Please note: sale to France is prohibited.

The Agility artwork in TC-5, Shoei's grey-based colour recipe — the version of this graphic for riders who want the pattern without committing to a colour. Structure across the shell, executed entirely within a grey palette.

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

SHARP's method is worth understanding because it is unusually transparent. Helmets are purchased at retail, then struck at 6, 7.5 and 8.5 m/s across five sites — crown, front, rear, left and right — with every zone scored separately before the results are combined into the published rating.

For the GT-Air3 that combined result is five stars out of five, June 2024.

About the Agility TC-5 colourway

A graphic worked in one colour family is harder to design than a multi-colour one and behaves differently on the road. With no colour contrast to carry the pattern, the artwork has to rely on tonal steps alone — which means it resolves at conversation distance and reads as a textured surface from further away. For a touring helmet that is often exactly right: something that rewards a closer look without announcing itself across a car park. The practical benefits follow every grey in this range. Road film sits close in tone and does not register. Scratches scatter rather than forming a clean bright line. And it pairs with any motorcycle you might buy next, which on a five-year purchase is worth more than it sounds.

What ECE 22.06 actually tests

The move from 22.05 to 22.06 was not a revision but a replacement. Impact points went from five to as many as eighteen; a second test speed was introduced; and an oblique impact against a slanted, sandpaper-faced anvil was added to cap rotational acceleration.

A helmet certified to the older standard is not equivalent, which is worth knowing when comparing against anything bought before 2024.

AIM, three shells, and the EQRS release

Shell count solves size; it does not solve shape. The GT-Air3 follows Shoei's intermediate-oval head form, and a markedly long or markedly round head will still find pressure points no matter how many shells the range uses.

What three tools do decide is proportion, weight and EPS thickness — and, on this helmet, where the centre of gravity sits relative to your neck.

CNS-1C and QSV-2 — the two screens

Tool-free visor changes sound like convenience and function as safety, because a screen you can change at the roadside is a screen you will actually change. A scratched visor scatters oncoming headlights into a starburst — invisible in daylight, genuinely dangerous after dark.

The CNS-1C quick-change takes about a minute, and six tints are available for it.

Air in, air out, and why it is quiet

The ventilation is designed for both ends of the year rather than for one. Intakes into the airstream and high exhausts reduce temperature and humidity inside the helmet in hot touring countries; closing them entirely, with the chin curtain fitted, makes the same helmet workable through winter.

The removable insect filter stays in place either way.

Interior, glasses and talking to the helmet

Shoei's intermediate-oval head shape is the reference point for a large share of the European market, and it is why so many riders find a Shoei fits "correctly" without being able to say why. If your head is markedly long front-to-back or markedly round, that is the first thing to check rather than the last.

Within that shape, pad thicknesses allow real adjustment.

Where it sits in Shoei's range

Six Shoei models sit in the table below, answering six different questions. The relevant one for a sport-touring buyer is this row: full-face, integrated sun visor, communication interface, five SHARP stars, from 599 euros.

The Neotec 3 above it is the same proposition with a chin bar that opens. The X-SPR PRO above that is a different kind of helmet entirely.

Around 1700 grams, and the rest of the honest list

Long-term ownership has an honest note. The five-year replacement guidance applies to the EPS and the resin rather than to the paint, and a composite shell is less affected by ultraviolet than a polymer one — but it is affected by impact history, including drops you dismissed at the time.

Immediate limitations: around 1700 g, an SRL3 sold separately, and an intermediate-oval fit.

When something wears out

Pad thicknesses are the tuning mechanism most owners never use. If the helmet is the right size but moves when you shake your head, thicker cheek pads fix it. If it sits marginally too low or too high relative to the visor aperture, centre pad thickness adjusts that. Both are inexpensive and both are stocked.

Visors are CNS-1C, and the matching anti-fog lens is the Pinlock EVO.

In the box

• Shoei GT-Air3 helmet — Agility TC-5
• 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 — 11.20.114.2
• Colour — Agility TC-5 — Agility graphic, TC-5
• 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