Shark Evo ES modular flip-up helmet review

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Shark Evo ES: a great value ‘up and over’ modular touring helmet.

Shark helmets have updated their Evo One helmet (again!) and this time it’s called the Evo ES. It’s thermoplastic flip-front helmet that builds on their Evo and Evoline series of helmets, incorporating the up-and-over chin bar that Shark modular helmets are known for.

It’s pretty much identical looking to the Evo One 2, but this time, they’ve managed to reduce the cost a little and they’ve added an antifog coated main visor instead of a Pinlock.

Shark Evo ES matt black modular helmet side view — Matt black Evo ES in full face config

And like the rest of their modular helmets, it’s also dual or P/J homologated. That means it’s been designed from the ground-up to work as a protective full or open face helmet.

Also, the word is that the Evo ES has overcome some of the problems Shark experienced with the visor systems on some of their older models where the Pinlock and helmet could get easily scratched.

Shark also reckons they’ve worked on the aerodynamics and noise levels.

Which means, if they’ve done everything right, the Shark Evo ES could be a great helmet made fantastic by ironing out any niggles.

So, if you’re thinking about a new modular helmet – here’s everything you can expect from the Shark Evo ES.

Thermoplastic modular helmet
Flip-over chin bar
Dual P/J homologated
Two shell sizes
Drop down sun visor
micrometric fastener
1.65Kg (avg for a modular)
Sizes XS-XL
Expect to pay £240-£300

Best places to buy a Shark Evo ES?

Please click below to visit the Shark Evo ES 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

Shark has a long history of making decent quality, secure and great performing modular helmets. And, because the Evo ES is an evolution of the well liked Evo One line of helmets (and the Evolines before that), the Evo ES looks like it’ll continue the tradition.

Shark Evo ES yari modular front view — Shark Evo ES in Yari graphics with chin bar fully rotated

The Evo ES is an up-and-over flip-up helmet (where the chin bar wraps around the rear of the shell) to give a truly open-face helmet feel but with protection when you need it. It’s also got a useful sun visor, anti-fog visor, space for speakers and it’s reasonably light weight for a modular too.

All big ticks in the box when you’re looking to buy any helmet.

Shark has a reputation for building modulars that give excellent protection too. Couple that with selling the Evo ES at a competitive price and we expect the Shark Evo ES will be a popular helmet that should give owners plenty of performance for their money.

Safety

(more about helmet safety)

Shark has a great history of making flip-up helmets that protect well.

Interestingly, all their modular helmets to date – ever since they introduced the original Evoline modular over ten years ago – have used a thermoplastic shell.

I was going to say they ought to know how to do it by now – but even that first helmet scored 4 stars in the SHARP helmet testing scheme all those years ago.

Shark Evo ES Endless modular helmet side view — There’s a couple of hi-viz options avialble too. This one’s the Endless graphic.

And apart from one tiny blip in the form of the Shark Openline which dropped to three stars, their other three tested modular helmets have all scored four stars or above.

And while the chin bars on their first three tested modulars wouldn’t always stay locked and closed during impact testing (a big problem with lots of modulars) their last two – the Evo-One and Evo-One 2 both scored 100%.

Which is a big deal when you want to trust that the chin bar in your modular’s going to do it’s job when you need it to.

In the Shark Evo ES video below, the Lowes boys comment that the chin bar on the Evo ES is the same as the one on the Evo One 2. So that’s reassuring to know and should mean you can trust it to stay locked and closed during an impact.

As for the shell, it’s a similar thermoplastic tech to their previous helmets, backed by a multi-density shock absorbing liner. It’s made in two shell sizes, which isn’t the greatest number for fitment, safety or looks.

Of course, the Evo ES is ECE dual homologated, so you can ride in full face or open face modes. And if you’re a fan of open faced riding, the way the sides of the Evo ES wrap around the chin mean it’ll still give you decent protective coverage even when the chin bar’s out of the way.

