Confused by the huge choice of motorcycle helmets available? Let us be your guide

There is a bewildering choice of motorcycle helmets on the market and making a decision about which one to buy can be a daunting task. As with any purchase, however, there is one simple rule: buy the best you can afford. Luckily nowadays there are stringent safety standards for helmets so, in theory, even the cheapest helmet will have to perform to the minimum standards which are still a lot higher than they used to be 30 years ago.

There is no excuse for a poorly fitting helmet. Many manufacturers now offer different shell sizes, which are different from overall small, medium, and large sizes. Everyone’s head is different and a Medium that fits one rider might not fit another. Changing the shell dimensions helps you find the perfect-fitting helmet. While there are many budget-friendly helmets on the market, the general rule is that the more you spend, the better the fit and greater the comfort. Also, you might find certain brands fit you better than others: the author, for example, finds that no Arai helmets are comfortable for him. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with Arai, of course: my head is the problem!

The best helmet is the one you like the most, from the brand name to the fit to the outer design. There are helmets for every type of riding these days, whether it’s cruising down the highway or throwing yourself around off-road so you can really tailor your purchase to your type of riding. One word of warning: motorcycle helmets are addictive. I don’t know anyone who has less than two helmets and some have considerably more and can never resist buying yet another one! Here are the best ones in 2022!

Full-face helmets are the standard design nowadays. As the name suggests, these are helmets that have a chin bar and visor that protects the whole face. One of the best innovations in motorcycle helmet technology is the slide-down dark sun visor that sits behind the visor. This enables you to react quickly to changing light conditions and gets rid of the necessity to wear sunglasses, which can become uncomfortable.

Having said that, many manufacturers cater to those riders who have to wear glasses by making provisions for the arms of the glasses in the padding by your temples to prevent them from pressing into the sides of your head.

Another development is the Pinlock visor, which has provision to ‘double-glaze' the visor which prevents it from misting up.

Carbon fiber is becoming increasingly popular for shell construction which is not only much stronger but also much lighter than polycarbonate or fiberglass. The only downside is that carbon fiber helmets will be much more expensive. But traditional materials are still perfectly good enough, as evidenced by the huge number of them manufactured and sold every year.

As with all helmet purchases, check the fit very carefully and buy the one that feels the most comfortable, bearing in mind that the lining will give a little the more you wear it. Try not to be swayed too much by colors and designs or brand loyalty: by trying on as many different makes as possible, you’ll find your ideal helmet.

In terms of build quality, weight, comfort, and safety, the best full-face helmet on the market right now is the AGV K6, which has a carbon shell. Helmet aerodynamics are becoming ever more sophisticated to reduce wind noise and aid stability and the AGV manages to do this without looking too extreme. With four shell sizes and five lining sizes, it should fit any head shape and size. The visor is Pinlock-equipped and glasses-friendly.

There is no slide-down sun visor but dark visors are available.

Replacing a best-selling helmet is always risky but HJC has done a great job in replacing the IS17 model with the C70. It’s a good all-rounder helmet with a high safety-rating and has good features.

The shell comes in two sizes and is constructed from polycarbonate and the helmet has a five-star safety rating. There’s a slide-down sun visor, actuated by a slider on the top of the helmet and the main visor is Pinlock-equipped, although the Pinlock visor itself has to be bought separately.

The strap is fastened by a micrometric (ratchet strap) fastener which is great for convenience and ease of use.

About average for noise suppression but that always depends on the bike you are riding and, of course, how fast you ride! Bikes with screens tend to make a mockery of allegedly quiet helmets as they can cause buffeting around the head if you’re a tall rider.

Good ventilation but it really does need a Pinlock visor to stop the visor misting up, especially in cooler climates. Talking of the visor, HJC helmets have one of the easiest mechanisms to remove and replace them.

The lining is removable and washable and moisture-wicking. There’s a great selection of graphic designs as well as plain black and white.

Nearly $1000 for a helmet that stands a better than even chance of hitting the ground? Well, that’s exactly the point: the likelihood of a crash riding off-road is high, not to mention everything you could hit along the way - trees, rocks, walls!

The Bell Moto 10 is the Rolls Royce of off-road helmets. Constructed from carbon fiber for an immensely strong shell, it is fitted with Bell’s M.I.P.s (Multi-directional Impact Protection System) which allows the helmet to rotate in the event of the rider’s head hitting the ground but prevents the head itself from being dragged around with the helmet.

Everything about this helmet is first-class, from the fit and finish to the excellent ventilation, from the wide aperture to limited wind noise.

If you’re not a professional racer, then you don’t want to be paying nearly $1,000 for a helmet and that is where the Fox Racing V1 comes in. Polycarbonate construction is perfectly good and not too much heavier than carbon fiber, and, best of all, the Fox comes with MIPS (see above) which is a great feature for a sub-$200 helmet.

