Please note: sale to France is prohibited.

White on a touring helmet is a thermal decision as much as a visual one. On a long summer stage the difference between a white shell and a black one is measurable at the surface, and it is the sort of thing you stop noticing until the first forty-degree afternoon in Spain.

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

Five stars from SHARP, tested June 2024. The rating is worth reading alongside what it replaced: the first-generation GT-Air scored three stars in the same programme. Two extra stars across a model generation is a large step, and it is the clearest evidence available that the development went into the shell rather than the styling.

SHARP tests helmets bought anonymously at retail. Nothing is supplied by the manufacturer.

About the gloss white finish

The physics are simple and the effect is real: a pale surface reflects a large share of incoming solar radiation instead of converting it to heat, and on a helmet that energy would otherwise have to pass through the AIM shell and the EPS before reaching you. The GT-Air3's ventilation is genuinely good — intakes into the airstream, high-placed exhausts — but ventilation moves heat that is already there, while a white shell prevents some of it arriving. On the conspicuity side, white is second only to fluorescent yellow in daylight and ahead of it at dusk. The cost is honest: white shows every scuff, and the leading edge of the chin area collects the grime that a dark helmet simply absorbs visually.

What ECE 22.06 actually tests

ECE 22.06 has been mandatory for new helmets sold in the EU since January 2024, which is why 22.05 stock vanished from shelves so abruptly. The substantive changes were more impact sites, a second lower test speed, an oblique rotational test, and accessories tested as fitted rather than removed for the exam.

That last point is why the QSV-2 sun visor had to be part of the original submission rather than added later.

AIM, three shells, and the EQRS release

Three shell sizes for six helmet sizes is the specification that decides proportion and weight at both ends of the range. On a single-shell helmet the smallest size wears a mid-size shell's worth of polystyrene: it looks oversized and weighs more than the size needs.

Shoei also cites a benefit most manufacturers do not mention — a correctly proportioned shell keeps the centre of gravity where it belongs, which is a neck-load argument rather than a cosmetic one.

CNS-1C and QSV-2 — the two screens

The QSV-2 is the feature that makes this helmet effortless in changing light, and it is larger than the shade in most helmets that have one. It deploys steplessly rather than in fixed positions — so you set it where the light actually is, rather than choosing between too much tint and not enough.

It meets EN 1836, the European standard for sunglass lenses, and can be swapped tool-free for an optional yellow contrast-enhancing version.

Air in, air out, and why it is quiet

Pronounced integrated spoiler edges, smoothed transitions between visor and shell and a slimmer chin area do two jobs at once here: they improve aerodynamic stability and reduce turbulence around the ears. Independent testers consistently single out the GT-Air3 as one of the quietest touring helmets available.

Unlike some quiet helmets, that has not come at the expense of airflow — the ventilation here is genuinely effective.

Interior, glasses and talking to the helmet

The ergonomic centring of the helmet's centre of gravity is a specification that sounds abstract and is felt after four hours. A mass held close to the axis of your neck loads the supporting muscles far less than the same mass held forward or high — which is why two helmets of identical weight can feel entirely different at the end of a long stage.

The three shell sizes are part of how that centring is achieved.

Where it sits in Shoei's range

Read the table by type rather than by price. Shoei covers jet, full-face and modular in the same touring bracket, and the money tracks format rather than quality — the X-SPR PRO at the top is a racing helmet without a sun visor, not a better touring one.

The GT-Air3 is the sport-touring full-face, and the least expensive helmet in this table with a five-star rating.

Around 1700 grams, and the rest of the honest list

Shoei quotes approximately 1700 g for this helmet, and independent measurements vary either side of that depending on size and finish — which is worth knowing because published helmet weights are rarely comparable between manufacturers. What is not in dispute is that a sun visor, its mechanism and a communication interface all weigh something.

The other honest notes: the SRL3 is sold separately, and the fit is intermediate oval.

When something wears out

The interior decides how long the helmet lasts you, and it is the part riders most often misdiagnose. Pad foam compresses and breaks down chemically from sweat; as it does the fit loosens, the helmet begins to move on the head and lets in noise that was not there before. The natural conclusion is that the helmet is finished. Usually it needs pads.

Cheek and centre pads are available separately, in more than one thickness.

In the box

• Shoei GT-Air3 helmet — White
• 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 — 11.20.001.2
• Colour — White — Gloss white
• 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