequence of the design being functional first. 🔵 The white base does most of the work and brings the usual cost: fly strike and motorway film show clearly, and distance riding produces plenty of both. Wash it wet, dry it with something soft, and keep the red out of prolonged direct sun. Between Titan and the white Viper at the same price, the difference is geometry rather than palette: Titan bands horizontally in the way a period racing livery does, Viper works diagonally on a darker base. Titan is the brighter and more visible of the two; Viper is the more contemporary. Both are the same helmet with the same equipment.

Seeing out: visor, sun shield and the Pinlock in the box

Hardcoating is what stops a visor scratching every time it is cleaned. It is not indestructible, and the rule remains the same: wet it before any cloth touches it.

🔵 Replacement visors and Pinlock inserts are both available separately.

Holding on, and letting go

Two things worth checking before the first ride: that the strap length is right with the helmet on, and that the visor mechanism seats properly when the visor is closed.

🔵 Both are user-serviceable, and the buckle is metal rather than plastic.

The part you actually touch

🔵 The comfort assessment on this page is 4 of 5, and here is the reasoning: COOLMAX moisture management, a magnetic wind deflector and an emergency release are all present.

It is a construction judgement from the published specification, not a measurement.

Where it sits in LS2's range

🔵 What the Challenger II is not: a competition helmet. It holds ECE 22.06 for road use and no FIM homologation, so it is not eligible for FIM-sanctioned racing.

LS2's FIM helmet is the FF805 Thunder GP Pro FIM.

Care and replacement parts

Wash the lining a few times a season in cool water and dry it away from direct heat. Sweat degrades foam, and the foam is what holds the helmet in position on your head.

🔵 The whole interior comes out by hand in about two minutes.

In the box

• LS2 FF817 Challenger II helmet — Titan, White, blue and red (HPFC composite shell)
• Wide hardcoated visor, fitted, with double-injection seal and button lock
• Pinlock® 120 XLT MaxVision™ anti-fog insert — included, not a separate purchase
• Integrated tinted sun visor, fitted and removable for cleaning without tools
• Magnetic chin curtain, fitted and removable
• 🔵 No second visor and no intercom — both are separate purchases

Size guide

🔵 Sizes at the extremes benefit most from three shells. A 3XL built on a shell sized for it is proportioned correctly; one built on an XL shell with thin padding is neither comfortable nor properly protective.

This helmet splits 2XS–S, M–L and XL–3XL.

Specification

• Model — LS2 FF817 Challenger II
• Part number — 168170602
• Colour — Titan — White, blue and red
• Homologation — ECE 22.06, recorded on a metal plaque fitted to the shell
• 🔴 Safety rating — none. SHARP has no Challenger or Challenger II entry and Certimoov has not tested it. Unlike the FF811 Vector II, where SHARP rates the composite version, there is nothing here that could be transferred — not even from a sibling shell
• Shell — HPFC high-performance fibreglass composite; three shell sizes (2XS–S / M–L / XL–3XL)
• Weight — approx. 1500 g (±50 g) — light for a touring full-face carrying a drop-down sun visor
• Sizes — 2XS to 3XL (eight sizes)
• Visor — wide and hardcoated, with a double-injection seal and a button lock
• Sun visor — integrated tinted shield on a slider, stowing fully inside the shell; removable for cleaning without tools
• 🟢 Anti-fog — Pinlock® 120 XLT MaxVision™ insert included — not a separate purchase
• 🔴 Ventilation — crown intake feeding channelled EPS, with rear exhausts. No chin intake — a deliberate touring compromise: less draught and less noise, with fog management running through the Pinlock rather than through airflow. 🔵 Assessed from construction; no independent measurement exists
• 🔴 Wind noise — left unrated — no independent measurement is published for this model
• Retention — reinforced chin strap with a micrometric metal buckle
• Emergency access — emergency cheek-pad release — tabs let responders withdraw the pads before the helmet is moved
• Interior — COOLMAX® — breathable, quick-drying, antibacterial and hypoallergenic; fully removable and washable
• Chin curtain — magnetic — refits with one gloved hand; fully removable
• 🔴 FIM homologation — none — a road helmet, not eligible for FIM-sanctioned competition
• Serviceability — visor, internal sun visor, Pinlock insert, cheek pads (several thicknesses), lining, magnetic chin curtain and vent covers
• Replacement guidance — after about five years, and immediately after any impact — composite can look undamaged over crushed EPS

• 1× helmet
• Elastic carrying bag
• Pinlock 120XLT MaxVision anti-fog insert
• Reflective stickers