Angel Piqueras, born in November 2006, was promoted to the Moto3 World Championship in 2024 with Leopard Racing and made an immediate impression: a podium by his third race and a first win at Misano in his rookie season. This decor puts his red, green and black colours on the Skwal Cup's own aerodynamic shell.

Not decoration — a tested shape

It would be easy to assume the fin at the back of the Skwal Cup is a styling flourish borrowed from MotoGP without any function behind it. It isn't: the shape was set through computational fluid-dynamics simulation and then checked in a wind tunnel, the same validation process Shark runs on the helmets it builds for competition, before it went anywhere near a road-going shell. What it does is manage the air separating off the back of the helmet, keeping the shell settled at speed rather than letting turbulence push it around.

More points, more speeds, more realism

Three changes sum up why ECE 22.06 — which this helmet is certified to, and which has been compulsory in the EU since January 2024 — is a meaningfully tougher test than the 22.05 standard before it: more impact points (eighteen instead of five), more impact speeds (several instead of one), and more realistic loading, through an oblique-impact test against an abrasive anvil and a new rotational Brain Injury Criterion. The helmet is also tested with its visor, Pinlock insert and a comms unit fitted, not bare. This model's certification reads 2206, with no FIM competition suffix attached.

Why the same helmet weighs differently by size

Two shell sizes mean the Skwal Cup doesn't weigh the same number across the whole size run, even though the design is identical: 1,580 g (+/-50 g) is Shark's figure for the smaller shell, covering S and M, while L through XXL sit on the larger shell and typically run a bit heavier for the same helmet. Worth knowing ahead of a purchase, since the difference is carried by the neck for the length of every ride. Against our own range of road-legal full-face helmets — mostly between roughly 1,250 g and 1,800 g — this figure sits comfortably mid-table.

Two shells, one structure

Rather than one shell size stretched across every helmet size, the Skwal Cup uses two — polycarbonate, injection-moulded, with a multi-density EPS liner inside and a double-D ring closure at the chinstrap.

The Piqueras finish, in use

Red and green against a black base give this decor real contrast without relying on white as a base colour, which keeps it looking sharp for longer between cleans than the lighter decors in this range. It carries a rookie season's colours rather than an established veteran's — a livery tied to a rider still early in a career worth watching.

The commuting details

An internal sun visor operated from the crown; the shell is ready for a SENA-style comms unit without modification; the outer visor releases without tools; cheek pads are cut for glasses, a small but genuine everyday convenience.

What actually cuts wind noise

It isn't a number on a spec sheet — it's a perimeter seal around the visor and a chin curtain at the shell's base, both closing the air gaps that generate most of a helmet's noise at speed. No decibel figure is published for this model, and none is guessed here.

The line-up, priced

Ridill 2: the entry point. D-Skwal 3: the next step up. Skwal i3: price varies by decor. Skwal i Cup: with LED brake light. The last two carry an LED brake-light system that the Skwal Cup, at this price, does not.

Season after season

A visor scratched over a season of commuting doesn't mean the helmet is done: Shark keeps Skwal Cup visors in stock through its own spare-parts collection, grouped with the Ridill 2, D-Skwal 3 and Skwal i3.

Nothing hidden

This helmet carries no LED brake light (unlike the Skwal i3 and Skwal i Cup), no SHARP star rating (SHARP has tested the Skwal, Skwal 2 and D-Skwal, never the Cup), no FIM suffix on its ECE 22.06 homologation, no MIPS liner, no electronic quick-release system, and no tear-off posts on the visor.

In the box

The Skwal Cup, its Pinlock 70 insert fitted, and the five-year warranty documentation to register straight away.

A fast start with Leopard Racing

Leopard Racing has a track record of running strong Moto3 rookie seasons, and Piqueras's first year with the team followed that pattern: a podium by his third race weekend and a maiden win at Misano, both unusually early results for a rider in his debut Moto3 season rather than his second or third. This decor's red, green and black colours are tied to that rookie campaign specifically, not to a longer career still being written.

A decor for a specific season

Unlike the MotoGP decor in this same range, which carries Shark's general paddock identity rather than one rider's colours, the Piqueras replica is tied to a specific rider's specific rookie season — worth knowing if the appeal is the connection to that result rather than the graphic alone.

A rookie-season replica is a different proposition from a multi-time-champion's replica: it's a bet on a career still being written rather than a settled legacy. That's not a downside — for a rider who followed Piqueras's debut season, it's exactly the point.

The colours will likely change again as his career moves through the categories above Moto3, which is normal for a rider this early on. A buyer picking this decor now is backing where a career is heading rather than where it's already been, which is a different kind of purchase from a veteran's replica. For some buyers that's precisely the appeal. Watching a livery's rider move up the grid over following seasons is part of what makes a rookie-season replica worth having in the first place. That is, in the end, the whole appeal.

Specification

• Model — Skwal Cup Replica Piqueras
• Weight — 1,580 g +/-50 g, first/smallest shell size
• Closure — Double-D ring catch
• Homologation — ECE 22.06 (2206)
• Shell — Polycarbonate, two-shell range
• Sizes — XS to XXL across 6 sizes
• Ventilation — 1 intake + 2 exhaust vents
• Warranty — 5-year manufacturer cover
• Sun visor — Integrated sun visor, tool-free slider
• Visor — Optical class 1, tool-free visor, Pinlock 70 insert included
• Country of origin — Manufactured in Portugal
• Interior — Machine-washable Alveotech interior

Size guide — all measurements