Shark Evo ES gloss white flip front helmet rear view — Rear view of a gloss white Evo ES

Sure, it’s not going to protect your face if you hit something straight on, but if it’s more of a sideways glance, the way the sides wraparound should give you more protection than a regular open face helmet.

Overall then, and given Shark’s recent experience of making highly protective modulars with secure chin bars, we’d expect the Shark Evo ES to perform well and give excellent impact protection when you need it.

Helmet Noise

(more about helmet noise)

Modulars tend to be pretty noisy places at the best of times. All that chin bar mechanism tends to create space in the helmet where noise can get in and reverberate around. And that doesn’t always make for a helmet you want to spend time in.

Shark says they’ve used computational fluid dynamics to improve the aero capabilities of the Evo ES – which should make it quieter as well as giving it better performance in the wind. And they’ve also stuck in a ‘soundproof breath guard’ which pulls down to reduce the amount of wind and noise getting into the helmet.

We’re not yet sure whether it’s all made much of a difference – though the outgoing Evo One 2 was regarded as pretty quiet for a modular and because the two helmets share so much, we see no reason to suspect the Evo ES will be any different.

Ventilation

(more about helmet ventilation)

The Shark Evo ES uses a tried-and-tested single front chin vent and double crown vents – all closable.

Shark Evo ES modular plain black front view — All the vents are just about visible on this gloss black Evo ES.

In its default position, the chin bar vents to the back of the visor to help with demisting. But there’s an internal slider that can be used to redirect some of the air onto the face too.

Up top, those crown vents have to be opened individually, taking air into the helmet to be circulated in air channels in the EPS and exiting throught a pair of exhaust vents situated underneath that top spoiler.

If you find there’s too much air getting into the chin/face area, Shark has also included a magnetic pull-down chin curtain that’s designed to reduce wind/turbulence and noise getting into the helmet too.

Ventiation on the outgoing Evo One 2 was seen as being very good, so expect the same on the Evo ES.

Visor

(more about visors)

The visor on the Evo ES uses Shark’s ‘auto up, auto down’ system. It’s a nifty system that automatically raises the visor when you raise or close the chin bar.

There’s an opening tab on either side of the visor (good for when you want to open it right-handed) and it’s a quick release visor for easy removal and cleaning.

Actually, they call it quick release but it’s not toolless – the triangular notch on the outside edge of each side of the visor needs a screwdriver pushing in to unlock it. Do that and the visor slides out.

It’s a bit low tech but it works.

A couple of useful links…

– Meanest and best looking helmets –
– All our Modular helmet reviews –

Unlike the old, outgoing modulars, which could suffer from problems with Pinlock antifog inserts scraping on the helmet shell, Shark has decided to bin off Pinlocks for the Evo ES.

Instead, they’ve applied their own antifog treatment to the visor.

Shark Evo ES Endless flip up helmet rear view — Rear view of the Endless in yellow

That’s kind of a shame because Pinlocks are widely regarded as the best antifog solutions out there – though we’ve read of a couple of owners who rate Shark’s new coating pretty highly too.

There’s a number of helmet brands who don’t regularly use Pinlocks with their helmets and their antifog treatments can work pretty well, and the early signs are that Shark’s one of them – so maybe the lack of a Pinlock’s not such a major loss?

Sun Visor

(more about sun visors)

When you’re piling on the miles, internal sun visors can be really useful to protect your eyes from the sun. They can make riding more pleasurable and safer.

Shark’s system is operated using a slider on the top of the helmet – forward to lower, backwards to raise.

While I tend to prefer sliders on the side of the helmet, top mounted sliders can be useful in many ways. They mean you can operate the sun visor with either hand and, instead of placing the sun visor slider there, it keeps the side of the helmet free for a bluetooth if you’re intending to fit one.

Like all sun visors, it’s removable and cleanable – and it’s anti-scratch coated too.

