LS2 FF818 Storm III Helmet – Sporty Black/Grey

Sporty geometry with the colour taken out: grey panels on matt black. Structure instead of statement, and the most versatile graphic in the Storm III line-up.

Everything that is usually an extra

What arrives in the box goes beyond the helmet: a Pinlock 70 MaxVision anti-fog insert already matched to the visor, a carrying bag, and reflective stickers. Fitted to the helmet itself are a tinted drop-down sun visor with easy removal and a magnetic chin curtain — the two features that separate a touring helmet from a commuter one.

About the Sporty Black/Grey finish

Two tones close enough together that the pattern emerges gradually — from a few metres it is simply a black helmet, and only up close do the sweeping panels separate. That makes it the graphic least likely to clash with a bike you buy next year, and matt black is the most forgiving finish for road film and fine scratches. The trade-off is the one every dark helmet carries: apply the supplied reflective stickers.

A large top intake, and what it feeds

LS2 built this helmet around one large crown intake, and that is where its ventilation claim comes from. Air enters at the top, travels through channels moulded into the polystyrene, and leaves through rear exhausts. A second intake at the chin clears the visor and cools your face, and a breath deflector keeps exhaled air off the screen.

The release you hope never to need

Retention is a ratchet fastener: set the length once, one click thereafter, gloves on. What sets this helmet apart in its class is the emergency release — red tabs at the base of the cheek pads that let the pads be pulled out sideways, so the shell lifts away from an injured rider's head rather than being dragged over it.

Two screens, one shell

Two screens, one shell. The outer visor is hardcoated, UV-stable, Max Vision cut, button-locked and Pinlock-equipped as supplied. Inside sits a tinted sun visor on a slider, and unlike most it is designed to be removed by hand for cleaning rather than smeared clean in place.

What the ECE 22.06 plaque actually means

Every helmet on this page carries ECE 22.06, and it is worth knowing what that plaque now costs a manufacturer. The standard it replaced, 22.05, struck the shell at five fixed points and measured only how hard the head was stopped. 22.06 strikes up to eighteen points, at more than one speed, and adds a test that did not exist before: the helmet is dropped onto an angled anvil faced with abrasive paper, so the laboratory can measure how far the head is spun as well as how hard it is stopped.

That matters because rotational acceleration is what tears the bridging veins between brain and skull, and until 2021 no European standard measured it at all. 22.06 also tests the visor, and any accessory fitted to the helmet is tested in place rather than removed for the exam. Since January 2024 a new helmet cannot legally be sold in the EU without it.

Fit and shell sizes

The range spans XXS to 3XL across 3 shells. That split is what keeps proportion sane — a small size sits close to the head instead of ballooning, and a large one is not wrapped around a shell that was never sized for it.

The bit you actually touch

The liner is hypoallergenic, antibacterial, breathable and removable, and LS2 describe it as their maximum-comfort interior — which in practice means more crown padding than a helmet at this price usually carries. Recesses are moulded for LS2's current Bluetooth system, so a comms unit does not have to be wedged in.

On noise

Wind noise is the specification manufacturers never quote, because it depends more on your bike than on their helmet. What the helmet controls is the seal at the neck roll, the gap under the chin bar and the vents. The chin curtain here is magnetic, which is not a gimmick: a popper-fastened curtain gets left off after the second cleaning, and a curtain that is not fitted does nothing. The sun-visor housing does widen the shell slightly at the temples compared with a helmet without one, which is a small aerodynamic cost for a large practical gain.

What it does not control is the airflow leaving your screen. If a helmet is loud on one motorcycle and quiet on another, the screen is usually the reason. Plugs cost a euro and do more than any shell shape.

1600 grams, and what it buys

The scales say 1600 g (±50), which is 250 g more than the Rapid III and the heaviest helmet we list from LS2. Every gram of that difference is equipment: sun visor, its housing and slider, the button-lock visor mechanism and the emergency-release cheek pads. If you want the features, you carry the weight.

The scales say 1600 g (±50), taken on a mid-size shell with nothing added to it. Weight is the specification riders under-rate at the counter and over-rate after a long day — a helmet is a mass on the end of a lever, and the lever is your neck. Wind load at motorway speed compounds it.

Placed against the rest of our LS2 range, only 5 models undercut it, all of them more expensive.

Where it sits in our LS2 range

Eight LS2 full-face models are listed here and they form a ladder rather than a wall of choices. The Storm III is the equipment high point of the affordable half.

When something wears out

Worth knowing before you buy rather than after: everything on this helmet that wears out can be replaced individually. Liners in all eight sizes seven replacement visors from clear to iridium, the tinted sun visor, the chin curtain, chin bar trim, nose guard, ratchet mechanism and vent covers in six finishes.

The interior is the part that decides how long the helmet stays honest. Sweat and hair oils break down the foam, the fit loosens, and riders conclude the helmet is finished when the shell is untouched. The full parts list is in the FF818 Storm III Kit.

In the box

• LS2 FF818 Storm III helmet — Sporty Black/Grey
• Carrying bag
• Pinlock® 70 MaxVision™ anti-fog insert
• Reflective stickers

Specification

• Shell — KPA, three shell sizes (2XS–S / M–L / XL–3XL)
• Weight — 1600 g (±50 g)
• Sizes — XXS to 3XL (eight sizes)
• Homologation — ECE 22.06
• Retention — ratchet buckle, reinforced chin strap, emergency cheek-pad release
• Visor — Max Vision aperture, scratch-resistant, UV-stable, double-injection seal, button lock, quick-release system
• Anti-fog — Pinlock® 70 MaxVision™ supplied
• Sun visor — integrated, tinted, tool-free removal system
• Ventilation — large top intake, chin intake, rear exhausts (all with transparent sections), channelled EPS, breath deflector
• Liner — maximum-comfort interior, antibacterial, hypoallergenic, breathable, removable and washable
• Chin curtain — magnetic
• Intercom — prepared for the current LS2 Bluetooth system
• Finish — Sporty graphic, matt