A look at the Lazer Kite full face helmet

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The Lazer Kite is a pretty unusual but stunning looking crash helmet. Not only does it look the part, but it scored a very commendable four stars in the SHARP crash helmet safety test – so you know it’s going to perform when it matters. Aimed at sporty riders (though not an out-and-out track helmet) and available in fibreglass and carbon fibre versions, let’s see if it’s all show and no go (click the links to the right to skip to sections or scroll to the bottom to see summary and star ratings).

  • SHARP 4 star safety rated (good)
  • Weight 1.5Kg (fibreglass version – average)
  • Double-D ring fastener
  • Carbon fibre and fibreglass versions
  • Mid-to-expensive priced helmet (version dependent)
  • Great for ventilation and comfort
  • Prices range from £210-£350

Safety

The Lazer Kite is manufactured in two shell sizes and available in fitment sizes XS to XXL, with MS and ML also available for intermediate medium fittings. It comes in two shell materials – either a full carbon fibre or composite fibreglass versions. The fibreglass version was tested by SHARP helmet testing and scored a creditable 4/5 stars – meaning if you buy one, you can be confident it’ll perform well in an accident.

Lazer-Kite-Carbon-crash-helmet-front-view
Front view of the Lazer Kite plain carbon fibre

It wasn’t tested by SHARP, but we’d expect the carbon fibre version to score about the same. In fact of all the Lazer helmets tested by SHARP, all except one has scored four or five stars (out of five) so Lazers are generally very solidly performing helmets in terms of safety.

Lazer claim to use the finest materials to ensure both their carbon composite and fibreglass helmet shells are both the lightest they can be and most effective at dissipating energy. With their excellent results in the SHARP tests, there’s probably no reason to doubt the effectiveness claims and there is some evidence that Lazers are amongst the lightest helmets – with the carbon fibre Lazer Monaco weighing just 1.35Kg making it certainly amongst the lightest flip-up helmets on the market – even though the Kite is about average weight for a full face helmet at 1.5Kg

Other safety related stuff: the helmet is secured with a double-d ring on the strap. They’re safe and easy to use and will mean it should qualify for an ACU gold sticker so you can take it on a track day (but check before buying as they’re not always applied by the distributor).

Looking to buy a Lazer?

We recommend SportsBikeShop (UK) for outstanding service, great prices (including price match) and free delivery. Or if you prefer to buy in Euros, you could try FC-Moto (Ger) who carry a really wide range of helmets with competitive prices. Please see here for more info on these retailers or click the links to go straight to their Lazer helmets pages where you'll find the latest helmet designs and deals.

Helmet Noise

The Lazer is about average for noise suppression. There’s lots of factors apart from the helmet design that that make for a noisy or quiet helmet (speed, riding position, style of bike etc. etc.) but owners broadly indicate the Kite’s around about average.

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Rear exhaust vents on the Kite Mustang black/white

Ventilation

The Kite has four chin and forehead/crown vents together with three rear exhaust vents. All the front vents are closeable – the chin vents are closed using a finger switch on the inside of the chin guard, much like many AGVs, and the top vents are flaps that open to stick up into the air flow and close to be almost flush with the top of the lid. From these top vents, the air is channeled in grooves cut into the polystyrene EPS liner and through the comfort liner and onto the scalp. Owners reckon it all works well (probably helped by the so-called ‘venturi effect’ where the incoming air is squeezed through tighter channels to speed it up and give more effective ventilation) and keeps you cool on long days’ riding; and that closing the vents really does stop air getting in – which not all helmets manage. So all good on the ventilation.

Visor

The main visor is optically correct and is Pinlock anti-fog ready (though doesn’t come with a Pinlock in the box). The Kite doesn’t come with a sun visor, but there is the option of fitting Lazer’s very clever Lumino Photochromic visor. This is an active visor that adjusts according to light conditions – from 90% clear to 20% clear in 15 seconds. They’re not cheap, but owners who do a lot of riding in sunny climates or into rising/setting suns love them.

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Lazer’s Lumino active photochromic visor will fit the Kite

The main visor seal is very good, using what Lazer calls its perfect fit system. Lazer claim that it’s very difficult to get a tight seal with composite or carbon fibre helmets because, unlike injection moulded helmets, tolerances can vary. To combat this, their visor base unit is flexible to mould to the contours of each helmet.

