Please note: sale to France is prohibited.

Mike is the second graphic family offered on the GT-Air3, and TC-2 is its blue-and-red colourway — the most conventionally sporting scheme in a range otherwise aimed squarely at touring.

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

Independent, publicly funded and not for sale: the three facts that make SHARP worth reading rather than another badge. No manufacturer pays to be included, and none supplies the test samples.

Under that regime the GT-Air3 returned five stars out of five in June 2024 — and its own predecessor, the first GT-Air, returned three. The step is real.

About the Mike TC-2 colourway

Blue and red together is among the oldest combinations in motorcycling and one of the hardest to balance, because the two sit almost opposite one another in the spectrum and will compete if given equal area. Every well-drawn version of it resolves the problem the same way: one colour takes the mass, the other appears in smaller quantities where it draws the eye. The two pigments also age at different rates, which is worth knowing on a helmet you intend to keep. Blue is among the most lightfast colours in common use and will hold for the life of the helmet. Red is the least — it absorbs the high-energy end of sunlight, the part that degrades pigment — so on a two-colour helmet like this one it is the red that shifts first if the helmet lives in the sun.

What ECE 22.06 actually tests

What the standard does not cover is worth saying too. ECE 22.06 tests the helmet; it does not test whether the helmet fits you, and fit is what determines whether the shell is in the right place when it meets the road.

Within the certified scope, the GT-Air3 meets the current standard: eighteen impact sites, multiple speeds, and an oblique rotation test.

AIM, three shells, and the EQRS release

The micro-ratchet chin strap takes about a second to close correctly and returns to the same tension every ride once set. That sounds like convenience and is really safety: the commonest strap error is not a broken buckle but one done up loosely on the mornings you are running late.

Behind it, an AIM composite shell in three sizes, over a multi-density EPS core, with EQRS.

CNS-1C and QSV-2 — the two screens

The sun visor sits close enough to the eyes to cover the working field of view and retracts fully so it takes nothing away when stowed. On a helmet with this much shell sculpting that is harder to package than it appears — the shade and its mechanism compete for space with the EPS at the sides of the shell.

Outer screen: CNS-1C, tool-free quick-change, Pinlock EVO included.

Air in, air out, and why it is quiet

Humidity matters as much as temperature inside a helmet, and it is the variable riders notice least and suffer most from. Moving air removes water vapour from around the face, which is what keeps a visor clear and what stops the interior becoming clammy on a long stage.

The GT-Air3 does that through airstream-facing intakes, internal channels and high-placed exhausts.

Interior, glasses and talking to the helmet

Three-dimensionally pre-shaped cheek pads are formed to a compound curve rather than cut flat and bent to fit. A flat pad pressed against a curved EPS surface distributes its pressure unevenly, which is where the hot spot along the jaw comes from on cheaper helmets.

They detach for washing, carry the EQRS release tabs, and come in several thicknesses.

Where it sits in Shoei's range

Three of the helmets in this table carry integrated sun visors and three do not, and that single feature explains more of the price differences than shell material does. A drop-down shade has to be designed into the shell from the start — ECE 22.06 tests everything fitted as fitted, so it cannot be retrofitted.

The GT-Air3 has one, the QSV-2, and it is among the largest Shoei makes.

Around 1700 grams, and the rest of the honest list

Weight is the specification riders under-rate at the counter and over-rate after a long day. At roughly 1700 g the GT-Air3 sits where fully equipped touring full-face helmets sit — and Shoei's centring of the centre of gravity means it is felt less than the number alone suggests, which is a genuine engineering answer rather than a marketing one.

The SRL3 remains a separate purchase.

When something wears out

The chin strap cover is the smallest serviceable part and gets the worst treatment — permanently against the jaw, permanently damp, worked on by stubble. Most riders do not realise it detaches at all. It does, it washes with the rest of the interior, and it costs very little to replace once it has gone hard.

Centre pad, cheek pads and ear pads are equally removable and separately available.

In the box

• Shoei GT-Air3 helmet — Mike TC-2
• 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 — 11.20.115.2
• Colour — Mike TC-2 — Mike graphic, TC-2
• 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