Chin Guard

(more about chin guards)

It’s the chin guard’s ability to rotate to the back of the helmet that’s really going to sell the Evo ES to many riders.

Shark Evo ES gloss white raising chin bar — Chin bar starts to rise -and the visor follows suit

It means the guard’s out of the way, not sitting at the front of the helmet just out of your line of sight. It distributes the weight a bit more naturally – and it tucks the chin bar away to some extent so it stands less of a chance of digging in and spinning your head in an accident.

Shark Evo ES gloss white flip front helmet side view — Chin bar flips over the helmet towards the rear.

Plus it gives you a much more regular open face riding experience, if that’s what you’re after.

The chin bar on the Shark Evo ES uses a single button to unlock it. Press it in, the visor auto-slides up out of the way, then rotate the bar to the rear of the helmet where it’ll stay in place.

To close the chin guard, you pull it forward – the visor raises automatically – and the chin bar drops into place, clicking positively when locked.

Shark Evo ES gloss white helmet chin bar back rear view — Chin guard in position at the rear

Shark as been making ‘up and over’ flip-up helmets for many, many years now and they’re usually very easy to use and offer excellent protection – as mentioned in the safety section.

And now there’s no Pinlock antifog insert involved, we expect the chin bar on the Evo ES to work very well too.

Comfort and Sizing

(more about comfort and sizing)

The liner inside the Shark Evo ES is fully removable and washable.

It’s made from a material that’s designed to be soft and hard wearing, plus it’s made to wick away sweat and be antibacterial.

Inside, there’s a pair of speaker pockets, designed for the integrated Sharktooth bluetooth headset but should work with most other third party speakers too.

Shark Evo ES Yari modular front view (2) — Another Yari graphic – this time in black white red.

And there’s a pair of glasses grooves to accommodate the arms of glasses and make sure they don’t press into the side of your head.

The average weight for the Evo ES is around 1.65Kg which is about average for a modular helmet so you shouldn’t have any problems there.

If you’re thinking of ordering one, make sure you read our helmet fitting guide, then follow the links below to quality-rated sellers.

Best places to buy a Shark Evo ES helmet?

Shark Evo ES Video

Here’s Shark getting their money’s worth out of the Lowes twins’ sponsorship deals in their Evo ES promo video.

Other stuff – warranty

Shark helmets come with a standard 2 year warranty which is extendible to five years if you register your helmet online.

Good Alternatives to the Shark Evo ES?

AGV Numo Evo ST Portland helmet front view — AGV Compact ST Portland.

Take a look at the AGV Compact ST. It’s dual-homologated, SHARP 4 star safety rated helmet (with 100% chin bar) that comes with a Pinlock in the box.

caberg-duke-2-modular-motorcycle-helmet-in-matt-gun-metal-side-view — Matt gunmetal Caberg Duke II

We’ve also gotta mention the SHARP 5 star Caberg Duke II which is lighter and cheaper than the Shark – and comes with a Pinlock too.

agv-sport-modular-mono-carbon-black-motorcycle-crash-helmet — AGV Sport Modular Mono Carbon Black

If you’re after a modular helmet for your sportsbike, how about the AGV Sport Modular. It’s a SHARP 4 star rated modular designed for lean-forward riding. It’s light weight, has a pinlock and an optically-correct visor. Costs more than the Sharks though.

Finally, HJCs IS-Max II is a favourite. It’s cheaper than the Evo ES and it scored 4 SHARP stars for safety and has a sun visor too (though it’s slightly heavier).

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Best places to buy a Shark Evo ES?

Other ways to find the Best Modular Helmet

If you're after a new modular/flip-up helmet, they've never been more popular and there's a ton of choice out there. You can find our latest top 10 modular helmets list here or check out all our modular helmet reviews here. You can also visit our Safest Modular Helmets page or our smart filters page where you can click the flip-up/modular check box then choose a few other features to find the best flip-up helmet for you.