Schuberth R2 motorcycle crash helmet

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Schuberth R2 – the all-rounder full-face glass fibre crash helmet

The Schuberth R2 is designed to be Schuberth’s all rounder helmet; meaning as long as you’re not spending hours in an extreme tuck position on your sportsbike, or laid waaaay back on a chop, it should work just fine.

Even though it’s not cheap, it is one of Schuberth’s lower priced helmets. And for the money, it does come with some interesting goodies – including integrated SC1 bluetooth antenna/mic/speakers. So if the price is about right for your pocket, then it may well be worth a look.

Read on to find out more.

Fibreglass full face helmet
SHARP 3 star safety rated
Designed as an all-rounder
Built-in antenna, mic and speakers
Schuberth SC1 bluetooth-ready
EQRS (see safety below)
Expect to pay £277-320

Best places to buy a Schuberth R2?

Please click below to visit the Schuberth R2 helmets page at our recommended store. And if you buy from them, we get a small sum from the sale at no extra cost to you – a massive THANKS! (it’s how we finance the site).

schuberth-r2-matt-black-motorbike-crash-helmet-side-view — Matt black Schuberth R2. Note all R2s will come with clear visor as standard.

Safety

Despite most Schuberths commanding a premium price, you might be surprised to know that Schuberths don’t have a great reputation for safety.

The old Schuberth R1 scored 2/5 stars in the SHARP test and their average score across seven tested helmets is a distinctly average 3 stars. Not amazing for a premium-priced helmet.

With the R2, they use a new production process to make the fibreglass shell called Direct Fibre Processing which they say leads to a more uniform layer of fibreglass and strengthened shell.

Though as we’ve seen, the best helmets don’t have a strong/hard shell but seem to hit that sweet spot between a strong but flexible helmet shell and quality shock absorbing liner.

Schuberth also say they use a multi-part EPS lining which helps with energy absorption during an accident.

schuberth R2 SHARP test grab — Image/test copyright sharp.dft.gov.uk – Schuberth R2 @ 8.5m/s impact test results

When the UK testing bods at SHARP got their hands on a few R2’s in early ’19, they scored it 3 stars out of a maximum 5 for safety. Given Schuberth’s past history, that’s entirely expected.

It’s also a slightly lower score than the average across all helmet types tested by SHARP, which is around 3.5 stars out of 5. So given the price you pay for a typical Schuberth, that’s not a great safety score.

See here for SHARP 4 & 5 star helmets.

Schuberth are also adding an emergency quick-release system (EQRS) to the comfort lining – there to help medics remove a helmet with the minimum of complications after an accident. And they also use a Double-D ring fastener, sighting the fact that a double d ring has to be re-adjusted with every ride; which is definitely a benefit for safety – as long as the rider can be bothered to adjust it correctly.

schuberth-r2-nemesis-yellow-motorbike-crash-helmet-side-view — R2 Nemesis comes in hi viz yellow, white or blue versions

Research suggests that around 8% of fatal accidents involve the helmet coming off. So fasten up carefully guys.

Ventilation

Schuberth say the R2 will have a single chin vent and crown vent and use channels in the EPS to take air through the helmet.

Most helmets these days have double-vents up top so it’ll be interesting to see if the R2 manages to catch enough air to push into the helmet to really drive that cooling and ventilation. Quality engineering is also needed to design effective cooling channels in the shock-absorbing liner and match that up with the external intakes. Not all manufacturers manage it.

Visor

Good ventilation helps immensely with keeping the visor fog-free too, but the Schuberth R2 will also come with a Pinlock ready visor (tbc if there’s a Pinlock insert in the box).

schuberth-r2-enforcer-motorbike-crash-helmet-side-view — All R2s come with Pinlock-ready visors. This one’s the R2 Enforcer hi viz

If it does, it’ll have to be a Max Vision insert as Schuberth have made the visor opening as wide as possible to improve peripheral vision.

That’s a good thing in any helmet as long as they’ve managed to increase visor width and maintain structural integrity. We’ve seen some makers make massive visor openings but the side-impact test results show real weakness at the side of the helmet, arguably because the helmet’s been weakened because of the massive visor hole!

Early versions of the R2 show a non-ratchet visor but it does come with a lever-based quick release system for the visor. Pictures also show Schuberth looks to have ditched their turbulators along the top of the visor (Schuberth reckoned they reduced wind noise) though a few seem to have sprouted above the visor pivot and along the side of the helmet. We’ll find out if they work once owners have ridden with the R2 later on in 2017.

Comfort & Sizing

Schuberth’s website say they use ShinyTex, Oko-Tex 100 linings inside the R2.

Oko-Tex 100 is an international certification program that ensures a fabric isn’t harmful to the end user – so stipulates certain manufacturing processes and materials aren’t used. So if you’ve particularly sensitive skin, then that might be good for you.

As far as we can find, ShinyTex is a Chinese textile company so that’s not really a massive benefit to us!

schuberth-r2-gloss-white-motorbike-crash-helmet-side-view — Gloss white Schuberth R2. Note single chin and forehead vents

Other than that, the R2 interior is removable/washable, anti-bac and designed to be fast-drying. They also say they’ve designed it to be seamless so you don’t get any seams digging in (good plan).

Looks, Aero & Graphics

The Schuberth R2 is a clean-looking and minimalist helmet. Any aero features hasve been built-in to the actual helmet shell rather than stuck on in the form of spoilers or winglets. That should also help with reducing helmet noise too – something in keeping with the stated goals of Schuberth. They use wind-tunnels in the development of their helmets and sculpt their shells not only to be aerodynamic and stable, but to reduce noise as much as possible.

As for graphics, designs released so far are reasonably classy and understated – in line with most of the designs released by Schuberth on their existing helmets.

They produce a matt and gloss black version and a gloss white. There’s also a few hi-viz fluorescent versions in most of the designs – including the Renegade (helmet at the top of the page), Nemesis and Enforcer.

There’s bound to be some more graphics available after launch though, so click the links through to our recommended retailers after its launched in 2017 to see the latest designs and prices.

Best places to buy a Schuberth R2 helmet?

Schuberth R2 Video

Here’s a 12m look around the R2 from fast talking bloke at Revzilla.

Other stuff – warranty

The Schuberth R2 will come with a five year manufacturer’s warranty – that’s up there with the best warranties in terms of length of time covered.

schuberth-r2-enforcer-grey-motorbike-crash-helmet-side-view — This one’s a grey version of the Enforcer graphic

Overall/Summary

We’d expect the R2 to be a good helmet to live with. Schuberth put a great deal of effort into making a really usable helmet, and they’re usually good quality too.

And with stuff like a nice wide visor and in-built Schubert SC1 communicator mic/speakers and antenna, Schuberth are continuing to make modern-looking helmets that have everyday usability in there as standard.

Just don’t expect it to offer the best protection on the market because when the UK SHARP safety testing crew tested the Schuberth R2, they scored it a below average 3/5 stars for safety.

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.

Alternatives to the Schuberth R2?

There’s the 5 star rated AGV GT Veloce – that’s a composite fibre sports-oriented helmet with a big visor aperture. It retails for about the same price as the Schuberth R2 too.

Or how about an X-Lite X-702 GT – that’s another SHARP 5 star composite helmet that’s light and excels in pretty well everything (noise, comfort and ventilation). Again, it’s around the same price as the R2.