White is the one finish on a sport helmet that is bought for a reason other than looks. Pure A0 puts MT's new composite KRE 2 shell in gloss white — the version you choose if the road you ride most is a public one.

About the gloss white finish

A rider is the thing a driver at a side junction is least expecting and most often looks straight through. That decision happens in a fraction of a second, in cluttered light, against a busy background — and a white helmet sits at head height above the headlight, exactly where the eye scans. It resolves measurably sooner than a dark one.

There is a second, quieter benefit. A pale shell reflects solar load that a dark one converts into interior heat — worth having on a helmet with no drop-down sun visor to hide behind. The cost is honest: road film and insect strike show on white sooner than on any other colour, and gloss shows swirl marks that the matt A1 hides.

What ECE 22.06 actually tests

The badge inside the strap is not a formality, and the 22.06 standard is a genuinely harder test than the 22.05 it replaced — mandatory across the EU since January 2024.

• 18 impact points instead of five, at several speeds rather than one
• An oblique-impact test against an abrasive anvil — the rotational loading that causes brain injury in real crashes, and that 22.05 never measured
• A Brain Injury Criterion limit alongside the old peak-deceleration figure
• Accessories are tested fitted, so a visor or spoiler cannot quietly compromise the shell

That is the floor this helmet clears. Not a ranking — every legal helmet clears it — but a far higher floor than one bought three years ago had to reach.

The composite shell under the white

Every MT full-face below the KRE 2 uses HIRP, an injection-moulded high-strength thermoplastic. This one uses FRC — fibre reinforced composite, fibre laid up in a resin matrix. Composite reaches a given stiffness at less mass and resists twisting better, which is what stops a helmet shifting on your head in a crosswind or behind a truck.

MT does not publish how many outer shell sizes the KRE 2 uses. That number matters — a helmet spreading six sizes over two shells fits less precisely at the size boundaries than one spreading them over three — and we will not guess at it. Try the size the chart gives you rather than ordering by tape measure alone.

1,380 g, over a day rather than on paper

MT declares 1,380 g. In our own MT range that is the lightest full-face we list — the Thunder 4 R SV is around 1,500 g, the Stinger 2 around 1,600 g.

Weight is a fatigue figure, not a comfort figure. Every head movement accelerates that mass and decelerates it again, a few hundred times across a day's riding, and it is your neck doing the work. Caveat, stated rather than buried: that gram figure is MT's own, published for a model barely on sale. No scale of ours has been under it, and brands vary in which size gets quoted and whether they weigh with the visor on.

MT-ESLS: the lock, and the anti-fog notch

The MT-ESLS (Evo Screen Lock System) is a double lock — it resists the visor being pushed open by airflow, and by a glancing impact — released by a quick-open button in a single movement.

The part that earns its name: the button opens the visor to a defined anti-fog position automatically, a first crack rather than a full lift. On a cold morning in stop-start traffic that is the difference between clearing your visor and losing the junction.

MT-QVSS and the metal insert

The visor comes off and goes back on without tools, on MT's patented MT-QVSS mechanism. On the KRE 2 that mechanism carries a metal insert rather than polymer running on polymer. Quick-change systems fail at the pivot and they fail late — after the hundredth swap, not the first. Metal at the load point is a durability decision, not a brochure line.

MT-EVA, the sealed trim and Pinlock® 70

The MT-EVA aperture is cut wider than MT's road helmets — noticeable at the shoulder check and when you tuck. An advanced-material trim seals the aperture against water and dust; because most of the noise a rider hears enters at the visor edge and the neck roll rather than through the shell, sealing is also the cheapest genuine noise reduction a maker can do.

The visor carries Pinlock® 70 preparation. What MT has never released is a packing list, so whether a lens actually travels with the helmet is unknown to us — plan on buying one separately. A decibel figure is missing for the same reason: nobody has measured this shell, and in any case your screen height and your shoulders move that number more than the helmet does.