It is legal to ride with on the street and extremely practical interior that’s easy to remove for cleaning.

If you’re new to off-road and not certain if you will take it up full time, then the Fox V1 is a perfect helmet that won’t break the budget before you’ve even swung a leg over the bike for the first time.

Modular helmets, sometimes referred to as flip-face helmets, are full-face helmets where the whole front chin-bar and visor flip up out of the way of the face and will fasten closed when in the down position. They are the best of both worlds between an open-face helmet and a full-face helmet.

There are many on the market right now: on some, the chin bar and visor flip up and stay in the upright position which can make them awkward to ride with as it acts a bit like a sail, unless your screen is particularly large. Unless there is a slide-down sun visor, your eyes will be left exposed. On others, such as Shark’s design, the chin bar will rotate all the way to the back of the helmet, leaving the visor in place (it can still be raised as well), which makes them much better looking when riding in that position, as well as not disturbing the aerodynamics too much.

In terms of safety, modular helmets have to be certified in both closed and open configurations if they are to be legal to ride with the chin bar in the up position. Latching mechanisms vary from one manufacturer to another but all will give trouble-free and safe operation.

Anything that breaks up the smooth surface of a helmet can lead to excessive noise and that is why our choice of the best modular helmet is the Schuberth C5. The latest generation of the ‘C’ range is of fiberglass construction with a carbon fiber layer applied over the top, therefore it won’t be as light as a full carbon shell but will be extremely strong. It has been homologated for use with the chin bar up and down.

There’s a slide-down sun visor and the main visor is Pinlock-equipped. The strap is fastened by a micrometric ratchet and each side of the strap is anchored at two points to help prevent what they call helmet roll-off in the event of the helmet hitting the floor during an accident. This is the tendency for the helmet to roll off the head in an impact.

Ever since the C1, Schuberth’s modular helmets have been some of the quietest helmets available. As with full-face helmets, that does all depend on what bike you are riding: a naked bike leaves the head in clear, undisturbed air which is where you will really appreciate how quiet the C5 is. On bikes with screens, noise can be increased as turbulent air coming off the screen can hit the helmet, causing the noise. Thanks to extensive wind-tunnel testing, the C5 is aerodynamically stable.

Ventilation is excellent all through the helmet and there’s even a sponge filter in the chin bar vent to stop foreign objects from penetrating into the helmet.

The visor is good and wide giving good peripheral vision and, usefully, Schuberth put opening tabs on both sides of the bottom edge of the visor, meaning it can be opened easily by either hand. Similarly, the chin bar lock is easy to use when opening and snaps shut easily as well. A nice feature is that, when you close the chin bar, the visor will remain in its open position until you are ready to close it.

As with most helmets - modular or not - there are choices of liner thickness so you can really tailor the fit to your head. Talking of size: the C5 is available up to XXXL, which makes it one of the few helmets that go that large.

Schuberth helmets are generally very clean and understated graphically, as well as being available in solid colors, including hi-vis yellow.

If modular is the way you want to go but you don’t have $800 to spend, then all is not lost as while going cheaper can result in some questionable quality in terms of the locking and hinge mechanisms, there are some very good lower-priced modular helmets and the best of those is the HJC I90.

A polycarbonate shell (available up to 5XL!) has a large visor aperture for good all-round vision and it is equipped with a slide-down sun visor that has a good actuating mechanism. There is provision to fit a Pinlock visor and one comes with the helmet.

Ventilation is excellent, the lining is moisture-wicking, it is glasses-friendly, and has speaker pockets for communication systems. Ventilation puts a lot of more expensive helmets to shame.

There are three different shell sizes so finding the right fit should be easy and noise suppression is about average. Like all HJC helmets, the visor is super easy to remove and replace and, like the Schuberth, has opening tabs on both left and right.

Good aerodynamics and some not-too-garish graphics designs are two welcome features making the HJC I90 a bit of a bargain.

Adventure helmet designers have a hard time with it: to make a helmet that works well in two completely different riding conditions is difficult but it is possible, although the old saying, the more you pay the better it will be, is nowhere more relevant than in this category.

An adventure helmet has to be quiet and draught-free at road speeds but provides plenty of visor-closed ventilation off-road when you might be plugging along at a walking pace.

Front apertures tend to be larger than on-road motorcycles, and, even though they’ll have visors, these can usually be easily removed so you can wear goggles instead. A peak will be fitted and this, too, can usually be removed if long road distances are to be covered.

Arai is one of the most respected names in motorcycle helmets. Still run by the grandson of the founder, every Arai helmet is hand-built which accounts for the price but also ensures great quality.

The XD range of Arai adventure helmets is legendary for quality, comfort, safety, and just about every other area of helmet performance you can think of. The ventilation on the XD-4 is out of this world: you’ll think you have no helmet on, it’s that good.

