LS2 FF808 Stream II Helmet – Solid Gloss White

Gloss white on a four-star helmet. The plain finish is the cheapest way into the Stream II, and it happens to be the most visible colour on the road in daylight.

Four stars from SHARP

SHARP is the British Department for Transport's helmet safety programme. It buys helmets anonymously at retail, destroys thirty-two of them per model across five impact zones and three speeds, and publishes the result as a star rating. It is the closest thing European riders have to an independent verdict, and most helmets never appear on it at all.

The Stream II was tested in September 2024, in its ECE 22.06 form, and rated four stars out of five. At 6 m/s and 7.5 m/s every zone scored the maximum. Only at 8.5 m/s — the hardest impact in the programme — did the left and right sides drop to three, while the crown and front held five. On a helmet in this price bracket that is a genuinely unusual result.

Read the full SHARP result for the LS2 Stream 2

About the Solid Gloss White finish

A clean gloss white shell with no graphic. Beyond the look there is a practical case: light helmets absorb measurably less heat waiting at a red light, and white separates clearly from asphalt, hedgerows and the back of a van. Gloss wipes clean faster than matt when the insect season starts, and the fact that white shows dirt honestly is a feature on equipment you should inspect regularly.

Multi-density EPS — the part you never see

Multi-density EPS is the specification behind the star rating. A single-density liner is a compromise — too soft and it bottoms out in a hard impact, too firm and it transmits a light one straight through. Building the liner from several densities lets each area of the head be tuned separately.

Twin Visor: two screens, one shell

Twin Visor means the tinted screen lives inside the shell rather than in your jacket pocket. A slider drops it, a slider retracts it, and it disappears entirely when not in use. It is the single most useful thing on this helmet after the safety rating.

Laser-cut foam

The comfort padding is laser-cut rather than die-cut. That sounds like marketing until you feel the edges: laser cutting leaves a clean, sealed face on the foam instead of a crushed one, so the padding keeps its shape longer and does not shed at the seams.

What the ECE 22.06 plaque actually means

The ECE 22.06 plaque riveted to the chin strap is the physical proof of a test regime that changed substantially in 2021. Impact points went from five to as many as eighteen. Testing gained a second, lower speed, because a helmet that performs at 8 m/s does not automatically perform at 6. And an oblique test was added: the shell is dropped onto an angled abrasive anvil while instruments measure rotational acceleration against the Brain Injury Criterion.

Everything fitted to the helmet is tested as fitted — visor, sun visor, vent covers. Since January 2024, no helmet without 22.06 may be sold new in the EU, which is also why 22.05 stock disappeared from shelves so abruptly.

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.

Airflow

Ventilation is top intake, chin intake and exhaust port, plus a breath deflector. The chin vent is the one that clears a visor on a cold morning; the top vent is what you open in August. Honest about the limits: LS2 do not list vent channels moulded through the EPS on this model, as they do on the Rapid III and the Storm III.

The Pinlock question

This screen takes a Pinlock 70 MaxVision anti-fog insert — the wide version that reaches the edges of the aperture instead of leaving a frame in your peripheral vision. It is not supplied. Part DKS521, and worth ordering with the helmet rather than after the first foggy commute.

Holding on

Retention is a ratchet buckle on a reinforced strap — set once, one click thereafter, gloves on. A reflective safety patch is fitted to the shell as standard, which on a dark helmet at dusk does more than any amount of paint.

1550 grams

1550 grams, measured the way manufacturers measure it: a mid-size shell without accessories. It sounds abstract until you convert it into load. A head weighs roughly five kilos; the helmet adds around a third of that, and every bump in the road multiplies the lot through your neck. The difference between 1550 g and the 1600 g of the FF818 Storm III is not noticeable in the first hour and is very noticeable in the fifth.

For context inside this range: just 5 helmets we sell are lighter, and every one of them costs more.

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. A chin curtain is fitted as standard, and it is the single most effective piece of quiet in the box — provided it stays in the helmet after you clean it. The Stream II carries a sun-visor housing, which widens the shell slightly at the temples compared with a helmet that does without one.

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.

Where it sits in our LS2 range

Eight LS2 full-face models are listed here. The Stream II is the only one of them carrying an independent safety rating.

When something wears out

A helmet is not a sealed unit and the parts that wear are not the shell. Interiors compress, visors scratch, vent covers snap off in a car park. We stock the Stream II liner in every size, seven replacement visors from clear to iridium, both the clear and the tinted sun visor, plus the ratchet mechanism, nose guard, chin curtain, chin strap cover and vent covers in five finishes.

That matters for how long the helmet lasts you. A liner that has taken a summer of sweat is the usual reason a helmet that once fitted starts to move on your head — and replacing it costs a fraction of replacing the helmet. The full parts list is in the FF808 Stream II Kit.

In the box

• LS2 FF808 Stream II helmet — Solid Gloss White
• Carrying bag
• Reflective stickers

Specification

• Shell — KPA, three shell sizes (2XS–S / M–L / XL–3XL)
• Weight — 1550 g (±50 g)
• Sizes — XXS to 3XL (eight sizes)
• Homologation — ECE 22.06
• Independent rating — SHARP 4 out of 5 stars (tested September 2024)
• Impact liner — multi-density EPS
• Retention — ratchet buckle, reflective safety patch
• Visor — scratch-resistant, UV-stable, quick-release system
• Anti-fog — prepared for Pinlock® 70 MaxVision™ (insert not supplied, part DKS521)
• Sun visor — Twin Visor System, integrated and tinted
• Ventilation — top intake, chin intake, exhaust port, breath deflector
• Liner — maximum-comfort interior, laser-cut foam, hypoallergenic, removable and washable
• Chin curtain — included
• Intercom — prepared for the current LS2 Bluetooth system
• Finish — Solid white, gloss