Please note: sale to France is prohibited.

Mike in TC-6 pairs white with red — the most legible combination in the GT-Air3 range and the one that reads correctly from the furthest away. White carries the mass and red does the work at the edges.

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

A five-star shell with an integrated sun visor is a harder engineering problem than it sounds. The shade and its mechanism occupy space inside the shell that would otherwise be EPS, and that space has to be found without compromising the impact structure around it.

The GT-Air3 carries a QSV-2 sun visor and five SHARP stars together, from the June 2024 test.

About the Mike TC-6 colourway

White-and-red is a combination that has survived a century of motorsport for a straightforward reason: white gives the eye a large bright field to find, and red gives it a high-contrast edge to resolve against. That is the same principle behind road signage, and it is why this scheme is legible at distances where a two-tone dark helmet has already become a silhouette. The large white area brings the practical benefits of any pale finish — it runs cooler in direct sun than the darker graphics, and it separates from tarmac at dusk when a dark helmet does not. The honest counterpoint is upkeep. White shows road film and scuffs where a grey graphic hides them, and the red element is the pigment in this scheme that will shift first under sustained ultraviolet.

What ECE 22.06 actually tests

Reading a homologation alongside an independent rating is the only way to get a complete picture. ECE 22.06 confirms the GT-Air3 meets the current European minimum across an expanded test programme; SHARP's five stars say how far past that minimum it went.

Neither number alone would tell you much. Together they are the strongest evidence a helmet can carry.

AIM, three shells, and the EQRS release

The structure is a series of layers doing different jobs: an AIM laminate that spreads impact across the shell, a multi-density EPS core that crushes to absorb it, a comfort liner that positions the head, and an EQRS release that lets the cheek pads come out sideways when it matters most.

Sizes XS to XXL run across three separate shells, so no layer is oversized for the head inside it.

CNS-1C and QSV-2 — the two screens

The QSV-2 meets EN 1836, the European standard that governs sunglass lenses, which is a specification almost no helmet manufacturer quotes for an internal shade. It covers optical quality and ultraviolet transmission — meaning the shade is held to the same requirements as eyewear rather than treated as a tinted plastic panel.

It deploys steplessly and can be exchanged tool-free for a yellow contrast version.

Air in, air out, and why it is quiet

Worth being clear about what ventilation can and cannot do. It moves heat that is already inside the helmet; it cannot prevent solar energy arriving through a dark shell in the first place. On a black GT-Air3 in July, opening every vent is the second-best solution — the first is choosing a lighter finish.

The system itself is effective: airstream-facing intakes, internal channels, high exhausts, insect filter.

Interior, glasses and talking to the helmet

Two parts of the interior are worth having spares of before you need them: cheek pads, because they take the most sweat and friction and are what loosens first, and the chin strap cover, because it sits against the jaw and is what a beard works on hardest. Both cost very little next to a helmet.

Both, with the centre pad and ear pads, are removable and separately available.

Where it sits in Shoei's range

The J.O2 at the bottom of this table and the X-SPR PRO at the top bracket what Shoei does: an urban jet at the entry point and a racing full-face at the top. The touring helmets sit between them, and the GT-Air3 is the one the range is built around — the highest-volume model Shoei makes in Europe.

Its five-star SHARP rating is the reason that volume is defensible.

Around 1700 grams, and the rest of the honest list

Worth being specific about who this helmet is not for. If your riding is short, slow and urban, a jet with the same sun visor will be cooler and cheaper. If you ride on track, the X-SPR PRO is shaped for a tucked position and this is not. The GT-Air3 is built for distance on open roads, and its compromises are made in that direction.

Its costs are roughly 1700 g and a communication unit sold separately.

When something wears out

Everything on this helmet that touches you or that you look through is a serviceable part: centre pad, cheek pads, ear pads, chin strap cover, CNS-1C visor in six tints, QSV-2 sun visor and the Pinlock EVO lens. That list is itself a specification, and it is what makes five-year ownership realistic rather than aspirational.

🔵 Screens are CNS-1C — earlier GT-Air generations used different parts.

In the box

• Shoei GT-Air3 helmet — Mike TC-6
• 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 — 11.20.118.2
• Colour — Mike TC-6 — Mike graphic, TC-6
• 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