Review of the Icon Airmada street motorcycle crash helmet

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Icon Airmada: mid-priced full face street helmet

The Icon Airmada is a sporty full face polycarbonate helmet that’s aimed at road riders but that gives a definite nod towards sports/track use.

And if that’s the sort of motorcycle helmet you’re looking for, you’ll also be stoked to hear that it’s at the lower end of the price range too.

So, if you’re looking to buy a new full face helmet, here’s what you can expect from an Icon Airmada, along with some insight of what owners and riders think of theirs, gathered from around the web.

Looking to buy an Icon Airmada?

Please click below to visit the Icon Airmada 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).

Buy from SportsBikeShop

Safety

(more about helmet safety)

OK, first up, you want a helmet that’s going to give you great protection in an accident, right?

Well, the Icon Airmada is both ECE and DOT certified (which means in Europe it’s been put through its paces in the testing lab and come out with a smile and a thumbs up!)

That’s the good news. The not so good news is that it was independently tested by SHARP where it scored two stars out of a maximum five.

That’s not great. But before you do skip on to the next helmet review, you should know that getting a helmet that fits just right is your number one priority when buying a new helmet to maximise its ability to protect you. Having said that, there are a few four and five star safety rated helmets out there to choose from that are the same price as the Icon or less. Just sayin!

One thing definitely going for the Airmada is that the helmet shell is made in four shell sizes – that’s great for helping get just the right fitting as well as looks. And different cheek pads are also available to help you customise the fit even more.

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Rear view of the Airmada Scrawl

The Airmada is fastened to your head with a double-d ring fastener and there’s a big visor opening in there that gives excellent all round vision. That’s always good for safety – on the track and on the road.

Helmet Noise

(more about helmet noise)

If you’re after a particularly quiet helmet, then check out our quietest helmets pages. But note, helmet quietness is incredibly subjective.

As for the Icon Airmada, it seems like it’s a bit of a noisy brute. Maybe that’s down to the fantastic ventilation (see below) letting in lots of noise along with loads of air? Or, as a couple of owners suggested, those side pods could be sticking out a bit causing turbulence. Whatever the reason is, most owners reckon it’s somewhere between average for a full face to really loud.

Having said that, if you wear decent ear protection, we’d expect you’ll be fine.

Ventilation

(more about helmet ventilation)

Ventilation is one of the Icon Airmada’s strong points.

There’s six front vents and four rear exhaust vents.

To each side of the chin bar, there’s a couple of vents that pull air towards the chin and mouth area. They’re opened/closed by way of a slider on the inside of the chin bar. Those can be fiddly to operate, especially when you’re riding along; so probably best to set them in position before you set off and leave alone until you stop.

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Icon are known for some pretty way-out graphics. This one’s the Chantilly in black/white

There’s also a flip bar covering the central chin bar vent that pushes air up onto the back of the visor, helping the anti-fog treatment keep your visor clear as well as giving cooling to your face.

Above the visor, there’s another slider that reveals a couple of inlets to take air onto the forehead. They’re further supplemented by a pair of crown vents that direct air inside the helmet shell to ventilate the rest of the head.

Most Airmada owners reckon the ventilation system really works – anywhere between pretty good and fantastic. And they reckon those visor vents really help with keeping the visor fog-free too.

Visor

(more about visors)

The standard clear visor that comes with the Airmada is optically-correct and has Icon’s own fog-free coating on it. That’s a surprisingly good anti-fog system that most owners say works really well.

The Airmada will actually work with Icon’s Tracshield tear off visor system if you’re serious about your racing and planning to take an Airmada to the track.

Back to the standard visor: it works on a ratchet; there’s a nice big opening tab to the left and it also has a simple/cheap locking mechanism by means of a metal pin. Push it down to lock, push up a bit harder to release the lock and open the visor. Not sophisticated, but it works.

It’s also a quick-change visor. Like many Icons, you need to pull off those side pods (you don’t have to do this first, but when you put on a new visor, you’ll have to pull off the pods to attach to it, so it’s easier to do it while it’s on the helmet) then open the visor to reveal a couple of release levers. Push one back each side and the visor will pop off its hinge. Icon’s system is similar to a few other makers’ and works OK once you get the hang of it.

One thing that’s great with the Airmada is the width of the field of vision, which Icon has made extra wide. Great for safety and for improved peripheral vision that.

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Matt black Rubatone Icon Airmada

Comfort and Sizing

(more about comfort and sizing)

The main thing to note about the Icon Airmada is that it’s designed to fit riders with longer, narrower heads.

Word is that it’ll probably suit many medium oval heads too, but for you folks with longer heads out there, the Airmada’s worth a look.

Fitment size is about right, so measure your head (how? check our fitting guide) and order the correct size from one of our recommended retailers who’ll all do no-quibble returns just in case it doesn’t fit quite right.