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Kite Mustang red from the side. Great piece of design.

There’s a very effective visor quick removal system on the Kite too. This allows you to remove and refit each side of the visor in just a couple of seconds.

Comfort

No problems have been reported here. As always, make sure you have a helmet that fits right in the first place, with no pressure points and with a nice secure fitment all round. If you do that, you should be happy with comfort levels of the Kite. It has the usual fully removable internal comfort liner, that’s anti-microbial and washable. It also has replaceable cheek pads that you can swap out to tighten up the fit if required. Again, that’s standard across most helmets these days, but it can be a useful.

Looks & Graphics

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Lazer Kite Flow Pure

The Kite’s a good looking helmet with lines similar to the angular designs of some of the latest Lambos. The most popular colour scheme apart from the plain black/white/silver (which is a relative term because you’ll not see many Lazer Kites around!) is the Kite Mustang you can see at the top of the page – which come in either plain black or red with a couple of stripes over the top and down the front. Of course, the plain carbon shows off the fibres nicely and is one of the reasons many of us buy a carbon helmet (so you might as well show it off). There’s also the striking Kite Flow Pure (right) and the angular paint of the Karat (below). Most options are available on the FC Moto Links below with one or two available on Sportsbikeshop.

Best places to buy a Lazer crash helmet?

We've chosen a couple of great places to buy from - whether it's a Lazer or any other helmet/gear.

If you want piece of mind when you buy, SportsBikeShop are based in the UK and offer outstanding service (9.8/10 on Trustpilot) including free UK delivery and 365 day refunds. They're competitively priced too (with price match) and are our recommended retailer for quality of service.

FC-Moto widely offers some of the best € prices, has a really wide range of helmets and is based in Germany. Note if you buy from FCMoto you'll have to add shipping charges on top if you're outside Germany. Note: please read FC Moto's entry here before ordering.

Please click any picture/link to visit their Lazer helmets pages where you can see all the latest graphics and deals. And if you buy from any store, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you - a massive THANKS (it's how we finance the site)!

Click to visit Sportsbikeshop
Click to visit Lazer at SportsBikeShop
Click for FC Moto
Click for Lazer at FC Moto (then use site search as their navigation's a bit pants)

Video

Here’s Lazer’s completely over the top Kite marketing video with nicely subtle background music (guys it’s a helmet, not a biblical epic!)

Crash Helmet Buying Guides & Top 10s

For (hopefully!) other useful information to help you when buying your next helmet, check our various Motorcycle Helmet Buying Guides - or have a look at our Top 10 best helmet lists where we've got the top 10 best rated helmets overall along with Top 10 Best Budget/Top 10 Safest/Top 10 Best Full Face/Top 10 Best Modular/Flip-up/ Top 10 Best Sportsbike/Track helmets.

Overall

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Lazer Kite Karat

The Lazer Kite is a very competent crash helmet. It’s a no-gimmicks full face helmet with great ventilation and safety credentials that will do everything you ask of it. It’s comfortable, has a good visor mechanism and while it’s not the quietest helmet on the market, should give years of reliable service. Well recommended.

Alternatives

There’s no shortage of great alternatives if you’re looking for a full face helmet. First off you should check our top 5 full face helmets list or maybe our top 5 flip ups as there’s some great modulars these days that are real contenders to replace full-face helmets. You might want to consider a Nolan N86 – another four star SHARP crash helmet, this time with an integral sun visor and a slightly lower price tag (colour scheme dependent). Or how about the AGV GT-Veloce, a SHARP 5 star helmet with a wide visor and costing broadly the same as the Kite. Read the review as there are a few niggles to make sure you could live with them.

Definitely want a Lazer?

Here you'll find all our Lazer crash helmet reviews and previews including full face, flip-up and open face helmets.

REVIEW OVERVIEW
Safety
Comfort
Noise
Features
Value
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a-look-at-the-lazer-kite-full-face-crash-helmetA great helmet that comes in fibreglass and carbon fibre variants. Scored a high 4 stars on SHARP safety test. Great comfort, ventilation and visor system - especially with Lazer's Polychromatic active visor (though that's extra). A very competent helmet that should give great service and well worth investigating if you're looking to buy a new crash helmet.

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