MT-Helmets Targo S Ryusei Yamanaka Replica 2026 Full-Face Helmet – C5 Matt Red

Ryusei Yamanaka's design is the most restrained replica MT makes and the only one drawn rather than styled: a deep red shell with white line work in the Japanese tradition — a cresting wave along the flank, stylised cloud forms over the crown, and the rider's name in small type at the tail.

About the artwork

The base is a rich, deep red, matt throughout, and the drawing laid over it is white, done in fine brush-like strokes rather than in solid blocks: a breaking wave with curled foam, cloud bands, and a scattering of small marks that read as spray. The MT badge sits on a red panel at the rear, and the chin bar is left plain.

What makes this different from a race graphic is that it is a single continuous drawing, not a set of shapes fitted around the vents. It also means the composition works from the front, which is the angle most helmet graphics quietly ignore.

The visual language is seigaiha and cloud motifs — the wave-and-cloud vocabulary that runs through Japanese woodblock printing and textile design. It is a natural fit for a Japanese rider, and it is the reason this helmet does not look like every other Moto3 replica on the shelf.

What you are buying

A road helmet with a rider's colours on it. The construction is identical to every other Targo S. Yamanaka's competition equipment is a different helmet to a different standard, and no amount of paint changes that.

No internal shade — and the arithmetic of a second screen

Nothing drops down inside this helmet. Where a Braker or a Thunder hides a tinted shade behind the brow, the Targo S has solid shell.

It is worth doing the arithmetic rather than treating it as a flaw. A smoked MT-V-14B costs a fraction of the price difference to a helmet with a built-in shade, and a tinted screen is darker and optically better than any internal visor — an internal shade sits a centimetre from your eye and has to be light enough to survive a tunnel, so it is always a compromise. What you give up is convenience: the screen has to be with you, and swapping is a stop rather than a thumb movement. For a rider who plans routes and rides in daylight that is a good trade; for one who leaves work at an unpredictable hour it is not.

MT-QVSS, two buttons

MT's patented mechanism releases the screen with two buttons, workable in gloves and with the helmet on. The clear MT-V-14B is fitted; it is high optical-quality polycarbonate, sealing against the shell through a rubber lip.

Anti-fog

Prepared for Pinlock DKS209 and the FogOff FOG003 and FOG017. No insert in the box.

If you ride below about 5 °C, buy one. A Pinlock traps a layer of air between two lenses and keeps the inner surface above dew point — it is the only thing that works when you are stationary, because ventilation needs airflow and a traffic queue has none.

The standard behind it

ECE 22.06 replaced 22.05 across Europe in January 2024, and the change was not cosmetic. The old standard struck a helmet at five fixed points at one speed. The new one strikes 18 points at more than one speed, chosen partly at random by the test house so a shell cannot be optimised for known targets.

It also added the test that matters most: an angled strike against a rough anvil, which loads the helmet in rotation rather than straight in. Rotational acceleration is what tears the connections inside a brain, and the previous standard did not measure it in any form. This model additionally carries DOT.

Matt red, and how it ages

Two honest notes about this particular finish. Red pigment is among the least UV-stable a paint shop works with, and matt cannot be polished — a swirl or a scuff in a matt clearcoat is permanent, where the same mark comes out of gloss with a mild compound.

In exchange, matt hides the fine handling marks that a helmet picks up from being carried, set down and hung on mirrors, and it never throws a hotspot into a photograph. Keep it out of prolonged direct sun when it is off your head and the red stays where it started.

Checking the fit before the first ride

Put the helmet on, fasten the strap, then place a flat hand on the crown and rotate. The skin of your forehead should move with the shell. If the helmet turns and your scalp stays still, it is too large — and a strap does not correct that, because retention holds a helmet on, not in place.

Then try to roll it forward off the back of your head with both hands. It should not come. This roll-off test is the one most people skip and the one that matters most: a helmet that leaves your head in the first tenth of a second protects nothing at all.

The Targo S runs from 51 cm upward, so a smaller head does not have to settle for a loose helmet from a range that stops at XS.

Retention and interior

An MT-Micrometric+ ratchet holds the helmet; the lining is fully removable and washable with speaker pockets for a universal UCS intercom.

Take the cheek pads out and wash them by hand a few times a season, and dry them away from radiators. Heat is what makes helmet foam hard.

What it does not have

• No sun visor.
• No safety rating. SHARP has not tested the Targo S; no ADAC or Snell result exists.
• No Pinlock insert and no tinted screen supplied.
• Matt cannot be polished. A scuff in the clearcoat stays.

In the box

• MT Targo S helmet — Yamanaka 26 Season C5, matt red with white wave artwork
• Protective bag, user manual and MT Helmets stickers
• Clear MT-V-14B fitted. No sun visor on this model.

Size guide

Specification

• Model — MT-Helmets Targo S · Part number — 1343E16C52 (XXS–XL: …02 to …07)
• Colour / finish — Yamanaka 26 Season C5 — matt red with white wave and cloud line work
• Homologation — ECE 22.06 and DOT
• Safety rating — none; not tested by SHARP
• Type — full-face, entry-level sport
• Shell — HIRP (High Impact Resistant Polymer), approx. 1,500 g
• Sizes — XXS to XL (51–62 cm)
• Visor — MT-V-14B, MT-QVSS two-button quick release
• Anti-fog — Pinlock DKS209 / FogOff FOG003 and FOG017 ready · not supplied
• Sun visor — none on this model
• Retention — MT-Micrometric+ ratchet
• Interior — removable and washable, speaker pockets
• Communication — universal UCS intercom housing; no system supplied
• Rider — Ryusei Yamanaka, Moto3
• Manufacturer — MT Helmets, Spain
• Fitting — tape the head at its widest point above the brow; between two sizes go down
• Care — hand-wash the lining and dry it away from heat; matt paint cannot be polished
• Replacement — immediately after any impact, otherwise after about five years