Caberg Ghost street fighter/jet motorbike helmet review

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Caberg Ghost: a lightweight streetfighter motorcycle helmet

Yes, the Caberg Ghost looks like a full face or even a flip-up helmet. But don’t be fooled. Okay, it’s got a visor and chin guard and yes you can flip them up, but it’s not fixed in place and it’s not protective.

caberg ghost carbon helmet face guard up — Caberg Ghost Carbon with chin bar raised

So, now we’ve got that out of the way, the bottom line is if you’re after a mean-looking open-face/jet helmet that’ll scare kids and grannies – while giving you a bit of protection from the rain, then you might well have found the right helmet.

Because the Caberg Ghost, like the Shark Drak before it, is here to make you look cooler, meaner and altogether more ‘tie-fighter’ on your morning commute into Chelmsford.

It’s available in both tri-composite and carbon fibre versions (just like Caberg’s Drift helmet) comes with a Pinlock anti fog visor and is here at a price that won’t drain your bank account.

Open face/Jet helmet with face guard
Non-protective face shield
Available in composite and carbon fibre
Pinlock visor (see visor section)
Micrometric buckle
1.15Kg (very light)
Sizes XS-XXL
Expect to pay £220-£270

Best places to buy a Caberg Ghost?

Please click below to visit the Caberg Ghost helmets pages at our recommended stores. And if you buy from one, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you – a massive THANKS! (it’s how we finance the site).

Overall/Summary

You’re probably thinking of buying a Caberg Ghost because it looks so damn cool. Or because you want an open face helmet but like the idea of having a little road/weather protection when you need it.

Either of which is fair enough.

caberg ghost rust motorbike helmet side view 400 — Perfect for your ratter – Caberg Ghost Rust

But the Ghost is also a well thought out helmet, with a Pinlock-ready visor, nice visor/faceshield opening system, good comfort and decent build quality and finish.

OK, it’s a bit noisy and and it’s an open face helmet so it’s never going to protect you as well as a full face helmet.

But if you’re after the streetfighter look to go with your streetfighter or retro bike, then the Ghost is bang on. Just don’t crash in it!

Safety

Well, the first thing to say is that the Ghost has been ECE tested for use/sale in Europe. That means it’s gonna give a decent level of protection.

The second thing to say is you should view it as an open face helmet: i.e. assume that face shield is not going to offer any protection in an accident because a) It’s not been designed to protect you from anything other than a bit of rain or road muck and b) It’ll probably flip up or fall off as soon as it even thinks about hitting anything!

All that said, Caberg has a great reputation for making safe helmets – particularly polycarb helmets which have become a bit of a speciality for Caberg.

These days, they’re moving up in the world and producing more composite and carbon fibre helmets, like the Ghost. However, as SHARP (the helmet safety testers) haven’t tested any carbon fibre Cabergs (not since the old V2X carbon) or composite helmets (like, ever) then it’s difficult to know how well their latest generation of u- market helmets like the Ghost will perform.

Of course, SHARP won’t touch the Ghost with a barge-pole because it’s an open face helmet; and to helmet safety experts the world over that means it’s the work of the Devil. So of course, if you value your face, then we’d suggest getting one of our top 10 best full face helmets or flip-ups.

caberg-ghost-legend-crash-helmet-side-view — Ghost Legend. Note, that white stripe’s on one side only

But if you simply can’t resist just how damn cool the Ghost looks and have to have one, then the Ghost has a micrometric fastener which are easy to use and should keep the helmet on your head in an accident (as long as you tighten it up correctly) and a good quality Pinlock-ready visor.

That’s well worth having to keep rain and filth out of your eyes and keep the visor fog-free at the same time.

Helmet Noise

(more about helmet noise)

Yes, it’s got a face cover and visor, but the Ghost is still an open face helmet at heart.

And open face helmets have lots of space for wind and noise to get it and ruin your quiet cruise.

It’s probably no surprise then that most Caberg Ghost owners reckon their helmet’s pretty loud too. It’s maybe a tad quieter than an open face without a face guard, but folks still say it’s a loud helmet.

So, if you’re planning on wearing your Ghost to pootle around Putney on your step through, you might get away with it. But for any serious riding, don’t expect to be able to ride at anything like legal motorway speeds without sticking in some quality ear plugs.

Ventilation

Well, it’s an open face helmet innit? So if you want lots of air, you can always push the face piece up and out of the way and that’ll let lots of air in.

But while your face is cool, you might still find your head stays a bit hot and sweaty, because there’s no ventilation inlets in the actual helmet shell itself, which is a bit of a shame.