Because the Airmada is produced in four shells sizes – and because they also sell replacement larger/smaller cheek pads – there’s lots of room for getting the fitting exactly right for your head. Having said that, it’s got what Icon call their race fitment, designed to keep the helmet tight fitting at speed. Which means its got a pretty tight neck roll so might feel a bit/a lot tight getting it on in the first place.

Inside the Icon Airmada is the usual (decent) lining that you’ll find in most Icon helmets. Namely, it’s got removable cheek pads and a head liner made from a breathable and moisture-wicking ‘hydradry’ material. And of course it’s fully machine washable.

And if all those features pass muster, then owners reckon the Airmada’s a comfy helmet with no problems noted.

Looks & Graphics

Of course, lots of people buy Icons because of their mad graphics. Yup, you can buy a plain old gloss white, black or silver version – and there’s a matt black rubatone version too (we like the rubbery feel of rubatone versions!). And why not at this price because the plain versions are way cheaper than the graphics?

But most folks are pulled towards one of those bonkers graphic versions if they’ve got the nads to pull it off in public (so to speak!).

Icon are releasing new graphics all the time, so click the links below to quickly jump onto the Icon Helmets pages at some of our quality/service recommended stores. But we’ve put a smattering of some of the ones that caught our eye up and down the page.

Best places to buy an Icon Airmada?

Please click below to visit the Icon Airmada 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).

Buy from SportsBikeShop

Icon Airmada Video

Ok, here’s a short 3.30m video from the guys at Revzilla showing the Icon Airmada in Mechanica graphics – starting immediately after the intro title sequence.

 

Other stuff – fasteners, audio, weight, glasses, build quality, chin curtain, warranty

The Airmada comes with a double-d ring fastener. If you’re looking to add a bluetooth kit to your Airmada, there is space to fit the comms unit on the outside, but there’s no speaker cut outs in the lining so they might well dig in your head a bit.

As for weight, well it’s a tiny bit heavier than the average polycarbonate full face weighing around 1.62Kg (3.6lbs). That weight shouldn’t really be a problem when you’re riding though – in fact most of the owners that we came across who commented about weight said it feels light when you’re wearing it.

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Another bonkers graphic – the Airmada Monkey Business

If you wear glasses inside your lid (or sunglasses) you’ll not really find any glasses grooves inside the Airmada to make things easy. A couple of riders said they don’t find it a problem; though if your glasses are anything out of the ordinary (like they’re really big or the arms stick out more than normal) you might struggle.

Build quality seems to be pretty good – not quite up there with the most premium makers, but good, especially at this price point. Which makes you wonder why Icon only backs their helmets with a paltry 1 year warranty. No reports of Icons being returned more often than other helmets though.

Overall/Summary

The Icon Airframe is a well liked helmet and seems to work well for riders on lots of types of bikes. It’s fairly noisy – but then we know riding a bike’s noisy, so stick in some ear plugs and you should be fine.

That visor system is well liked and gives good all-round vision. And it’s a comfortable helmet as long as you’ve a longer, narrower head shape as that’s who Icon’s designed it for. It’s ECE and DOT certified; but the only slight fly in the ointment is that SHARP 2 star safety rating. Other than that it’s a funky looking helmet with the typical massive range of even funkier icon graphics that most owners seem to really like, and it works well on the road. It’s available at a competitive price too.

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.

Good Alternatives to the Icon Airmada?

If you’re after a great performing full face helmet on a tight budget, then look no further.

Take a look at Shark’s Ridill. That’s a cheap polycarbonate helmet but it’s SHARP 4 star safety rated, has a handy sun visor and comes with a 5 year warranty.

Or there’s AGVs ever popular K3 SV. That’s also SHARP 4 star rated with a sun visor – plus it’s got great ventilation and comes with a Pinlock anti-fog insert in the box.

Finally, here’s another 4 star safety rated lid – the MT Thunder 3. Sun visor, lighter than the Icon and yours for about £100.

Looking to buy an Icon Airmada?

Please click below to visit the Icon Airmada 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).

Buy from SportsBikeShop

Other full face helmets?

We've got lots of other ways you can find your ideal full face helmet. You can check out our Top 10 full-face crash helmets list to see our best rated helmets or head over to our Smartish Filters pages and zoom in on helmets with your 'must have' features. You can browse through all our full face crash helmet reviews as well as our safest motorcycle helmets page where you'll only find helmets that are SHARP four or five star rated - so you'll know you're wearing the best protection out there. Finally, check out our helmet gallery to find a lid that takes your fancy.

Star Ratings

REVIEW OVERVIEW
Safety
Comfort
Noise
Features
Value
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review-of-the-icon-airmada-street-motorcycle-crash-helmetThe Icon Airmada is a well liked helmet by most owners. It's a mid-priced polycarbonate helmet with great ventilation and visor system. You'll probably find it comfortable too - especially if you've a longer narrower head shape. It's lacking some features you'll find in other helmets at this price point, and it didn't score too well in the SHARP safety ratings. But if you're taken with the design and funky graphic options, that probably won't put you off and if you buy one, we're sure you'll find it a decent lid.

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