Shark RSR2 Review - 56K WARNING!

After a week of much gnashing of teeth and deliberation, I finally decided on the Shark RSR2 in the Foggy Legend Red design. Ordered it through eBay for $199 shipped - it's a 2006 model, but the features remain the same up to 2009 as far as I can tell from the manufacturer's website.

So, let me tell you. I was so excited to get this helmet that I rode up to the UPS store (missed delivery, had to pick up) without my loaner helmet on. Yes, squid moment, flame me, move on. I opened it there, and started grinning as soon as I pulled it out of the Shark labelled helmet bag. Let me tell you - this helmet is GORGEOUS in person. You can't see the metallic flakes in the pictures, but they're there, and they are beautiful. I am very impressed with the fit and finish of the paint. No bubbles, no rough spots, everything is glassy smooth and looks wonderful. I have to give the paint a 10 out of 10 for quality.

Fit? As you know, it will vary from person to person - I have somewhat of an egg or moderate oval shaped head. This helmet fit me perfectly front to back, and on the sides. I have a mild sensation of cheek-biting, but I'm confident that this will go away once the 'comfort padding' breaks in. Speaking of, the padding is VERY soft, made of what looks to be microfiber. All padding is removable. The helmet also came with a 'race breath guard' that has two ports to plug into the inside front of the helmet. Haven't tried this out yet, as it comes with a breath guard installed. While I'm on the padding, the chin strap has a somewhat different method of securing the loose end - there are what can only be described as mini, raised 'fins' on a red rubber tab at the end of the strap, that slides through a rubber slot on the upper part of the strap. Somewhat annoying since I can't just clip the strap on and go..but not so bad, because it forces me to run the strap through the d rings or suffer many blows from a mini whip - I prefer to save that stuff for the bedroom, thank you. Fit gets a 9/10, only because of the cheek biting, but as I said, I'm sure it will go away.

Venting..There are two intake vents, and one exhaust. One intake on the chin, another above the visor..that reminds me of a ram air intake. I did not notice any buffeting, I could shoulder-check without snapping my head off, and did not murder any small birds while riding up to 80 on the interstate..though there was a small, occasional whistle that went away when I shut the vents. The open/shut mechanism for the vents is very straight forward, and works smoothly with a reassuring, firm 'click'. They are rocker dials that rock back to open, and forward to shut. I can't actually feel any airflow on my scalp, though I can on my chin. I've yet to test it out in mid day heat yet. Venting gets a 7/10, for the whistling and bird-gobbling potential.

Safety? This helmet is DOT and ECE 22.05 certified. I personally prefer the DOT and ECE to DOT and Snell..but only because of what I've read on Snell testing procedures. Besides, ECE is moto gp approved - that's good enough for me. Shark has a safety feature that is unique to their helmets at the time of this review. Inside the helmet, at the top, there are shark 'fins' that serve as a crumple zone should your noggin ever happen to do some ass fault landscaping. Also, unlike other manufacturers that have sparse amounts of carbon fiber/aramid fiber distributed across the shells of their helmets, Shark's upper tier helmets have 'Carbon-fiber/aramid fiber multi-directional, composite shells'. What does this mean? Well, if you happen to endo because you were too busy breaking your neck to stare at a choice piece of female derrier to notice the huge pothole in the road, and proceed to tumble through the air, flip across the road and end up in a ditch..Every time your head hits something solid, all the fibers in the helmet stretch and pull, distributing the shock all across the shell, instead of your stupid skull taking the full blow in just one spot. The idea of this sold me..and I hope to never have to test it out. I give safety features a 10/10.

This helmet is very light, and incredibly well balanced. Shaking my head about, I could hardly even tell that I had a helmet on. Also, the visor does not 'ratchet' - there are tension levers on either side of the visor that you can tighten or loosen. I was skeptical at first, but they work very well. You can put the visor anywhere you want to, and it'll stay there. It also locks into place by way of a brass nob that it clicks down on to. It's easy to remove - roll the friction tabs down, raise the visor, press the button on one side, and lift. Repeat with the other side. Reverse to replace. The visor also seals very well against the helmet.

I might be slightly biased.

Overall, I am very pleased with this helmet - well worth the cash, and I will be buying from Shark again in the future.


Any how, here's the pics. If they look slightly squashed it's because I got lazy and forgot to correct the proportions when I resized them.

I have the RSR2 absolut and I love it. Shark Helmets / Moto News Racing

Nice review I would agree with everything you said. It will whistle pretty good if the vents are closed, but i'm in louisiana so the vents are never closed. I think it's the best bang for the buck as far as high end helmets go.

Great, now helmets will be thrice as heavy =(

You will be pleased Welcome to the family!