The interior is endlessly customizable with a series of thin pads that can be added or removed to ensure perfect fit and comfort. Of course, the materials used are moisture-wicking and anti-bacterial.

The shell is fiberglass so it’s not quite as light as carbon fiber designs but the differences are minimal. The only area where the Arai doesn’t outscore other top-range adventure helmets is in wind noise: it’s no worse than any other helmet although when you take into account the ventilation quality, you’ll wonder how they kept it so quiet.

Sizes only go up to 3XL but, if you are lucky enough to fit into 3XL or smaller, you will be buying a very good helmet, with all-day comfort and peerless quality.

Bell’s MX-9 comes in two versions - motocross (without visor) or adventure (with visor). Both are made from polycarbonate and the visor on the adventure helmet is removable for use with goggles.

It might be a budget helmet but it has all the features you need, including good ventilation and a large aperture that not only gives good vision but will accommodate a pair of goggles with ease.

All Bell helmets do very well in safety tests and there’s no reason to expect the MX-9 to be any different. Three shell sizes are available which is important if you don’t want to look like a bobblehead if you have a smaller head shape.

Strap fastening is by double-D rings which is no hardship and at least ensure the strap will be as tight as comfort allows every time you put it on.

Wind noise is obviously compromised by the design and the peak but it’s not excessive and fine if you wear earplugs, which we all should, if truth be told. The peak is adjustable but not on the move and it can be removed completely.

There are plenty of vents both at the front of the helmet and the back for letting the air out. The lining is removable and washable and is moisture-wicking and anti-bacterial. Different thicknesses of lining pads are available although it’s not glasses-friendly.

A huge range of colors and graphics so you should find something that appeals to you. Overall, a great helmet for not very much money.

Open-face helmets are a throwback to the early days of motorcycling and were the only helmets available up to the beginning of the 1970s. They look right if you are riding a scooter, a classic, or a custom bike or if your large cruiser or touring bike has a big screen to keep the worst of the wind off your face.

The compromise, of course, is in safety. Even if the shell is made from carbon fiber, your face is still completely exposed to not only the elements but also to the road surface should you crash. You’ll also have to wear goggles or glasses to protect your eyes and, if it rains, something tied around the rest of your face.

But, if cool is your thing, then an open-face is the only way to go, and the best out there in our opinion, is the Davida Jet.

Beautifully made out of fiberglass, the Jet features a very comfortable leather-covered lining and double-D strap fastenings. Davida has been making helmets for over 30 years and it shows in the fit and finish. Available in three shell sizes and six helmet sizes, up to XXL. The quality of fit helps keep the noise down.

If the Jet is a little bulbous at the side for your liking, they also make the Speedster, which has flatter-profile sides although this might not be certified for your country so you’ll have to check first before you buy. The Jet is certified for most European countries and the U.S.

The Shark Drak is a fantastically practical open-face helmet. Not only does it have a pair of goggles neatly incorporated into the design, but it also has a removable plastic face protector giving the Drak the best of both worlds. However, this protector fits onto the bottom of the goggles so probably won’t give much protection in the event of falling onto your face during an accident. But it will at least keep bugs/light rain off your face.

The goggles are double-glazed which is very useful for preventing fogging.

It’s not bad for the quality and there are two shell sizes. Strap fastening is micrometric and wind noise is acceptable without goggles and face mask and really not bad at all with both of them fitted.

If safety is your primary concern, then go for a full-face or flip-face (modular) helmet. But if looking good is your thing, then you really can’t beat a full-face. Just don’t crash!

All motorcycle helmets have to be made to stringent safety standards - ECE in Europe and DOT in the USA - so really there is no one manufacturer who can be said to make the safest helmet. However, the safest types of motorcycle helmets are the full-face design, with the shell made from carbon fiber.

The three main types of helmets are full face, open face - sometimes called three-quarter - and modular, or flip-face. There are also bespoke helmet designs for off-road and adventure riding.

Experts and manufacturers recommend that a helmet should be replaced after five years of use or storage. If you drop your helmet onto a hard surface, even from a meter high, you should replace it.

All states barring Illinois, Iowa, and New Hampshire require motorcycle riders to wear helmets when riding on public roads.

Harry has been writing and talking about motorcycles for 15 years, although he's been riding them for 45 years! After a long career in music, he turned his hand to writing and television work, concentrating on his passion for all things petrol-powered. Harry has written for all major publications in South Africa, both print and digital and produced and presented his own TV show called, imaginatively, The Bike Show, for seven years. He held the position of editor of South Africa's largest circulation motorcycling magazine before devoting his time to freelance writing on motoring and motorcycling. Born and raised in England, he has lived in South Africa with his family since 2002. Harry has owned examples of Triumph, Norton, BSA, MV Agusta, Honda, BMW, Ducati, Harley Davidson, Kawasaki and Moto Morini motorcycles. He regrets selling all of them.