Matt black is the most restrained Advant X and one of the six at the lower price. It suits the helmet's hardware particularly well, and it carries one disadvantage that belongs at the top rather than in a footnote.

Four stars from SHARP — and this is the helmet they tested

🟢 Four stars of five, tested July 2024 on the current standard. That is a genuinely good result — five-star helmets are a minority and most tested helmets sit at three or four.

🔵 The attribution is solid rather than assumed: composite fibre shell, 1.6 kg, ratchet closure. Three independent matches to this HPFC version.

A flip-up with P/J dual homologation

🟢 What P/J buys you in practice: a helmet you can legally and sensibly ride open through a town, at a border, in a queue or up a mountain pass in August — and close in ninety seconds when the weather turns.

🔵 SHARP recorded the chin bar fully locked in 63 % of impacts, which is why the J half of that approval is worth having.

HPFC composite, multi-density EPS — and only two shell sizes

🔵 Multi-density EPS is the specification behind the star rating. A single density is always a compromise: soft enough for a light impact and it bottoms out in a hard one; firm enough for a hard impact and it transmits a light one almost undamped.

Grading the liner lets each region be tuned separately. SHARP's instruments measure the difference.

About the solid matt black finish

🔵 The disadvantage first. Black is the hardest helmet colour for a driver to separate from dark tarmac in poor light, and poor light is when the separation matters. On a touring helmet, a share of whose days will end in exactly those conditions, that deserves weighing rather than dismissing. Plenty of riders weigh it and choose black anyway — a helmet is one of several things making you visible. It should be a decision rather than a default. Everything else about it is well judged. A modular helmet has more visible mechanism than any other type: the chin-bar hinge, the release catch, the sun-visor slider, the exhaust port. Gloss puts a highlight along every edge of that and reads as clutter; matt shows the outline and lets the shape hold together. It also hides the handling a flip-up collects. Wash it, never polish it. One consolation worth stating: because it hides marks so completely, matt black stays looking new longest with the least attention, which matters on a helmet you will own for five years and handle several times a day. If you want most of that benefit without the conspicuity penalty, the Matt Titanium at the same price hides dirt nearly as well and is considerably easier for a driver to see.

Twin Visor, Pinlock 120 and a tinted spare

The case for a drop-down shield over a tinted outer visor is that it is reversible instantly. Into a tunnel, under trees, past sunset — it retracts, and the clear visor is still on the helmet.

🟢 On a touring helmet that passes through several kinds of light in a day, that is the feature you use most.

Chin and crown intakes, channelled EPS

🔵 Airflow only happens if the air has somewhere lower in pressure to go, which is why the exhaust port matters as much as the intakes. A helmet with vents at the front and nothing at the back moves very little.

The Advant X has the full path, with channels through the liner between the two.

Metal buckle and the Emergency Release System

🔵 A metal micrometric buckle rather than a plastic one is a small specification that shows up over years. It is the component you operate several times a day for the life of the helmet, and metal does not fatigue the way a moulded catch does.

🟢 It works in gloves, without looking.

Lining, comfort — and the X-Static this version does not have

🔵 Washing the lining is the most effective maintenance there is and the one most often skipped. Sweat degrades foam, and the foam is what holds the helmet in position on your head.

Cool water, a few times a season, dried away from direct heat. The whole interior comes out by hand.

Where it sits in LS2's range

🟢 Against LS2's own FF908 Strobe II — also a modular, also 4 SHARP stars, and considerably cheaper — the Advant X adds a composite shell, a Pinlock 120 in the box, a tinted spare visor, a metal buckle and a 180-degree chin bar.

🔵 The Strobe II's chin bar locked in only 37 % of SHARP's impacts against this helmet's 63 %.

Care and replacement parts

🔵 Never clean a composite shell with solvent, petrol or alcohol. The lacquer over the fibre is the UV barrier for the resin beneath, and once it is attacked the damage is invisible at first and structural later.

Warm water and a soft cloth is the whole procedure.

In the box

• LS2 FF901 Advant X helmet — Solid, Matt black (HPFC composite shell)
• Clear main visor, fitted, with tool-free quick release
• Pinlock® 120 MaxVision™ XLT anti-fog insert
• A complete second visor in a tint — 🔵 daylight use only in most European jurisdictions
• Integrated drop-down sun visor, fitted
• Breath deflector, fitted
• 🔵 No intercom — the helmet is prepared for a Bluetooth system, which is a separate purchase

Size guide

🔵 Buy tight. Every helmet loosens as the padding compresses, noticeably over the first hours and again across the first season, so the correct size at purchase feels slightly too snug.

Thicker cheek pads are available if it loosens further.

Specification

• Model — LS2 FF901 Advant X (HPFC)
• Part number — 569011011
• Colour — Solid — Matt black
• Homologation — ECE 22.06, P/J dual homologation — approved closed and open
• 🟢 Safety rating — SHARP 4 stars of 5, July 2024, ECE 22.06. Max in every zone at 6.0 and 7.5 m/s; at 8.5 m/s crown/front/rear 5, sides 3. 🔵 chin bar fully locked in 63 % of impacts
• 🔑 Which helmet the rating belongs to — SHARP recorded composite fibre, 1.6 kg = this HPFC version. Not the Advant X Carbon (6K, 1550 g), which we list unrated
• Helmet type — Flip-up touring — chin bar rotates 180° to the rear
• Shell — HPFC composite. 🔵 Two shell sizes only (XS–S–M–L / XL–2XL–3XL) — coarser than the three of LS2's FF808/FF817/FF820
• Impact liner — multi-density EPS with moulded ventilation channels
• Weight — approx. 1600 g (±50 g)
• Sizes — XS to 3XL (seven sizes), no XXS. Prepared for Bluetooth intercom; no system supplied
• Optics — Twin Visor System — main visor plus retracting sun visor
• 🟢 Included — Pinlock® 120 MaxVision™ XLT AND a complete tinted second visor, plus a breath deflector
• 🔴 Tinted visor — daylight only — most European jurisdictions bar tinted visors at night
• Ventilation — chin and crown intakes, channelled multi-density EPS, rear exhaust port. 🔵 assessed from construction; no independent measurement exists
• 🔴 Wind noise — left unrated — no measurement published; SHARP measures impact, not acoustics
• Retention — micrometric metal buckle
• Emergency access — Emergency Release System — tabs let responders withdraw the cheek pads first
• Interior — removable, washable, breathable, hypoallergenic; laser-cut foam. 🔵 No X-Static® — LS2 lists it only for the Advant X Carbon
• 🔴 FIM homologation — none — a road helmet; no modular is FIM-eligible
• Serviceability — both visors, sun visor mechanism, cheek pads (several thicknesses), lining, vent covers, breath deflector
• Replacement guidance — after about five years, and immediately after any impact — composite can look undamaged over crushed EPS

• 1× helmet
• Carrying backpack
• Tinted visor
• Pinlock® 120 MaxVision™ XLT anti-fog insert (DKS433)
• Reflective stickers