Please note: sale to France is prohibited.

Agility is one of two graphic families on the GT-Air3, and TC-1 is its red colourway. TC is Shoei's own designation — Team Colour — and the number identifies a fixed colour recipe used consistently across the whole Shoei range rather than one model.

Five stars from SHARP — and which GT-Air earned them

What a rating cannot tell you is the part worth saying plainly: SHARP says nothing about fit. A five-star helmet that is the wrong shape for your head will move under braking and may not be where it should be when it lands. Shoei's intermediate-oval shape suits a large share of European heads and genuinely does not suit all of them.

With that stated, the measured result is the best available: five out of five.

About the Agility TC-1 colourway

Knowing how Shoei's TC system works makes ordering parts and matching gear considerably easier, and almost nobody explains it. The graphic name identifies the artwork; the TC number identifies the palette. TC-1 has been Shoei's red-based recipe for years, which is why a TC-1 helmet from one model sits deliberately rather than accidentally alongside a TC-1 from another. Worth knowing about red as a pigment on a helmet you will keep for five years: it is the least lightfast of the common colours, because it absorbs the high-energy end of sunlight, which is exactly the part that breaks pigment down. A red helmet stored in a sunny window will shift; one kept in its bag will not. In exchange it is among the most conspicuous colours in daylight.

What ECE 22.06 actually tests

Accessories are tested in place under 22.06, which has a consequence most riders never encounter directly. It is why the Pinlock lens, the sun visor and the vent covers on this helmet are part of an approved configuration, and why fitting non-approved parts moves the helmet outside the state it was certified in.

The standard has applied to all new helmets sold in the EU since January 2024.

AIM, three shells, and the EQRS release

A composite shell behaves differently from a thermoplastic one in an impact. A laminate is stiff: it spreads load quickly across a wide area, then delaminates progressively, absorbing energy as the layers separate. A polymer shell instead flexes further before failing. Both approaches work — the standard cares about the head inside, not the route taken.

AIM takes the laminate route, in three shell sizes over multi-density EPS.

CNS-1C and QSV-2 — the two screens

More than 99 % ultraviolet rejection applies to every CNS-1C tint including the clear one, which is worth understanding because riders often assume a clear visor offers no UV protection. It does — the blocking is in the polycarbonate and its coating, not in the tint.

Tint changes what you see; it does not change what reaches your eyes in the ultraviolet range.

Air in, air out, and why it is quiet

Aerodynamic stability and acoustics are the same problem approached from two directions, which is why work on one usually improves the other. A shell that sheds air cleanly generates less lift and less buffeting at motorway speed, and less turbulence means less noise reaching the ears.

On the GT-Air3 that work is visible: spoiler edges, smoothed transitions, a slimmer chin.

Interior, glasses and talking to the helmet

The contoured centre pads do a job beyond padding: their shaping supports air circulation across the top of the head, so the ventilation channels in the EPS actually reach the scalp rather than stopping at a flat layer of foam. It is a small detail that determines whether an open top vent produces a felt effect.

All pads are removable, washable and available in several thicknesses.

Where it sits in Shoei's range

If you are stepping up from a mid-range touring helmet, the useful comparison is not within this table but outside it. A far cheaper helmet will give you a sun visor and a Pinlock too. What the GT-Air3 adds is a five-star shell, three shell sizes, an acoustic package testers single out, and a spare-parts programme that makes five-year ownership realistic.

Whether that is worth double is a judgement only you can make.

Around 1700 grams, and the rest of the honest list

Two things this page will not do. It will not quote a decibel figure, because none is published and inventing one would be worthless — what can be said is that independent testers consistently rate this helmet among the quietest touring helmets available. And it will not call the helmet light: around 1700 g is what this class weighs.

The SRL3 Mesh is also, honestly, an extra rather than an inclusion.

When something wears out

Buying spares for a helmet at this price is arithmetic rather than expense. A set of cheek pads, a centre pad and a fresh CNS-1C visor together cost a fraction of a new helmet — and a helmet that has been re-padded and re-visored is functionally new everywhere it touches you. The shell is the part that does not wear.

🔵 Confirm the screen is a CNS-1C before ordering.

In the box

• Shoei GT-Air3 helmet — Agility TC-1
• Pinlock® EVO anti-fog lens
• Breath guard and chin curtain
• Helmet bag, manual and ECE approval documentation

Size guide

Specification

• Model — Shoei GT-Air3
• Part number — 11.20.113.2
• Colour — Agility TC-1 — Agility graphic, TC-1
• Homologation — ECE 22.06
• Safety rating — SHARP 5 of 5 stars (tested June 2024) — the first-generation GT-Air scored 3
• Helmet type — Full-face, sport-touring
• Shell — AIM (Advanced Integrated Matrix) — fibreglass and organic fibres; three shell sizes (XS–M / L / XL–XXL)
• Weight — approx. 1700 g (Shoei figure; independent measurements vary with size and finish)
• Sizes — XS to XXL (six sizes)
• Visor — CNS-1C, tool-free quick-change, staged detent with gap-width first position, blocks over 99 % of UV; six tints available
• Anti-fog — Pinlock® EVO lens supplied
• Visor tints available — clear, mellow smoke, dark smoke, Spectra silver, Spectra blue, Spectra rainbow
• Sun visor — QSV-2, integrated, stepless, glove-friendly slider, EN 1836; optional yellow contrast version
• Impact liner — multi-density EPS assembled from elements of differing absorption
• Retention — micro-ratchet chin strap
• Emergency system — EQRS — Emergency Quick Release System for the cheek pads
• Ventilation — intakes into the airstream, high-placed exhausts, removable insect filter in the lower front vent
• Interior — contoured centre pads, 3D pre-shaped cheek pads, removable ear pads, chin strap cover — removable and washable, several thicknesses
• Head shape — intermediate oval
• Communication — SHOEI COMLINK with pre-routed cabling and recesses for the SENA SRL3 Mesh (sold separately)
• Serviceability — visor, sun visor, all pads and the Pinlock lens available as separate parts

• 1x helmet
• 1x clear CNS-1C visor (pre-fitted)
• 1x Pinlock EVO anti-fog lens
• 1x set of spare pins
• 1x maintenance tool
• 1x breath guard