And if you like to ride with the face guard down for the full Mad Max effect, there are always-open vent holes in the face guard, so even with it down, some draft will get in there. That should also help with defogging the visor a bit too.

Visor

Front view of the solid matt black version. Soo black it’s almost stealth!

The Ghost is fairly unusual being an open face helmet with a built in visor. But it’s not unique.

What is very rare is that it’s Pinlock-ready and comes with a Pinlock in the box, meaning your visor shouldn’t fog up. Now that is a pretty cool and a pretty rare feature for an open face helmet.

The visor itself is firmly attached to the helmet (unlike something like the Shark Raw/Drak) and can be easily moved up and open by pulling forward slightly then pushing up.

It’s spring loaded too so when you pull it down, the visor is pulled tight against the helmet. Caberg advertise that the visor’s been designed so it can be closed with just one hand. And according to several owners, that’s exactly the case. So even though it’s an unusual goggle/visor hybrid, it’s still pretty easy to use.

One of the cool things about the visor and chin guard is that both can be removed, so you can wear the Ghost as either a traditional open face helmet, with just the visor in place, or with both visor and chin guard.

And, despite being an unusual kind of visor, according to a couple of Ghost owners we found, it’s actually surprisingly optically good and doesn’t distort your vision.

The chin guard is made from flexible plastic/rubber and clips onto the bottom of the visor so it’s easy to remove. Removing the visor involves fiddling about with cross head screws and springs – but it’s more than doable.

caberg-ghost-fluo-crash-helmet-side-view — Want a bit of hi-viz with your black? No problem. This one’s the Ghost Fluo

Comfort & Sizing

The Caberg Ghost has a removable and washable lining that’s both breathable and anti-microbial.

It’s produced in two helmet shell sizes, which should make for a helmet that’s not too over- or under-padded the extreme ends of the range of sizes. The smaller shell is used in the XS-L sizes and the larger for XL and XXL.

And the good news is that it’s a comfortable helmet. The liner’s a decent quality and coupled with how light the helmet it, means that several owners commented that it’s a really nice place to put your head.

As long as you’ve got a medium oval head that is.

Looks & Graphics

I guess with the style of helmet the Ghost is, they’ve limited the graphics options to designs that suit the streetfighter look. Which means you can expect lots of blacks, matt finishes and, of course, that lovely carbon fibre weave version. We’ve posted copies of all the designs that are available at the time of writing but, as always, click the links below to our recommended retailers to see the latest prices and designs.

Best places to buy a Caberg Ghost?

Caberg Ghost Video

A 6m spin around a Caberg Ghost Carbon from Champion Helmets.

Other stuff – fasteners, bluetooth, glasses, aero, warranty

caberg-ghost-carbon-crash-helmet-side-view — Full carbon fibre Caberg Ghost

The Caberg Ghost comes with a quick and easy micrometric fastener. It’s also been designed to be Just Speak bluetooth ready, so it may well fit 3rd party bluetooth sets too.

If you’re a glasses wearer, word is that the Ghost works well with glasses. Even though there aren’t any specific glasses grooves, we heard from riders who commented that there’s enough space in there to accommodate the stems without them pressing into your face.

The shell and face guard give decent aero performance in a straight line. But if you’re at anything over 40-50 mph and turn your head, wind can get up under the guard and visor, so don’t expect it to give as good aero performance as a full face.

As always, Cabergs only come with a one year warranty. Which is rubbish – click to see helmets that come with a 5 year warranty.

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.

caberg-ghost-gloss-solid-black-motorcycle-crash-helmet-side-view — Gloss black version with visor/shield raised fully

Alternatives to the Caberg Ghost

If you’re looking for something that’s a bit of a retro statement or looks a bit ‘edgy’, then there’s a few alternatives you might want to check out.

First off, you’ve gotta take a look at the Shark Drak (or Raw as it was known). The Drak looks very similar to the Ghost, albeit a bit less refined. But it’s also cheaper than the Ghost and comes with a 5 year warranty.

Or how about the Shark Vancore. That’s a proper full face helmet but with goggles and tons of attitude. It’s really light too.

If it’s more of a retro vibe you’re after, then the full face Bell Bullitt is the real deal – cool as you like, great build quality, lots of retro accessories and a SHARP 3 star rating to boot.

And finally, Portugese maker Nexx has their X.G100; a composite fibre full face helmet that’s a smidge cheaper than the Ghost (as is the Bullitt) that’s both ECE and DOT certified and mega light weight.