Ventilation and the compact spoiler

A chin intake and three upper intakes feed internal channels that exhaust through rear outlets — through-flow rather than vents that only stir the air immediately behind them. The compact rear spoiler is scaled for road speeds, not the tall race wing of the KRE 2 PLUS, and it does its work in dirty air.

What you give up at this price

• No integrated sun visor. The Braker SV, Jarama SV and Thunder 4 R SV — all cheaper — have one. Here you carry a tinted visor or sunglasses.
• Not FIM homologated. FIM Racing #2 belongs to the separate KRE 2 PLUS FIM Racing #2 — a different helmet, on a full carbon shell.
• White needs washing more often than anything else here, and gloss shows every swirl.
• Double-D ring — the secure choice, and slower in gloves than a ratchet.

What the extra cost over the Thunder buys

The obvious question is why not the less expensive Thunder 4 R SV. Answered plainly: a composite shell instead of thermoplastic, roughly 120 g less on your neck, the metal-inserted visor mechanism, the double-locking MT-ESLS, the wider MT-EVA aperture and double-D retention.

And against you: the Thunder has a drop-down sun visor and a Pinlock lens confirmed in the box. If your riding is commuting and country roads rather than fast road and track, the cheaper helmet is genuinely the better buy — we would rather sell you the right one.

No SHARP result — and the KRE that has one

SHARP lists an "MT KRE SV" at three stars. That is a different, earlier helmet. The KRE 2 is untested by SHARP, as are the KRE+ and KRE+ S. Ratings do not carry across generations or shells, and we will not imply otherwise. No ADAC or Snell result exists either.

In the box

• MT KRE 2 helmet — Pure A0, gloss white, FRC composite shell
• Clear visor, fitted, on the MT-QVSS mechanism — Pinlock® 70 prepared
• No packing list has been issued for this model. Until one is, count on none of the usual extras — no anti-fog lens, no second visor, no bag.

Size guide

Specification

• Model — MT-Helmets KRE 2 · Part number — 138000PA01 (XS–XXL: …03 to …08)
• Colour / finish — Pure A0 — gloss white
• Certification — ECE 22.06, the current European standard; MT additionally lists DOT and NBR (Brazil) among others
• Independent rating — none for the KRE 2. SHARP's three-star "MT KRE SV" is an earlier, different helmet; no ADAC or Snell result exists
• Race homologation — no FIM. FIM Racing #2 is the separate KRE 2 PLUS FIM Racing #2
• Type — full-face, sport and fast road
• Shell — FRC, fibre reinforced composite — shell-size count not published by MT
• Weight — 1,380 g, declared by MT — not weighed by us
• Sizes — XS to XXL
• Visor system — MT-QVSS tool-free swap with a metal insert at the pivot
• Visor lock — MT-ESLS, double lock, quick-open button, automatic anti-fog position
• Aperture — MT-EVA extended vision area, with a sealing trim against water and dust
• Anti-fog — Pinlock® 70 prepared; lens not confirmed as supplied
• Sun visor — not fitted
• Airflow — chin intake plus three upper intakes, internal channels, rear outlets
• Aerodynamics — compact rear spoiler for road and urban speeds
• Retention — double-D ring · Lining — removable · Intercom — prepared, none supplied
• Energy-absorbing liner — EPS; crushes once, never recovers
• Built by — MT Helmets, Spain
• How to size — tape the widest part of the head, 1–2 cm above the eyebrows. Cheeks firm when new, crown free of pressure
• Intended use — fast road, sport touring, occasional track days. Not a long-distance touring helmet and not a race-homologated one
• Care — wash white with warm water and a soft cloth before the film sets; never wipe a visor dry, road dust scratches it for good
• When to replace — around five years regardless of condition, and immediately after any impact

• 1x MT KRE 2 helmet — Pure A0, Gloss White
• 1x clear visor, fitted (MT-QVSS, Pinlock® 70 prepared)
• Box contents not published by MT — Pinlock lens, spare visor and bag are not confirmed